388 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 25, 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
TUB OPTIMIST. 
The cynics say that every rose 
Is guarded by a thorn that grows 
To spoil our posies; 
Rut I, therefore, no pleasure lack— 
1 keep my hands behind my back 
When smelling roses. 
’Tis proved that Sodom’s apple tarts 
Have ashes as component parts 
For those who steal ’em. 
My soul no disillusion seeks— 
I love the apples’ rosy cheeks 
And never peel ’em. 
Though outwardly a gloomy shroud, 
Tile inner half of every cloud 
Is bright and shining. 
I, therefore, turn my clouds about 
And always wear them inside out 
To show the lining. 
Our idol's feet are made of clay 
The stony-hearted critics say 
With scornful mockings; 
My images are deified 
Recause I keep them well supplied 
With shoes and stockings. 
My modus operand! this: 
To take no note of what’s amiss— 
And—not a had one. 
Recause, as Shakespeare used to say, 
A merry heart goes twice the way 
That tires a sad one. 
—Ellen Thorncycroft Fowler. 
* 
Big pompons in raffia, of all colors, 
appear in the Spring millinery. They 
cost 48 cents each. A large “Merry 
Widow” sailor hat of burnt straw was 
trimmed with a band of brown ribbon 
and three raffia pompons, brown, old 
apricot and orange; the effect was 
simple, but very stylish. 
* 
To serve “eggs in prison,” butter a 
baking cup for each person, sprinkle 
with bread crumbs, and line each cup 
with chopped cooked meat, seasoned 
with parsley and onion, and moistened 
with gravy. Put in the oven until the 
meat is well heated, then take ®ut, 
break an egg into each cup, and bake 
until the egg is just set; serve at once. 
* 
Little coats of black taffeta are back 
again, and will be found very desirable 
for Summer wear. They are trimmed 
with straps of the same material, and 
many of them are a cutaway model, 
with a little vest. It would not be 
difficult to remodel an out-of-date 
taffeta coat by adding the vest, and 
making the sleeves three-quarter length, 
with an inlaid cuff to match the vest. 
* 
A smart new style in shirt waists is 
a plain tailored model of white linen, 
the front tucked, with collar and cuffs 
of colored linen, pink, light blue or 
lavender. Such a waist costs $4.95. A 
tailored waist of plain white linen is 
$2.50, which suggests the economy of 
being able to sew nicely, for linen of 
the quality required, white and colored, 
has sold lately, at special bargains, for 
25 cents a yard, and 3J4 yards will make 
the waist. 
* 
We have often urged the advantages 
of good reading, with the full confidence 
that, as a rule, the farm home is more 
likely to appreciate these advantages 
than any other class. An editorial on 
this subject in the well-informed New 
York Evening Post is worth quoting: 
The average private “library” in thin 
city is a pathetic collection of odds and 
ends, picked up without forethought or even 
intelligence. The kitchen is far more sys¬ 
tematically and thoroughly furnished; and 
the mistress of the house would be aghast 
at. the idea of setting her dinner table with 
a similar array of coarse, incongruous, 
broken, and ugly dishes. But without a 
blush or a word of apology people of wealth 
and presumably of some cultivation fill 
their pitifully few shelves with books that 
are a disgrace to their owners. This 
shortcoming is the less excusable because 
Jn these days of well-made reprints a very 
few hundred dollars will enable even a 
poor man to procure a library of the best 
histories, assays, letters, . travels, poetry, 
and novels—books that are thoroughly in¬ 
teresting and worth reading. And there 
has never been a time when it was more 
important to offer children excellent books 
for home reading. The problem of attract¬ 
ing the young to literature has changed 
within two decades. The yellow newspapers 
are shrieking in our streets. The yellow 
magazines, streaked, speckled, and spotted, 
catch the eye at every corner. The tempta¬ 
tion to fritter away (line and energy on 
scraps and snippets which are always vocif¬ 
erous and frequently amusing has never 
been so overwhelming. The parent who 
would erect some barrier against this en¬ 
gulfing flood must have in bis own house 
books of strength and vitality, lie must 
have a library that is something better 
than a literary catch-all. 
