Those desiring to send flowers to the 
New York Fruit and Flower Mission, 
may not know that flowers are distrib¬ 
uted only on Mondays and Thursdays, 
and should be sent so as to be delayed as 
little as possible before being used. The 
address is 105 East 20th Street. 
* 
The mother of the undisciplined baby 
usually has her hands full when she 
takes the baby abroad. He is not old 
enough to understand that he must 
behave better in public than at home, 
and, as his mother usually thinks this 
necessary, they very soon differ, and the 
warfare begins. It is a very poor place 
to settle such difficulties, for the pres¬ 
ence of an audience makes both combat¬ 
ants determined to win. It is astonish¬ 
ing how observing a very small child is. 
lie can read the sympathy in unfamiliar 
faces, and he takes up the battle anew, 
and is many a time the victor if his lungs 
are stronger than his mother’s nerves. 
The wise mother teaches her child very 
early in its life, that she is to be obeyed 
and she saves herself much mortifica¬ 
tion, and her friends much discomfort. 
And the child who learns obedience as 
soon as it can understand, will learn it 
more easily and more happily. 
* 
The large dry goods stores of the city, 
are continually adding departments 
wherein they offer a new line of goods. 
Dry goods no longer comprehend the re¬ 
sources of these establishments. Grocer¬ 
ies have been a feature for some time, as 
have sewing machines and bicycles. 
Most foreign to the dry goods business 
is the offer of greenhouse plants at the 
usual cut prices. This began in the 
silverware department where, to make 
the silver fern holders for table decora¬ 
tion more attractive, a pot of ferns was 
furnished with each one at a reasonable 
price. 
THE FLOWER-MISSION BASKET. 
L AST week, one morning, Miss Louise 
tapped at the door, ‘ Would the 
children like to go for a walk with me 
after dinner, to gather flowers for the 
mission, Mrs. M. ?” 
“ Indeed, they would, Miss Lou. And 
I don’t know but their mother would go, 
too, if she were asked.” 
“She is very politely asked,” laughed 
Miss Louise. 
An hour later the tap was on the other 
door. “Vaughn can hardly wait for you 
to be ready, Louise. He says that he 
will come over and wipe the dishes for 
you ; for he noticed through the window 
that you have just donned the big 
checked apron.” 
“ Send him over,” was the prompt re¬ 
sponse. So Vaughn vaulted the fence 
and wiped the dinner dishes, and in a 
few minutes, the party was on the way 
to the woods. 
“ Now won’t you all please be careful 
to select only the nicest flowers,” said 
Miss Lou. “You know they have quite 
a trip on the cars to-morrow, and then 
they must be made up by the ladies of 
the mission, so that by the time they are 
distributed, they will be spoiled if not 
fresh and nice when we take them.” 
“ Why don’t you take the pretty 
Crane’s-bill, Miss Lou,” asked bright¬ 
eyed Bella. “Wouldn’t the little, sick 
children like it better than those white 
flowers you are picking ?” 
“No doubt they would if we could 
get it to them fresh, girlie. But this is 
one of the flowers that droops and loses 
its petals very quickly. 1 never take 
such if I can get enough better ones.” 
“ Such a pity these quantities of wild 
Lily-of-the-valley are spoiled, Louise,” 
put in Mrs. M. “ Why didn’t we come a 
week ago ?” 
“ Indeed, 1 wish we might have done 
so, Mrs. M. But the rooms did not open 
until May 25. I suppose that there may 
not be flowers enough to make it worth 
while before that date. I had these 
pretty, fragrant, lasting things in mind, 
and hoped that we could get some in the 
shaded nooks. Indeed, we shall have a 
few, but such carpets of them doing no 
one any good ! They make me feel 
sorry, and last week they were so 
lovely.” 
“ Oh ! oh ! Miss Lou,” from Vaughn. 
“ Here’s a Sassafras tree ! Wouldn’t 
these be nice ? See, it’s all in blossom !” 
