DE'I‘ROI'I‘, JAN.

10, 1591.

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

THE NEW YEAR.

 

What shall the new year bring thee?
Silver and gold?
Freedom from toil‘s grim bondage!
Pleasures untold?
Days full of dreamy leisure!
Nights of delicious ev set
Never a breath to ruffle
The calm of life‘s placid seas?

Ahl would’st thou pray ’twouid bear thee
Love’s rosy dreams?
Days when thy life with wildest
Ecstasy teems?
Moments when lips will meet thee
Warm with a waiting kiss?
Hours that brightly greet thee
Laden with purest bliss?

What will the new year bring thee?
Crowned desires?
Hope’s unfulfillment? Grief‘s
Raveuing fires?
Riches of love or laurels?
What e'er to thy lot be sent.
God grant the new year'll bring thee
Peace, and a heart content.

 

JOSEPHINE, EMPRESS OF THE
FRENCH.

Mademoiselle Rhea’s play bearing the
above title, which I witnessed for the
second timexlast week, gained a fresh in-
terest through the perusal of Saint-
Amand’s series of books on the French
empresses, mentioned in the last HonsE-
HOLD. The playwrights and writers of so-
called novels usually take astonishing
liberties in their dealings with historical
facts. Haven, the author of “J osephine,”
has written a very meritorious play. full of
dramatic situations, an epitome of the great
drama played in real life during our cen-
tury, in which kings and queens, em-
perors and empresses were the actors; and
with few historical anachronisms.

The curtain rose for the first act upon a
ball-room in the Tuilleries. Men and
women in the costumes of the First Em-
pire are promenading in a beautiful salon.
The great topic in the minds of all is,
Will Napoleon divorce Josephine? The
young Prince of Holland, son of J osephine’s
daughter Hortense and Napoleon’s brother
Louis, and hence Napoleon’s nephew and
heir, is very ii]. If he dies, the Emperor
has no heir, and the question returns,
Will he seek a divorce and marry again to
ensure a successor to his throne? Prince
Talleyrand (and the actor‘s makeup made
you feel as if perhaps he might be the
wily diplomat in person, so well did the
high forehead. the narrow, crafty eyes, the
square chin and thin bloodless lips, even
the slight limp, carry out the illusicn),

 

favors the separation, and as he offers his
snuff-box to one and another of the gent 1e-
men of the court, adroitiy sounds them on
the matter, delicately flicking an imagin-
ary grain of the scented powder from his
lace ruflies, as if to remove it were after all
more important than what he is saying.
He has not spoken to Fouche, the Minister
of Police, in ten years, but feeling the
time has come when, as he says, “I can
use him,” he acknowledges Fouche’s
apologetic, “ take notice ” cough by offer-
ing the ubiquitous snufl-box—which seems
to have played in First Empire diplomacy
the pacific role of the cigar in modern
politics-and a reconciliation is effected——
if that can be called reconcilement where
each at heart hates, fears and distrusts the
other.

Mme. de Brissac, a pretty widow of
whom the Duke of Dantzic is greatly en-
amoured, has just been appointed a mem-
ber of the Empress’s household. Being
somewhat deaf, and desiring to appear at
her best before the Emperor to whom she
will presently be presented, she inquires
of the ladies what are the three questions
Napoleon invariably propounds on such
occasions, and is told they are “Where
were you born?” “ How old are you?”
“ How many children have you? ” and just
as her lesson is learned the Emperor and
Empress are announced. Rhea wears a
costume of blue and gold brocade, with
the long train, the short full waist, belted
just below the armpits, and the low square-
cut neck and high shoulder puffs for
sleeves which distinguished the fashions of
the First Empire. The part of Napoleon
was taken by Mr. Wm. Harris, who bears
a decided resemblance in face and figure
to the portraits of Napoleon and heightens
the likeness by copying his peculiarities,
the hand thrust into the breast of the uni-
form, the head thrust forward with eyes
somewhat downcast, and the rapid pacing
back and forth when agitated. He wears
Napoleon’s favorite uniform, the white
brelches and waistccat and green coat
in which he is so familiarly pictured. Mme.
de Brissac is presented to him, but alas,
for this once he departs from his usual for-
mula, and repeats “de Brissaci de Brissac!
What killed your husband?” Madame,
who hasn’t heard a word, imagines she is
replying to the first question of her care-
fully conned lesson and gives the name of
her natal province. “ Champaign, your
Majesty.” The startled ladies and gentle-
men look at each other. Then the cate-
chism goes on: “ How many children

