1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
©96 
Christmas Spending. 
In most families repeated rounds of 
Christmas giving have left on every 
toilet table, desk and mantelpiece a 
plethoric array of all such articles as 
the purses of the clan can be made 
to furnish. No matter what our sober 
afterthoughts may be as to this ex¬ 
change of often useless articles, every 
holiday finds us unwilling to forego 
its pleasures. So we decide to buy 
soberly and to try harder than ever to 
have each gift we make fit some need 
or fancy. It need not be stupidly 
useful in all cases, for that takes away 
some of the holiday fun, but most of 
us mean never to give another pres¬ 
ent that has not some beauty or dura¬ 
bility or special fitness to warrant our 
spending time or money upon it. If 
none of us would purchase foolish 
things the shops would soon offer 
something better. 
The children count first at the mid- 
Winter holiday. It is their spirit of 
joy and good will which we emulate. 
Toys not only amuse, they cultivate the 
imagination and help the child to origi¬ 
nate plays. All have their value; rub¬ 
ber dolls, balls and horses for baby 
who must taste as well as see and 
handle; iron trains of cars and hook 
and ladder trucks, toy kitchens, han¬ 
som cabs and doll clothes; these awake 
the child’s ideas as to grown-up ways 
of occupation. They help children to 
busy themselves. Books may be had 
to fit any age, but better buy ahead 
of the child’s need than below it. 
Peter Rabbit books will do for the lit¬ 
tle one who cannot read, but whose 
father gives it a quiet half hour in his 
lap after supper. A lad of twelve 
may delight in a new Henty book and 
be mightily proud of a shelfful, but in 
two or three years their charm will, 
for him, have fled forever. If there is 
a chance that children will go through 
high school it is a good plan to begin 
early to give such classics as Ivanhoe, 
Vicar of Wakefield, Pilgrim’s Progress, 
Arabian Nights, Scottish Chiefs, 
Treasure Island and others sure to be 
needed. It is a great gain to have 
them in the home bookcase and even 
partly known. But there are many 
things these young creatures value. 
Have you ever considered the pleasure 
a little country miss has in her first 
pair of kid gloves? For that matter, 
try her big awkward brother with a 
pair. He will probably pretend to be 
above caring, and may offer them to 
anyone who will wear them. But the 
chances are that they will be dear to 
his heart and do him good in various 
ways. 
Jewelry is apt to be beyond the reach 
of farm children. But never does 
womankind so sigh for a ring or a 
locket and chain as when she begins 
thinking of longer skirts. For a girl 
these things need not be more than 
slender and dainty, and the little gar¬ 
nets and turquoise a grown woman 
might not care to wear are extremely 
suitable and pretty. Baroque pearls 
are not expensive and are particularly 
new and up-to-date. But one should 
remember that a real ruby costs as 
much as a diamond, and that imitation 
gems are always in bad taste. Often 
a girl, if allowed to choose, would 
rather have all her presents in money 
if thereby she could mark that partic¬ 
ular Christmas with one long-desired 
indulgence in some luxury of wearing 
apparel. 
The plan of adopting some line of 
gifts till a set has been collected is 
an excellent one. Many girls are 
receiving each year from some rela¬ 
tive a sterling silver teaspoon of a 
standard pattern always in stock, jew¬ 
elers keeping a line of these goods 
to meet this demand. A set of sterling 
silver spoons is something anyone 
would gladly see six years in grow¬ 
ing, and one need not stop at the tea¬ 
spoons. 
Dear to the hearts as silver or gold 
many of us would count a growing 
set of Dickens, Trollope, or George 
Eliot. You give a friend one of the 
new books, a “best seller,” and she 
has the pleasure of saying to other 
people for a year, “Oh yes, I have it.” 
She may like the appearance of up-to- 
dateness, but no one will value it as 
much as she does and once read, who 
will again harrow up the thoughts with 
that particular “best seller’s” problems 
and disclosures? But find yourself 
weary and out of joint with yourself, 
and there is no better “ambling pad” 
to trot you back to serenity than one of 
these leisurely old novels; their scenes 
so wholly unlike those from our every¬ 
day windows, rest and refresh us as 
it is not possible for any study of 
the vices and degeneracy of our pluto¬ 
cratic rich to do. Moreover there is a 
real culture in knowing such people 
as Esther Summerson, Dinah Morris, 
the Peggottys, Mrs. Proudie, Archdea¬ 
con Grantley, Maggie Tulliver or Mr. 