□ “ Yes, indeed ! But it’s late for Sassa¬ 
fras, and these flowers are finer. What 
can it be ?” 
“ But smell it, Miss Lou,” urged 
Vaughn. “ Isn’t that Sassafras ? ” 
“ It does smell like it, Vaughn. It is 
dainty enough for a queen, at all events,” 
said Louise. “ And here are the yellow 
Star-flowers, with their grassy foliage. 
They keep pretty well; and the alders. 
Is it too late for azaleas, Vaughn ? ” 
“ Too late for pinxter bloom, Miss Lou, 
and too early for the sweet white kind. 
But I will rob mamma’s weigela bush 
for you. The flowers are most as pretty, 
but not so sweet.” 
Mrs. M. laughed. “ Anything in a good 
cause,” she said ; “ and I think there are 
a few of the very earliest rose buds just 
ready to open. 1 wish they were out.” 
“ I don’t,” promptly responded Louise, 
“ not if you will let me have the buds. 
The full-blown flower would go all to 
pieces, in the heat, by to-morrow night, 
while the buds will just have opened to 
their prettiest, and will last a day or two 
at least.” 
By the time they had reached the 
house, a few of the Christmas ferns, some 
syringas and some early Solomon’s seal 
had been added to their stock. 
“ llow they are wilting, Miss Lou ! ” 
“ Yes, Bella ; but some water will re¬ 
vive them.” 
“ Shall you pack them to-night ? ” 
“ No ; I shall only bunch them, and 
put the stems in a pan of water to take 
a good drink before starting on their 
journey.” 
“ Oh, may we help bunch ? ” 
“Yes, indeed ! I shall be delighted 
to have you help, and you will see how 
much we shall aid the ladies at the mis¬ 
sion end, if we put all the flowers of a 
kind together. Then if we throw out 
all extra leaves, and cut off the long 
stems that aren’t wanted, you will see 
what a lot of flowers we can put in one 
small basket.” 
As they busily bunched the flowers, 
Vaughn said, “ Do you think the sick 
children will love the flowers, Miss Lou?” 
“ Suppose you had never had a flower 
of your very own, Vaughn ! Suppose you 
had never seen any growing, except, 
may be, in a park, where you couldn’t 
touch one, and couldn’t even go on the 
grass ! Why, dear, some of these poor 
little things, when they first see the 
country with all the blossoms growing 
wild, think it is like heaven.” 
Vaughn’s thoughtful eyes opened wide, 
and wider. “ I can’t seem to think how 
it would be, Miss Lou. Are there many 
of them—the children, I mean ? ” 
“ Thousands, who never saw wild 
flowers grow, Vaughn, and so many who 
are sick that the ladies can give only 
very small bunches. If we had time, we 
could bunch these as they do, and save 
them the work. They have the prettiest 
rule for making a little bouquet; always 
something white in every bunch; al¬ 
ways something bright ; always some¬ 
thing fragrant. Then a bit of green, and 
who could have a daintier bunch ? ” 
“ Something white, something bright, 
and something sweet,” said Bella. “Isn’t 
that lovely ? But there are some that 
couldn’t see the flowers, Miss Lou?” 
“ Something sweet for them, the poor, 
blind children, always, dear, if possible. 
There, we have done them all now. 
Thank you both so very much.” 
Next morning, the children ran over 
to see the basket. “Oh, Miss Louise, 
how pretty ! Did you get them all in ? 
What a lot in one little basket.” 
“ Yes, because we sorted and bunched 
carefully. I put in a layer of damp 
paper, then all the heavier flowers ; an¬ 
other layer of paper, then the more deli¬ 
cate ones, making the stems of some 
protect the blooms of others. They are 
packed quite closely, so they won’t slip 
about and crush, and I think we have 
enough for 100 little bouquets in this 
one grape-basket. Isn’t that worth 
while ? And the express people will 
carry (hem free, and send our basket 
back for more.” myra y. nobys. 