    

 

have you?” “Thirty, your Majesty,” and
everybody smiles. “ How old are you? ”
“None, your Majesty.” Even the Em-
perior smiles at this, but the pretty face
and modest demeanor impress him favor-
ably and he dismisses her graciously,
while the courtiers whisper that she will be
a favorite at the court. Pauline Bonaparte,
Napoleon’s sister, gay, vivacious, mali-
cious, who dislikes Josephine and favors
the divorce, boldly approaches him on the
subject and is hidden to be more discreet
and careful, yet leaves him with an in-
sinuation against Josephine, and with a
peal of scorn ful laughter tells him even an
emperor’s edict cannot silence gossip. A
dispatch from The Hague announcing the
death of the Prince of Holland is brought
by a courier. Napoleon does not at once
disclose the news, and a very graceful
quadrille is danced by Josephine and the
court, in which the color of her majesty’s
hose was made no particular mystery. But
when the guests have left the Emperor and
Empress alone for a moment, Josephine
sees the letter, and reads in the Prince’s
death and her husband’s averted face, the
misfortune about to befall her.

The next act portrays the signing of the
divorce, which takes place in the presence
of Josephine’s children, Eugene and Hot.
tense Beaubarnais, Talleyraud, Prince
Cambaceres, the Archr'hancellor of the
Empire, the King of Naples, and the Em-
peror’s private secretary, de Bourienne,
who reads the decree. Josephine comes, her
magnificent court train of crimson velvet
lined with ermine borne by two ladies-in-
waiting, and upon her head the Empress’s
diadem. The decree is read. Eugene and
Hortense beseech her not to sign it, but she
is resolved upon the sacrifice, which she
makes “for France’s sake.” The cold-
blooded Talley rand interrupts the pathetic
interlude between Josephine and her chil-
dren, which he probably fears may weaken
Napoleon’s resolution, by announcing that
the papers are prepared for signing.
Napoleon affixes his signature hastily and
throws the pen from him with a gesture
which says “If ’iwere well done ’twere
well ’twcre done quickly;” Josephine
writes hers with calm deliberation. But
Murat, the fiery King of Naples, can bear
no more. Drawing. his sword, he iiings it
at the feet of Napoleon, renouncing the
service of France; he cannot see so foul a
wrong done to his beloved Empress. Even
when she bids him resume it he replies
“I will not,” and not until she has re-
minded him that she has made the renun-


 

