The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-05-09
"RURAL'S" FANCIES.
She Dwells Up0n the Poetic and the
PrOSaic of Farm Life at
Riverdale.
A Glimpse at Some of the Recently
Published Books and the Late
Magazines.

Special correspondence of the MINER
RavERDALE RANCH, May 2.
April has done her share of thu
spring threatening and blowing, and
is leaving us, with pleasant memo
ries of her last few sunny days
Flowing and plating are proceed
ing rapidly; the hills are donine
their summer robes of green, the
flowers peep out, here and there. the
river sings joyously in concert with
the meadow larks; the wee downy
chickens and the frisking calves or
the hillside, or in valley pasture, all
suggest the growing season, and the
sun shines brightly over all, with his
royal benediction. I always appre.
ciated the poetic side of country life
but it does not prevent the poet that
there is
A VERY PRosAIC SIDE,
as well. The pleasure to be gained,
is by faithfully, promptly and low
ingly p. rforming the necessary work
with eyes and ears open to catch all
the music and beauty that make up
the poetry. My favorite hour is that
of early morning, before the sui
creeps over the eastern mountain. /
always step to the door for a picture
before begin getting breakfast. 1t is
the constant thought and worry over
work that makes 1t drudgery. So
much of our labor is, or may be me-
chanically performed that we may
have many inspiring thoughts and
beautiful fancies while our hands are
busy with very homely details. 1t is
not necessary to concentrate every
thought and energey upon the frying
of ham and eggs, and you may as
well be thinking of that lovely, re-
freshing view up the little wooded
gulch, as to be fretting because there
is not enough of that white goods to
rutf1e CARRIES apron. Ruffies take
time to make and iron, and give
LOTS OF BACKACHES.
I ought to give credit where it is
due, and aclz nowledge that many of
my common sense ideas are sue gested
by that helpful little monthly publ
cation, the Housekeeper, published
by the Buckeye Publishing Company
of Minneapolis. 1t is only ST year,
and is so full of hints and helps for
housekeepers and mothers, it is q
gem. The same firm publishes the
best cook book I ever saw; it is more
than q cook book, for it has depart
ment for medicine, one for toilet, etc.
Their book on etiquette, The Man,
ners That JVin, is the most valuable
work Of its kind l know. With the
Housekeeper to help in cooking, fancy
work, furnishing, planning, etc., and
the Domestic Monthly, from Blake &
Co., of New York, for fashions, etc. +,
country folk can be we'll equipped for
our home work. l wonder how
many ladies get a mania once in a
while tor making
MONEY OF THEIR VERY OWN?
I think great many do. Let me
sugget to such, to send, as l did, to
Samuel M. Largelere, 237 and 239
Dock street, Philadelphia, for the
bright little book, Ho,v I Made
Money at Home, by johns Wife. l
believe Its price is 80 cents. 1t con-
t.ins essays on silk Culture. :" "
"Bees," "Canaries," "One Cow
"Chickens," and "Incubator. All
the articles are entertaingly written
and are full of suggestions. The best
of it is, they inspire the reader to ''go
and do likewise" "What one has
done another may do" I suppose
we cannot do much with silk worms
and bees here, but the other subjects
are OF practical benefit to us all.
The more l think of it, the more I
am convinced that raising poultry
will be profitable here for q long time
to come. I am studying up the sub
ject my head is quite confused as to
lncubators and different breeds of
fowls, but when I get my ideas ar
ranged 7 shall tell you my cOnclu-
sions. Another subject that interests
me is that of
at least, raspberries, currants and
gooseberries. Where the wild variety
grows so profusely, it seems as if cul-
tivated varieties would do splendidly.
am informing myself about that,
too.
Our young folks on the ranch are
reading the interesting stories in D.
Lathrop & Co.'s Young Folks LII
brary. Each volume, of nearly four
hundred pages, costs only twenty-five
cents. The last volume published is
Lutte Fdlconer, a story with all the
elements of interest, and sustained
moral, which le not so conspicuous as
to become tiresome, but applied so as
to be impressive. Our little six-year-
old BOY thinks the Pan$y is the very
incest magazine published, and he is
not far wrong. The Vide AWake Is
for older children. but l have not
seen that for some time. Both are
published by D. Lathrop & Co., of
Boston. A week or two ago l read
Il Penniless Girl, a story translated
from the German, anu published by