Year: 1873

rower OF adaptation the manifold aspeets OF me- IL
o. the fruit Of reflection not Of IMAGINATION ahu ahousn
un, free from certain delightful extravaganza aOounds


,n On. suseestions Of practical wisdom OF which Ben


n the priper OF Socrates the sage need not to have
seen ashamed The writer. however, deals less with
PHILOSOPHY than with irony. She is more fond OF
sauapt assertion than Of cautious discussion In her
,unat,epce with the absurd family of Adam and Eve
she sometimes makes up vehemence for what is lack
ing In argument Dry reasoning is not so decidedly her
forte as impusive and perhaps explosive statement
But tone OF her book Is sane and wholesome she
g. the partisan OF good health good diet good company
godly ways in the household II not OF
the gospel Of muscle Her pen gldes defty IN and out
among thorny points and what she cannot reach by
demonstration she scizeS by intuition. g0od example
Of her fine, rambling vivaeOus talk Is found under
the st.e OF "A Companion for the winter OF wmch
taste may he given by one or two paragraphs.
81 have engaged companion for the Winter IL "ou"
h SIMPLY superauOus egosm to say this to the puo'c'
e1nep, that have philantmOpc motive for DOING SO
There are many lonely people who are IN neeu ol co
pauiou possessing lust such qualities Is MS anu " ~
brothers sngularly like himself whose services "a" 20
secured despair OF doing justice to him by any de-
scrptan In fact thus faT, discover new perecuons
An him da,lv and believe that am yet only on the
sbrshold of our friendship In conversation he Is more
suggestive than any person have ever known Ater
two or three hours alone with him. am sometimes al
n,os startled to look back and through what mar
yeons train OF fancy and reflection he has led me- Yet
IA never vorly and often conveys his subest mean
,ne tv look lie is an artist TOO, of the rares sort
You watch the process under which his pictures grow
with incredulous wonder The Eastern whchd drops
the seed n the mold aud bids shoot no before your
eyes blossom and its fruit in hour is tardy and
snmsy by SIDE the creative genius Of my companion
m touch ia swift IS air his coOring is vivid as light
he has learned. know not how, the secrets OF hidden
places in all lands and he paints now tufted clumpo
soft cocoa palms the spires and walls OF an ice-
berg gtteringu yellow sunlight; now desoate, sandy
waste where black rocks and few crumblng ruins are
IN up by a lurid glow then cathedral front, with
earytnes like lace then the skeleton OF wrecked
snip with bare RIBS and broken maSts-and all so exact
80 minute life-ke, that yoI believe no man
could paint thus any thing which he had not seem
But delay too long the telling of his name. strange
krsiiancy sezes me. shall never be believed by any
one who has not sat a. have by his side. But II can
only give 10 Que soul the gOodcheer and strength OF
saeh presence. shall be rewarded. His name is Maple
wooire and his terms are from eight TO twelve dollars
. mouth, according TO the amount OF time lie gives
This price rdiculousy low but Il is all that any men,
Der Of the family asks in fact, in some parts OF the
country they can be hired for much less. They have
connections by the name OF Hickory. whose terms are
higher: but cannot find out that they are any more
satisfactory. There also some distant relations,
named Ches nut and Pue who can be employed IN the
same way at much lower rate but they are all snap
pish and uncertain in temper. To the whole world
commend the good brotherhood Of Maple aud pass on
the emphatic Endorsement Of blessed old black woman
who came my the other day, and, standing be-
fere the rolcking blaze my hearth, said. Bless yer
honey, yers got wOod-nre. Use alters said that II
yer's got a woodire, yers got meat, an drink, an
eloes.'"


In the chapter on Learning TO Speak" feature mot
eien commented on OF American life is exhibited in
light by means fascinating. 1t may surprise many
readers told that the citizen of our free
and happy land" is a reticent tacturn, speeehess
creature who needs anything else to learn 10
speak But listen to II. H. in her high didactc mood.


Look OF our silent railway and horsecars, steamboat
cabins hoteltsbles short all our public places where
people are thrown together incidentally and where
goodwill and the habit OF speaking combined would
create an atmosphere Of human vitality, quite unlike
what we see But IL is not OF much consequence


all whether people speak in these public places or
not they did one unpleasant phase OF our ma
tonal life would he greatly changed for the better But
i is in our homes that this speechlessness tells most
fearfuy-on the breakfast and dinner and testaoles,
at which silent father and mother sit down in haste
and gloom feed their depressed children This Is es-
pecally true Of and women in the rural distrcts
They are tired; they have more work TO do in year
than Il is easy TO do Their lives monotOnOus,-too
much 80 for best health of either mind or body If
they dreamed how much this monoony could be broken
and by the constant habit of talking with each
other they would grasp at the slightest chance OF con-
yersation. Sometimes il almost seems as If complaints
and antagonsm were better than such stagnant quiet
Eui there need be complaint aud antagonsm there
Is 10 home 80 DOOR, 40 remote from affairs that each day
does moi bring and set ready, for family welcome and
discussion beautiful sights and sounds, occasions for
hpulncs~ and gratitude questions for decision, hopes
:eArs grets The elements OF human life the same9
forever: any one heart holds in itself the whole,


give AL things another, bear all things for another;
but no giving no bearing no not even IL II is the giving
up Of hie II done without free, full loving inter
change speech Is half the blessing might be. Many
wife goes down her grave dulled aud dispiritcd
woman simply because her good and faithful husband
xed bV her side wit 10
have been days when word Of praise or one word
even Of simple good cheer, would have grded her UP
with new strength She did not know, very likely, what
she needed or that she needed anything; but she
dropped Many child grows up a hard, unimpres-
sioDable unOving man or woman simply from the un-
sheered silence which first ten years life
fluent perhap in society, habtualy talk with their
children. II is certain that this is Of the worst
shortcomings Of homes Perhaps that no other single
change would do much 20 make them happier. and,
therefore, TO make communities better, FOR
and women to learn 10 speak"


our brave cOuutrymeD, too II. Fl. assures rs are
soemn race European on first landing on our shores
would suppose that great calamity had Just befaen
the nation Out the first Ave hundred faces which he
ares moi ten would wear a smile He would find hardly
Sfeen persons all told that looked If they could
smile. You do not believe this But Handsome Hypa-
tia tells that the truth is this wreched and Joyess
expression the American face is common that we
are seeing it, and look for nothing better
Only when by chance some blessed, rockDg, sunshiny
boy OF girl flashes the beam Of their
laughing cOuntenance into the level gloom do
Know that we in the dark Witness the instant ef
feet Of the entrance person into omnibus or


car Who has not observed iti Even the most stOlid
and apathetic soul rclaxes little. The uncOnscous1n
trader simply by smiling has the blood moving