2

¥

ciation of her own free will, for the sake
of France, that if she is satisfied none other
need mmplain, and herself hands him
the sword, will he receive it again.
Then, with incomparable dignity, pathos
and resignation, Josephine turns to
Napoleon, who has remained apparently
unmoved by the events transpiring
about him, and kneeling at his side,
removes the imperial diadem from her
head and holds it toward him. At last
the “ man of destiny” is stirred. He
takes the diamond tiara, but only to re
place it upon her head saying “ Rise, J ose-
phine, Empress of the French,” words
which startle the assembly and even shake
old Talleyrand’s equanimity. But he does
not repudiate the sacrifice just consum-
mated, only softens it by a iew of those
phrases which from the lips of the man
she loves are so precious to a woman’s
heart and mitigate his selfishness in her
eyes.
Perhaps the most touching act of the
play is the third, where Josephine bids
adieu to Napoteon. The latter has left the
salons of the palace, filled with gay revel-
ers who sing and dance despite the de-
thronement of their Empress, has sum-
moned Talleyrand and despatched him to
the Austrian court to make proposals for
the hand of Marie Louise on the Emperor’s
behalf. This is not historical, but fits the
play. Napoleon suggests Talleyrand
might be married to Marie Louise by
proxy, but to this the Prince demurs. “ It
would take too many years to explain the
matter satisfactorily to my wife,” he says;
and indeed, Mme. Talleyrand was less
noted for quickness of apprehension than
for jealousy of her husband. Perhaps she
knew him too well. Then Rustan, the
Mameluke whose life Napoleon saved at
the battle of the Pyramids, and who hence-
forth became his faithful slave, who sleeps
like a watchdog at his threshold and knows
no law but his master’s will, is summoned.
The open window, the clear moonlight, the
calm shining of the stars, waken in Napo-
leon a desire to read the future in the
heavens. “Was not your masterawlse
man?” he asks Rustan. "He was the
wisest man in all Egypt.” “And taught
you his wisdom?” "He did.” “Tell
me, then, how will this day’s work end!
Shall I have a son, Rustan?” The stal-
wart slave in his caitan and cloak strides
to the window and studies the heavens.
“ You shall have a son, oh master.” “ You
are sure, Rustan? 1 shall have a son, and
he shall rule after me?” “ You shall have
ason, my master, but he will not rule
after you." Then Napoleon is angry,
flings Rustan from the window with
violence, saying “ You lie, and the stars
lie, too! Your master wasa fool! ” “ My
master was the wisest man in Egypt, and
the stars cannot lie,” says the determined
Rustan. Napoleon composes himself to
rest, while the Mameluke stretches himself
before the door. Josephine enters by a
secret door, sad-faced wraith in her trailing
white robes, and the Emperor, who wakens
as she reaches his side, springs up, thinking
the assassins he ever fears are in his

 

presence. But it is only his whilom wife,
come for a last farewell beyond the curious,
praying eyes which watched her every
action in public. As they talk the notes of
a rollicking chansonette sung in the salon
below are heard. “It is Pauline; she
triumphs in my downfall!” exclaims the
dethroned Empress, the discarded wife,
and Napoleon peremptorily orders the
music stopped. It does stop, in the midst
of a word, when Rustan delivers the im-
perial mandate. Napoleon tells her he has
decided to ask for the hand of Marie
Louise, and Josephine pleads, “Not the
Austrian, oh Napoleon, not the Austrian!”
But in a few moments more the roll of a
departing carriage and noise of an attend-
ing suite is heard in the courtyard. Jose.
phine's suspicions are aroused, and she
forces ‘the truth from the reluctant Em-
peror. “ It is Talleyrand, on the way t6
Vienna.” She knows all, then, but her
only reproach is “ You might have waited
until tomorrow!”

Josephine, at Malmaison, is anxiously
awaiting news from the Tuilleries. Her
house is decked with flags and the tricolor
of France. instead of the expected courier
comes Pauline Bonaparte, full of stories
of the Emperor’s devotion to his wife, his
anxiety, his great hopes, which she tells
with gusto, narrowly watching Josephine
to see if she can discover evidence of
jealousy or envy. But no, J osephine’s
face only indicates interest and sympathy.
In the midst, the cannon from the Invalides
announce the birth of the Emperor’s
child. The signal was to be five guns if a
girl (in reality the number was twenty-one)
one hundred and one if a boy. In atti-
tudes of intense expectation all counted
the number, Pauline still closely watch-
ing Josephine; at five there wasapause
long enough for all to say with a falling in-
flection, “A girl!” But another gun fol-
lowed, and the curtain goes down on the
joyous chorus, “A boy! ”