* 
Recent inquiries asking us to recom¬ 
mend some “matrimonial” paper invite 
some comment on this subject. We do 
not hesitate to say that such publica¬ 
tions are always objectionable, some¬ 
times offensive to decency, and occa¬ 
sionally absolutely dangerous to per¬ 
sonal morals. They appeal especially 
to idle young people of shallow brain 
and limited education, who think there 
is something “romantic” in forming ac¬ 
quaintance by corresponding with some 
stranger. Naturally, the opportunities 
thus offered attract the vicious, and 
there is always the possibility of such 
correspondence putting a young man or 
young woman in the hands of a black¬ 
mailer, whose demands will weave a 
long web of misery and deceit, with its 
attendant moral deterioration. As for 
the possibilities of marriage held out 
by such sheets, is anyone so fatuous as 
to believe that a “beautiful young girl 
of 18, with $10,000,” or a “handsome 
man of 30, with income of $4,000 a 
year,” finds it necessary to advertise 
for a life partner? It is quite possible 
that there are cases where an honest 
person of limited horizon does adver¬ 
tise in such papers, but let any young 
woman look about her, and no matter 
how limited her outlook, she will find 
more possibilities of future happiness 
in her own familiar circle than among 
strangers who are only idealized by dis¬ 
tance. When we add to this the dan¬ 
gers that may come from familiar cor¬ 
respondence with complete strangers— 
and there are even graver dangers than 
possible blackmail for an inexperienced 
girl—we can find plenty of reasons for 
keeping these vulgar publications out of 
the family. _ 
Grievous Words. 
Years ago, when I was at an age 
which I now recall as quite inexperi¬ 
enced and undisciplined, I spent one long 
beautiful Summer with friends by the 
sea. There was in the family a “horrid” 
child, a girl of eight or nine perhaps. 
Ordinarily I had no personal interest in 
her tantrums, and found them highly 
amusing, much as I pitied those who had 
her in charge. But one sunny day it 
“horrid” little girl are by no means rare. 
The little girl—let me say for the con¬ 
solation of all who have to do with 
such—has turned out a woman of un¬ 
usual ability as a scholar, and with force 
to carve out a career for herself. She 
no doubt looks back upon those tur¬ 
bulent warrings of unmastered forces 
pent up within her highly charged 
nature, and comprehends them as little 
as did her friends. 
The Rev. Samuel McComb, leader of 
the Emanuel Church Movement in Bos¬ 
ton, must have been permitted to bend 
his pitying eyes upon more heart misery 
than most of us could bear to contem¬ 
plate. Concerning everyday discords he 
has this to say: “Not only in the homes 
of the degraded and vicious, but sad to 
say in those also of the Christian and 
the cultivated, there is constant friction, 
perpetual bickering, sometimes painful 
quarrels. Is it any wonder that in this 
atmosphere all sorts of neurotic wretch¬ 
edness flourishes?” 
As the results of anger, jealousy and 
discontent are better understood, we 
shall all grow more and more careful 
what sorts of thought we let have con¬ 
trol of us. We shall learn to feel pity 
rather than resentment toward those 
who suffer from discordant thinking. If 
the mother and daughter of whom I 
have spoken con'd hut see the pitiful 
uselessness of spoiling each the other’s 
life; if they could realize that “when 
you are ugly it makes me ugly;” and 
that, as from a sounding board, the 
thoughts we give out come back to us 
in like returns; if they could realize that 
the angry, quarrelsome thoughts and the 
constant stomach trouble are but two 
ends of the same thing, one cause, the 
other effect, would they not set about 
finding a way out of the vicious circle? 
Hard things are seldom hopelessly hard 
when we understand them. The French 
phrase “Tout comprendre e’est tout 
pardonner” is full of wisdom. Truly, 
to understand all is to pardon all. Not 
only mutual forgiveness but compassion 
for each other would follow when this 
mother and daughter fully understood 
■the other’s case. Had I comprehended 
the weight of the “horrid” little girl’s 
misfortune could I have thought her 
tempers merely absurd? Would I not 
have been careful that no impatience on 
my part aroused into activity the demons 
under which she suffered? w. w. 
A man who must separate himself 
from his neighbor’s habits in order to 
be happy is in much the same case with 
one who requires to take opium for the 
same purpose. There is apt to be some¬ 
thing unmanly, something almost das¬ 
tardly, in a life that does not move with 
dash and freedom, and that fears the 
bracing contact of the world.—R. L. 