Micawber. You will run across them 
6182 Girl’s Coat, 6 to 12 yesr*. 
in the very best society, and to estab¬ 
lish a common acquaintanceship with 
these old favorites is often the entree 
to social pleasures we might never have 
gained in any other way. The town 
library for new books, but standard 
fiction for the home bookshelf! Buy 
works of America’s approved authors, 
English novels and the best poets of 
other lands, histories, if your friends 
6183 House Gown, 82 to 42 buit. 
have any taste that way, and they will 
remain, like Grandmother’s silver 
spoons, good as long as they last. 
Such sets of books as the Temple 
Shakespeare and Modern Reader’s 
Bible series have been mentioned in 
former years, but are always good. 
But all our friends and' relatives are 
not bookish people. Do you know what 
a fashionable article pf tableware is 
the casserole just now? “I found a 
rough little old porringer that I put 
the drippings away in. I guess I set 
it on the shelf in the cellarway,’’ said 
the old lady who had been left to look 
after her great-granddaughter’s house 
for a day. 
“An old porringer!” cried the bride 
of a few months’ standing, “Oh 
Grannie darling, that is my beloved lit¬ 
tle casserole. I won it last time I played 
bridge, and all the ladies said it was 
just a dear. Why the girl who won 
a cut-glass bonbonniere said that she 
envied me.” 
Designed for use in the oven as well 
as upon the table later, these heavy 
earthen dishes are often quaintly dec¬ 
orated and in dull artistic coloring. 
All sorts of scallops—oyster, tomato, 
fish, potato, salmon—any sort of oven 
cooking in fact is suitably done in 
them, and food of course remains ap- 
petizingly hot, both because of the 
heavy ware and the cover which is kept 
on. Housekeepers who have but few 
in the family are sure to have left¬ 
overs to utilize and would value one or 
two of these fashionable little articles, 
while a two-quart casserole will hold 
for an ordinary family the hot course 
many people like to have upon the sup¬ 
per table on chill Winter nights. The 
dish was such a favorite with the bride 
above mentioned that she served in it 
not only things cooked en casserole, 
but also at various times, hot baked 
apples, Winter squash (always the 
better for a half hour’s reheating in 
the oven), creamed oysters and even 
Frankfurters in cream sauce. 
PRUDENCE PRIMROSE. 
The Rural Patterns. 
The long loose coat is the one that 
little girls like best and which is most 
becoming. Here is a model that can 
be made either with or without the 
single revers and which is adapted to 
all cloaking materials.) In the illus¬ 
tration dark red cloth is trimmed with 
black Astrakahan cloth and the com¬ 
bination is a handsome and effective 
one, but genuine fur could be substi¬ 
tuted for the fur cloth or braid could 
be used as trimming, or the coat could 
be made with velvet collar and cuffs 
and either with or without the revers. 
The coat is made with fronts and 
back and the sleeves that arc cut in 
two portions each. There is a rolled- 
over collar at the neck and patch poc¬ 
kets are applied over the fronts while 
the inserted ones when used, are ar¬ 
ranged on indicated lines. The quan¬ 
tity of material required for the me¬ 
dium size (10 years) is 4 yards 27, 
2)4 yards 44 or 2 yards 52 inches wide 
with 3 l /i yards of banding 2 inches 
wide. The pattern 6182 is cut in sizes 
for girls of 6, 8, 10 and 12 years of 
age; price 10 cents. 
The one-piece, or semi-princess, 
house gown is the one that active wo¬ 
men are sure to require. The waist 
and skirt being, joined by means of a 
belt, there is no possibility of annoy¬ 
ing separation and the gown can easily 
be slipped on and off so that it is a 
genuine boon. This one is made in 
shirtwaist style and closed at the left 
of the front. The gown is made with 
the waist and the skirt. The waist 
consists of fronts that are tucked over 
the shoulders and a plain back with 
moderately full sleeves. The neck is fin¬ 
ished with a neckband and either a 
collar of the same or those of linen 
can be used with it. The skirt is cut 
in eight gores and laid in inverted 
plaits at the back. The quantity of 
material required for the medium size 
is 8 y% yards 24, 7 l / 2 yards 32 or 6 yards 
44 inches wide when material has fig¬ 
ure or nap; 8 yards 24, 6^4 yards 32 
or 4J4 yards 44 inches wide when ma¬ 
terial has neither figure nor nap. The 
pattern 6183 is cut in sizes for a 32, 
34, 36, 38, 40 and 42 inch bust measure; 
price 10" cents. 
THE ESQUIMO 
eats blubber. The lumbermen eat 
pork. The Norwegian fishermen 
live on cod liver oil. These 
people are constantly exposed 
to cold and physical strain. 
Experience has taught them that 
fatty foods give warmth and 
nourishment. 