A period of nearly three years elapses
before the next act. Napoleon has suf-
fered disastrous defeats, and is a prisoner
about to depart for Elba. Marie Louise
has deserted him and seeks her father’s
protection. Josephine, heartbroken at the
fall of her idol, sits disconsolate among her
ladies when shelter is solicited for a lady
whose carriage has broken down near Mal-
maison. The favor is most courteously
granted, but the visitor is Marie Louise,
en route for Vienna. It is atragic mo-
ment. The rival empresses stand face to
face for the first time. Each scans the other
curiously. History relates that the second
Empress in the midst of her splendors and
in the height of her glory was jealous of
the fascinating creole who was Napoleon’s
wife for nearly fourteen years, and to
whom he wrote those passionate love-letters
which convince us that once, before ambi-
tion entirely ruled him, he possessed a
heart. Josephine gently reminds Marie
Louise of a wife’s duty, tells her it is her
privilege to be near her husband and solace
his exile, but the Austrian haughtily re-
plies that she married an Emperor, not a
prisoner in exile. Stronger words crowd

 

'FHE HOUSEHOLD. ' ,

to Josephine’s lips, till atflast, irritated be»
yond measure by the coldness and heart-
lessness of her visitor, she curses her—4n
good round English with a French accent,
and is regal in her impassioned denuncia—
tion.

And in the last act sorrow reigns at
Malmaison. Josephine is ill, Napoleon in
exile, France distracted, the air thick with
plot and counter-plot. Talleyrand visits
the ex-Empress, and attempts to have
Fouche, whom he finds at Malmaison and
suspects of plotting the return of Napoleon,
arrested in the Empresls’s presence. 111 as
she is, she is quite enough for the crafty
diplomat who had made the Allied Powers
confirm his title of Prince of Benevento in
his own right. She reminds him no one
can be arrested in her presence, and be-
tween sarcasm and invective gives the
Prince a " bad quarter of an hour.” But
the interview with its exciting incidents
hastens the end; and surrounded by her
children and her faithful attendants, she
seems dying. News is brought of Napo-
leon’s return from Elba. She, at least,
will welcome him, if the faithless Empress
will not. She calls for her crown, the
circle of brilliants which Napoleon replaced
upon her head the day of the divorce, and
with weak fingers sets it again on her head.
But it is too heavy; too late; and she puts
it back on the velvet cushion (a little by-
play borrowed from Irving’s Louis XL).
At this moment the Marseillaise is heard-
and the shouts of the people welcoming-
the returning Emperor. A painted scene
sdisclosed at the back of the stage, rep-
resenting Napoleon’s return, and she sinks
dying in the arms of her attendants.

And so the great curtain falls on the
tragic drama, so real that you feel as if
Time had turned a page backward in your
behalf, and you come back with a little
shiver and a sigh, to wonder where your
rubbers have stra 'ed to, and who the
pretty girl in thelbox may be, and if you’ll
be lucky enough to catch the first car; and
J osephine’s sad face haunts all your dreams
for a week:after, while you fall to reading.
Saint-Amend with a sudden access of in-
dustry. BEATRIX.

——————...———-——_
WOMEN IN POLITICS.

1 was glad tofisee the article with the
above title in the HOUSEHOLD of Dec. 20.
I am glad women are thinking on these
lines, asking themselves questions, even if
they do not always reacn logical conclu-
sions.

1n the question of “right” to vote, M.
E. H. has struck the key-note of just
government. Our forefathers were broad
enough to voice the principle that “govern.
ments derive their just powers from the
censent of the governed,” but the idea of
suffrage as the basis of government was so-
new, and the idea of woman’s subjection so
old, that they still deprived one-half of the-
governed of the power to exercise consent.
—the ballot—though the right, being in-
herent, God-given, could not be taken.
away.

I have assumed that the rightof sufirage-
is inherent. Let us see. The Declaration.