Stevenson. 
PIERCE, BUTLER & PIERCE 
MFG. CO., SYRACUSE, N.Y. 
Boilers and ‘Radiators 
For $ team; or Water Heating 
“Pierce” Boilers arc backed by 30 years’ 
manufacturing experience and perfected after 
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during that time. Any grade of fuel can be 
used with surety of maximum results. The 
gases of combustion arc turned back and forth 
across the water surfaces (sec illustration) until 
every possible heat unit is absorbed by the heat¬ 
ing medium. “Common Sense Heating and 
Sanitary Plumbing,” is a free booklet sent on 
request. (Ask for Book A). It tells you how to 
save waste in heating any type of building and 
also gives suggestions for Sanitary Plumbing 
equipment. It pays to procure both Heating 
and Plumbing Goods of one manufacture. 
able — no danger, 
requires little at¬ 
tention. saves fuel 
and chicks. The 
only device that 
will maintain any 
desired even tem- 
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Write lor descrip¬ 
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Waste in your method of heating is 
due to improper use of fuels, poor com¬ 
bustion, poor absorption of heat 
units and poor distribution of 
heat to the different rooms. Be¬ 
sides this waste indicated by loss 
of heated gases and other ele¬ 
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inferior equipment that means 
continually increasing expense 
for repairs and renewal. You 
can save this waste by in¬ 
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i'*Vt si 
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iirpl IPCl? 99 PANTRY 
HAj JLvlr 0£y LARDER. 
Keep Food Sweet and Wholesome in this all- 
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Easily cleaned. No odors. A substitute or an 
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SPECIAL OFFER. If dealer 
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supply, order direct from fac¬ 
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Freight prepaid to Min-, a Ohio 
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Commercial National Bank of 
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Booklet of Nursery Bhyuies. 
STANDARD GAUGE MFG. CO,, Filter Dept, 12, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Well 
DRILLING & 
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Fastest drillers known. Great money earners 1 
LCOMIS MACHINE CO., TIFFIN, OHIO. 
chanced that she and I went forth to 
gather Beach plums. Soon her frettng 
began. “I’m not going to stay at these 
old bushes. There aren’t any worth 
picking here. Come over to that big 
clump beyond the last cottage.” Of 
course my young lady dignity was net¬ 
tled at once, and after a little more of 
her nagging was ready with the reply 
that she might tramp as far in the sand 
as she wished, but that I should like to 
remain longer where I was. Instantly 
came her hot response, “There now; as 
soon as you are ugly it makes me ugly!” 
It has never been my hard fortune 
to live in an atmosphere of disagree¬ 
ments and quarrel, but a recent experi¬ 
ence has brought to mind the dreadful 
little girl and her “when you are ugly 
it makes me ugly.” The present ex¬ 
ample is of a mother and daughter, the 
latter a grown woman. Both are miser¬ 
ably nervous, quarrelsome and of little 
•self-control. Such misfortune! Each 
happier when the other is away; each a 
prey to nervous indigestion, and neither 
a person you would willingly ask to re¬ 
main a twelvemonth beneath your roof. 
Unfortunately the case of the incom¬ 
patible mother and daughter and of the 
Three generations ol 
Simpsons have made 
EDbystoNE 
PRINTS 
Founded 1843 
Ask your dealer for 
Simpson- Eddy stone 
Shepherd Plaids 
The famous old " Simpson ” Prints 
made only in Lddysloue. 
Dainty and cool for spring and 
summer. Low-priced wash fabrics 
of splendid wearing quality. 
Some goods with a new silk finish. 
1 f your dealer hasn't Simpson -Eddystone Prints 
write us bis name. We'll help him supply you, 
Decline substitutes and imitations. 
The Eddystone Mfg. Co.. Philadelphia 
Established by Wm. Simpson, Sr. 
Btn 
WATER. 
THE PERFECT SYSTEM. 
Accomplishes what others almost do. Pressure 
superior to any elevated structure. Entire freedom 
from Frost Tank. Special Fittings, Gasoline Engine 
and Pump complete A an 
and dependable, qj) i. 4 / • 
Send Postal for Book “ N.” 
BRACKETT, SHAW & LUNT 
COMPANY, 
Somersworth, N. H. Boston, Mass. 