For those who have cold and thin 
bodies, or are threatened with 
consumption or any wasting 
disease, there is no fat in so 
digestible and palatable a form as 
Scott’s Emulsion 
Physicians prescribe it. 
Send this advertisement, together with name of 
paper in which it appears, your address and four 
cents to cover postage, and we will send you a 
“Complete Handy Atlas of the World” :: :: 
SCOTT & BOWNE, 409 Pearl Street, New York 
Western Canada the Pennant Winner 
“The Last Best West” 
The Government of Canada now gives to 
every Actual Settler 160 Acres of 
VVheat-GrowIng Land FREE 
and an additional 1 60 acres 
at only $8.00 an acre* 
The 800,000 contented American 
Bottlers making their homes in 
Western Canada 
give the best evidence of the superi¬ 
ority of that country. They aro be¬ 
coming rich, growing from 25 to 
50 bushels wheat to the acre, 
60 to 110 bushels outs and 45 to 60 
bushel* barley, besides having splendid 
herds of cattle raised on the prairie grass. 
Dairying Is an Important industry. 
The crop of 1908 still keeps Western Canada 
In the lead. The world will soon look to it as 
its food-producer. 
“The thing which most impressed us wae 
the magnitude of the country that is available 
for agricultural purposes/'—National Editor¬ 
ial Correspondence. 1908. 
Low Railway Rates, good schools and 
churches, markets convenient, prices the 
highest, climate perfect. Lands are for sale 
by Railway and Land Companies. Descriptive 
pamphlets and maps sent free. For Railway 
Rates and other information apply to Sup’t 
of Immigration, Ottawa, Canada, 
or to the authorized Canadian Government Agt. 
J. O. Duncan, Canadian Govern¬ 
ment Agent, Room 30, Syracuse Bank 
Building, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Cheap Tennessee Farms 
— Making Men Rich! — 
Fortunes are being made on fertile Tennes¬ 
see farms. They raise big crops of Canta¬ 
loupes. Cabbage, Tomatoes, String Beans, 
Green Corn. etc., also Horses, Cattle, Sheep.Swine, 
Poultry and Eggs. Write me at once for Free 
Literature. I’ll tell you how to get one of these 
splendid farms for $5 to S20 per acre. Act quickly! 
H.F. Smith, Traf.Hgr.N.C.*8t.L.Uy.l)ept.C,Ntishvllle,T>iio. 
THE FARMER’S WEALTH 
comes from the soil; the richer the soil the more 
money made. No better land anywhere than 
Tidewater Virginia and Carolina. Fine climate, 
with long growing-seasons; three crops a year 
from same held. Yet lands are cheap and can 
be bought on easy terms—a gold mine for an 
Industrious man. Write for booklet. 
F. L. MERRITT, Land & lndust’1 Agent, Norfolk and Southern 
Railway, 36 Citizens Bank Building, Norfolk.Ya. 
The Rochester Radiator will 
SAVE HALF YOUR FUEL 
or give you double the amount 
of heat from the same fuel, if 
you will give it a trial, or we 
will refund the money paid 
for it. Write for Booklet on 
heating homes. 
ROCHESTER RADIATOR CO. 
39 Furnace St.,Rochester,N.Y. 
Prices from 
$2 to $12 
For hard or 
Soft Coal 
wood or gas 
Fits any 
Stove or 
Furnace 
DROKEN CRACKERS are as fresh as whole 
u ones and can be bought at $2 per barrel f. o. b. 
Worcester (about 50 pounds to the barrel) from the 
factory of NEW ENGLAND BISCUIT CO., 
Worcester, Mass., manufacturers of the famous 
“Toasted Hotter ('lackers,” “Little Hrothers Lunch Bisroil,’ 
etc. Check or money order must accompany order. Write us 
ABOUT PATENTS! 
Let us 
Tell You - — - _ 
Full Information Without Charge. 
Our free books tell WHAT TO INVENT and 
HOW TO OBTAIN A PATENT. Write for them. 
Send sketch for free opinion as to 
patentability. We advertise patents 
for sale free. Patent obtained or 
fee returned. Highest class of serv¬ 
ices. Ask for our references. 
Woodward & Chandlee, Registered Attorneys, 
1252 F Street, Washington, D. C. 
Sunlight Double-Glass Sash Company 
E«t twvar LOUISVILLE, ICY. 
The double layer of glass 
-- does it==== 
Lets in the light always. 
Never has to be covered or un¬ 
covered; no boards or mats 
needed. 
Retains the heat, excludes the cold. 
Makes stronger and earlier plants. 
Class slips in; no putty; cannot 
work loose; easily rtpaired. 
Ask for catalog O • It tefis aft 
about Sunlight sash. 
Special catalog for greenhouse material 