 

 


 

 

   

THE HOUSEHOLD. 8

 

of Independence voices the axiom that all
are endowed by the Creator with the right
of lite, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness. These rights imply another—that of
self-protection. In a condition of bar-
barism, the chief means of self-protection
is the “ right arm.” In an organized gov-
ernment like our own, the chief means of
self-protection is the ballot. How? The
majority of votes determines who shall
govern and what shall be the policy of
government, hence, self-protection being a
natural right the ballot is a natural right,
because it is the instrument of self-protec-
tion. It belongs to the people who are
governed. Women are people, women are
governed. Hence women have the right
of suffrage. The power is unjustly with-
held from them by men, and by what
authority? Rev. Minot J. Savage says:
“ What business has any man in America
to decide for any woman, or any body of
women, as to whether she has as much
liberty as is good for her? That is her
business. When we concede that women
have the right, as women, to decide
whether we, as men, have all the liberty
that is good for us, why then we can per-
haps ask that question; but we cannot ask
it with very good grace as long as we have
all the freedom that we choose to take, and
they have only what we choose to give.
That is really the attitude of things herein
America today. From the beginning of
the world until now. women have had
what men have chosen to give, no more,
no less.”
A government of one-half the people, by
one-half the people, for one-half the people,
has inevitably resulted in a very one-
sided government. Women will be sub-
ject to unjust laws as long as they have no
voice in government. In thirty-six of the
States the married mother is not the legal
owner of her child. It is the illegitimate
mother alone who can legally hold her
child.
There is no law on our statute books to
defend a reformed woman. If previous
unchaste character can be proven, a man is
exonerated by man-made law for the vilest
crime. Wendell Phillips uSed to tell ofa
man of his acquaintance who married an
heiress worth fifty thousand dollars. The
law gave the property to her husband,
who could will it to whomsoever he
pleased. He died a year afterward and,
magnanimous man, willed it to his wife on
condition that she should never marry
again. That law, through the persistent
efforts of such men as Wendell Phillips,
Charles Sumner and Rev. D. P. Livermore,
and 001. T. W. Higginson, and such
women as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone and Zerelda G.
Wallace, is happily changed, and lesser
unjust laws have taken its place; but
without doubt a large proportion of
women then, as now, felt they had all the
rights they wanted. ,
I will close with the following opinions
of eminent men on this all‘important sub-
ject:
“ To have a voice in choosing those laws

self-protection due to every one. Under
whatever conditions, and within whatever
limits men are admitted to the suffrage,
there is not a shadow of justification for
not admitting women under the same.”
-—John Stuart le'll.
“Justice is on the side of woman suf-
frage.”— William H. Seward.
“I go for all sharing the privilege of
government who assist in bearing its bur-
dens, by no means excluding women.”—
Abralzam Lincoln.
“ in the progress of civilization woman
suflrage is sure to come.”—0ha7-Zes Sum-
7m.
“ Woman must be enfranchised. It is a
mere question of time. She must be a
slave or an equal, there is no middle
ground.”—00l. T. W. Higgz'naon.
“ There is not a thoughtful opponent of
woman suflrage to be found who is not
obliged to deny the doctrine which is af-
firmed in our Declaration of Indepen-
dence.”— George F. Hoar.
“ I am, and always have been in favor
of female suffrage. The government of the
United States ought either to free women
from paying taxes, or else give them the
ballot.”-~T. De Witt Talmage.
BELLE M. PERRY.

 

PASTIMES, AMUSEMENTS AND BE-
CREATION.

.._-._

[Paper read by Mrs. D. H Sneer. before the
Liberty Farmers‘ Club.]

The popular pastimes, amusements and
recreations of our day are numerous. I
shall speak of only a few that have come
under my observation during the last half
century.

