The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-05-07
Odd Time. and New.

Old Times and New.
Is there anything more fascinating than look
ing over old letters 2-letters that have boon ac-
cumulating for almost half century.
have some in my possession that were writ
ten to my parents in 1886, when / was little
girl at boarding They are faded and
worn, old-fashioned and old-looking, no en-
velopes, but folded and directed on the last
page, sealed with a wafer impressed with the
top OF a thimbe, or with sealing-wax, stamped
with seal. This part of my letter will prOba-
bly, interest the children: These seals gener-
ally had motto, and would leave the inn
preston upon the wax, and looked quite pretty
at the same time would be very suggestive.
l remember that my older sister had very
pretty stamp, with the letters U Y l. for an inn
press, and, of course, ii was very fiattering to
her correspondent TO receive such an open
declaration and, Of course. wanted a seal, for
/ occasionally wrote to some one besides father
and mother in those days. Money did not grow
on trees, and children did not readily have
everything they wished for so you may know l
was happy when my mother gave me quarter,
and said might buy seal.
looked over the assortment in the store, and
fancied one with little lamb, and the word
Innocence" 1 fastened home, filled with
childish delight, showed it to my sister, who
was several years my senior-magine my cha
grin when she said
"why, Lucy they will think you are a sheep.
What did you get that for?"
Girls don't YOU hate to change things after
You have bought them? l did, most assuredly;
but knew that sheep would never do, no mat
ter now innocent, 80 TO the store went, and my
fancy fetched ''your faithful friend, with
little dog underneath.
Then what?
Why, of course, had made another mistake
hut I of no fac my sista
said
"why, You little goosey! / would Just as
soon be a sheep dog and l would not
want to stamp any letters with dog.
Well, the clerk was n good-natured one, and /
guess enjoyed the Joke, and was quite willing to
help me out of the difficulty, and presume l
allowed him TO select something appropriate. /
do not remember now what il was.
When / look at the letters written, folded,
mailed and read 80 many years ago, wonder
what the youth of nowadays would think could
they see them The advantages then were not
such as we now enjoy. The paper was rough,
the sheets very large, no pretty fancy boxes and
delicate note paper, and no beautiful envelopes.
We bought our paper by the sheet, quire or
ream; and, if we had nothing much to write
about, the size of sheet looked formidable.
Our pens were generally made of quilts, and one
of our lessons in school was to make our own
pens.
1t IL by comparison that we appreciate and
enjoy the advancement of the age. We wonder
how we ever accomplished anything Mt ALL when
we see the many improvements and conven-
fences time has wrought. We are every day sur
priced and amazed at new developments and
new patents, new theories and new projects
Our ancestors would almost believe that fairies
were facts if they could suddenly appear upon
this stage of action. The steam-engine, the
telegraph through our own land, and the cable,
enore wonderful, under the sea. The candle
al no 80
pensable, have taken n very far back seat, and
are lost in the glare of the gas, which soon w1l
give place to something still more wonderful
and we await ITS coming almost impatienty.
The spinning wheels upon which our grand
mothers played 80 skilfully are few and rare,
and only resurrected for some old-fashioned
tea party, or money-making object of charity.
Had we been told only forty years ago that
the time would SO soon come when we could do
our sewing by machinery, and that machinery
compact and simple that we could have it in
our own homes, at our own command, we would
scarcely have had faith to believe it. And what
may not expect in the coming fifty years
/ shall not be here to know, but some of the
very youthful readers of The LEDGER will, and
possibly some of them will be the patentees of
still greater wonders and they. like us will look
back and compare the " now and then.
II does really seem as if everything useful
and needful had been invented, but the mind is
graspng, and continually reaches for something
more-something greater.
As the steam-engine il far ahead of the old
fashioned stage-coach, with its rolling, tossing,
sea-sclI motion, SO may time bring to the COM
ing man (womcn and children, too,) more
speedy, safer travelling conveyance than ever
yet invented.
We never have put any confidence i'll the fly
ing machine (do not think should like IT'D, yet
the day may come when even this will be
success.
This il beautiful world, wonderful world,
and life is really worth living. Home is what
we make it, and / echo Rover's wish that we
strive to make it what it ought to be.
Home has justly been called "woman's en-
pire, and she should make il hallowed spot.
lis here where she may diffuse the greatest
earthly happiness, or inilict the greatest misery.
We need all the Christian graces to keep the
machinery of our homes in smooth running
order. We cannot learn everything in day.
Experience must be the teacher. There is
many child-wife, like Dora but all young bus
bands are not Davids, and have not the charity
to make allowance for the youthful inexperi-
ence, but expect the untaught wife to do just
az his mother did after her many years of house,
hold study-of unceasng toll and labor.
Mothers, teach your daughters-not all in one
day, but gradually-that which they need TO
know when they leave the parent roof. The
education they need is not all written III books
Much of 1t is i'll the mothers heart, and needs
/ to be patiently transferred Show them the
/ good theory, and help them to make the practi-
/ cal use of il.
You can prevent yourichidren from stumbling
/ by showing them the blocks that were i'm your
way. You can prevent their making mistakes
Nv telling them of the mistakes you have made
.ou can make household study pleasure or q
burden system, / find one of the best oils for
running the machinery-then patience, neat
Ness economy, and great watchfulness of triiing
things-little matters that one would scarcely
think worth noticing, yet, in the aggregate,
mountains in the great problem of good house
keeping. AUNT LUCY
CHICAGO, III.