WATER-LILY PINCUSHION. 
A VERY pretty pincushion is made 
like a water-lily, Fig. 134. The 
center is of a round piece of golden- 
yellow velvet, four inches in diameter. 
This is gathered, stuffed with cotton, 
and drawn into a flat cushion, measur¬ 
ing about 2% inches. The six petals are 
WATER-LILY PINCUSHION. Flo. 134. 
formed from heavy, white satin ribbon. 
The length required for each petal is six 
inches, folded into a loop as shown. 
Instead of ribbon, white satin may be 
folded into strips like ribbon. The five 
leaves are of green plush, with a crino¬ 
line lining. The stem is of wire, wrapped 
with cotton, and bound with green rib¬ 
bon, or covered with a strip of plush. 
ANNA HINRICHS. 
A WORD ABOUT FLOORS. 
COVERING AND CLEANING THEM. 
W HEN one is building a new house, 
or repairing an old one, there is 
likely to be born a great desire to put 
down hard-wood floors—at least, in hall, 
diningroom and kitchen. Some experi¬ 
ence from one “who has been there,” 
may be of service to such as are debating 
the subject of house floors. 
My wife and I built a new house a few 
years ago, and much planning ensued as 
to its construction, the material to be 
used, and the greatest possible number 
of conveniences for the easy doing of 
housework. We planned wisely in many 
respects, and unwisely, doubtless, in 
others. Probably no one has yet built 
a house for his own use, who does not 
think that it could be greatly improved 
if he could build another! He, doubt¬ 
less, could improve on the first attempt, 
for there is nothing like living and 
doing housework in a house, to find out 
the weak points in its construction. We 
certainly could make a number of im¬ 
provements in our own house even 
though it was so carefully planned. 
We began with no thought of other 
than soft-wood floors, unless, perhaps, 
for the kitchen. We ended by having 
hard-wood floors in every room, hall, 
closets, pantry and laundry, both up¬ 
stairs and down. The stairway is also 
of hard wood. The reasons that led to 
this course were numerous, one being 
the prevalence of the Buffalo moth, and 
the knowledge that he was quite sure to 
make havoc with any carpet that might 
“All is not 
Columbia 
that Glitters/' 
Your pleasure and safe- ^ | ' ^ 
ty depend on knowing B 
what is under enamel 
and nickel before you | 
buy a bicycle. J- 
6s/ 
No question about Col- 
umbias. If you are 
able to pay $100 for a bicycle 
why buy any but a Columbia ? 
See the Catalogue. Fl/^AFIT? 
Free if you call on Jl C* 
the agent. Ry mail 
for two 2-cent stamps MFG. CO. 
HARTFORD, CONN. 
Branch Houses and Agencies are almost 
everywhere. If Columbias are not properly 
represented in your vicinity, let us know. 
All Columbia Bicycles are fitted with 
HARTFORD SINGLE-TUBE TIRES 
UNLESS DUNLOP TIRES ARE ASKED FOR. 
WE KNOW NO TIRES SO GOOD AS HARTFORDS. 
.'UXttCCtxxjJ 
V 
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». [ftV 1 !|| ‘I 
M. 
| ■, l‘ \ W 7 } kvi 1 
/'t \>v 
WILCOX & WHITE 
ORGANS 
Are sweetest toned and best made. Forty-seven 
years exjjerienee in organ building. 
SEJS’D FOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE TO 
WILCOX & WHITE ORGAN CO., Meriden, Conn. 
The Rural New-Yorker has Twice Selected the Emerson Piano above all other 
makes, as the First Prize in their Subscription Contest. Send for free catalogue. 
P 
IANOS— THE WORLD RENOWNED— PIANO 
Finest 
Tone, 
Best Work 
and 
Materials. 
NO. 92 FIFTH AVENUE. NEAR V-14TH ST., N.Y. 
s 
Sold and 
Rented, 
Moderate 
Prices, 
* Easy 
^ Terms. 