I think it a good thing to have the
question of amusements discussed, for
we, as farmers, take too little time from
money getting, hard work, and anxious
care. All lawful enjoyment is useful as
well as delightful. " Recreation is aholy
necessity of human nature.” Every person,
for health of body and mind, requires some
pastimes in the form of amusement and
diversion from the daily routine of toil,
whether it be moral, mental or physical.
All young people are fond of pleasure.
“ Nature itself teaches us that youth is a.
season for mirth and glee;” and it is beauti.
ful to see hoary heads joined with silken
locks in the same innocent amusements.
The young require diversity of amusements
to satisfy their great activity, and to learn
what fun they can get out of life. It is an
undisputed fact that youth requires more
recreation, fun, play and sport to develop
a healthy organism than a grown person

are wrong, for that would require a
volume rather than an essay; but we must
consider all pastimes in relation to others
whether they are harmful inasmuch as they
lead others into unsafe places and harm.
Different kinds of games have their devo
tees; some like Authors, and for others it is
a dull game, and old; but it has one
interesting feature, which is to ac
quaint us with the writers of the books we
read. Dominoes, checkers and other home
games are not forbidden by law, and are
innocent in themselves unless we .negleet
business or study for their indulgence.

The question was asked M try T. Li-
throp (at convention) which kind of games
should we give our children for amuse-
ment;she replied “Any kind only games of
chance; draw the line right there.” It
left me quite as ignorant as I was before,
I knew so little about games. B-it I have
never heard of any evil that ever came to
a community, city, or family on account
of these simple games. I wish to speak of
one game not quite as old or populates
some; it is called word making and word
taking; and with a dictionary, four, five
or six persons can make alively and useful
evening for those who have labored through
the day. it is a useful, restful pastink as
well as instructive in teaching the pro—
nunciation and definition or words.

A physical laborer should be entertained
with something to awaken the understand-
ing, to divert and occupy the mind in a
pleasant manner, that will recuperate con-
stitutional wear and build up the wasted
powers. But for the student. teacher,
book-keeper, or any person whose brain
work is in excesss of the physical, these
quiet, restful games should be changed for
the gymnasium or ball games. Lawn
tennis, parlor or lawn croquet, or a private
dance would be more restful and profitable
recreation. Rev. A. G. Morris says he
cannot see any impropriety in the trained
and graceful movements of the limbs in.
their scientific and artistic exercise, or any
moral evil in persons indulging at proper
times in the dance. But it may make a
difference what kind of a dance it is.
When a young“geutleman and lady, with
his arm around her waist, and her head
reclining lovingly upon his shoulder
(hugging to music) go bounding and
whirling about the room, I taink it ex-
tremely disgraceful. If a married couple
should embrace each other in the same
manner, without the music, and march
around the room in the presence of other
company, they would be condemned by all

needs to keep one that is already developed.
I wish to call your attention to the dif-
ference between mere amusement, and
recreation. If we engage in the former to
kill time, to lull the faculties, banish re~
flection, gratify or divert ourselves, we
exert a debasing influence upon young
and undeveloped minds, and degrade our
own lives, while all the nobler things of
life are re-created by the free and joyful
action of our higher faculties.

I will not attempt to answer the ques

 

by whom one is governed, is a means of

decent people. Then why should boys
and girls in their ’teens enjoy such
privileges more than we of mature years?
I think I hear some of you saying that is
not the way they were taught by their
dancing masters, but that is the way I see
them waltz at public places of resort, and
at fairs as well as at private receptions.

Another very popular amusement of our
day is card playing, over which many
families are as much divided as this Far-
mers’ Club, and yet they do not break up;
if each goes half way the contention is

 

tion which amusements are right or which

very short, and those who wish to indulge

  

  
   
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
   
  
 
 
  
   
   
    
  
  
  
 
   
   
 
 
  
 
   
 
  
   
 
  
 
  
   
    
   
  
  
   
  
 
   
  
  
  
    
  
     
 
    
   
  
  
    

 
   
 

 
 


 

4- 'I‘HE HOUSEHOLD.

 

,in the game can do so unmolested, while
the other side can find something to their
liking. I do rot think there is any harm
in those oblong pieces of pasteboard, or in
the pictures of the kings and queens or
spots upon them, but in the use that is
made of them. I am told that all the best
society play cards. While I admit that to
be true, you must also admit that all the
very lowest, drinkers and gamblers, play
the same games.

Again I am told that dominoes are just

as bad; we can play domino euchre,
domino rounce and domino poker for the
drinks and cigars. I admit that may be
true; you can also play block game, draw
game, muggins, bergen game, binga,
matados, and tiddledywinks with domi-
noes.
Now I ask those who are familiar with
both which is the most enticing and allur-
jng, cards or dominoes. Which can you
shufiie the easiest and cheat the most with,
without being detected in a game? I will
show you the history of the two.

The origin of cards is like dancing, very
ancient and eastern. The first account we
have in history is a pack of Hindostanee
cards in possession of the Royal Asiatic
Society, presented to Captain Cromwell
shah in 1815 by a high caste Brahmin,
and declared by the doner to be 1,000
years old. In China, before any dates were
given, cards were devised to divert the
numerous wives of their kings. When
they were first introduced into France, they
were gilt and high colored and used to
amuse the king, who had lost his reason. In
1420, gambling by means of cards had
grown to such a pitch as to provoke St.
Bernardo to preach against it at Belanga;
and so eloquently as to cause his hearers
to make a fire in a public place and throw

all the cards in their possession into it.
Inthe reign of Edward IV. in England

they were played by all the worshipful or
notable people, the gentry, and importa-
tion was prohibited and the home trade

protected.

Many unsuccessful attempts have been
made to put down card playing by law at
And not a few enthusias-
tic players have died with cards in their

different times.

hands and their game unfinished.

In the United States many varieties of
cards are used, some of home manufacture,
though there is a large importation also.
In Grand Rapids a stock company is
erecting a building for the manufacture
twelve

which will cost
What a grand 'institu

of cards,
thousand dollars.

tionl Will we be proud of it in our great
State? It is a great mystery to me how
persons who have entered the higher life
of practical piety can amuse themselves for
hours over a game in which so many lives
have been lost, so many fortunes squan-
dered, so many innocent women and
children turned homeless into the streets.

In all ages and countries where the
worshipful and notable people have
amused themselves with card playing,
gambling with cards has greatly increased,

so that today the golden dragon is secur-

I am satisfied receives no check from the
metropolitan police; and I have obtained
reliable information that the amusement is
so popular in one of our large cities that
a church member, a dressmaker who works
for two dollars a day from house to house,
carries with her a prayer book bound in
oxidized silver and plush, that when
Opened the leaves are a euchre deck and the
covers a counter.

A lady told me a few years ago when her
children went to a neighbor’s where they
were playing cards (just for amusement)
with a pitcher of cider on the table, a
spittoon on the floor at either side, some
smoking, some chewing tobacco, it was an
easy matter to make them believe that they
did not want to learn that game, for it was
what people gambled with in saloons; that
they had better ride their hobby horses,
use their bracket saw, play authors, mar-
bles or dominoes. “ I tell you,” she said,
“ I had no farther trouble about that then,
but when their Sunday school classmates
came home from college with their euchre
(minus the tobacco and cider), and later
many good people held their progressive
euchre parties, and the children could not
go to many places without being invited to
play, it was quite another thing. They
thought mother was notional and pre-
judiced.” But she finally persuaded them
to wait and see what came of it. Then
trouble came, for she wished them to
mingle with their schoolmates, but did not
know how to manage or how to control
them until they were old enough to know
what was best for themselves. She never
forbade their learning to play, but only
asked them to promise her that they would
never play on the sly, anI say “ Don’t tell
mother.” If they could not keep in good
society without playing cards with the rest,
they could come home and play and bring
their company, and all would play with
them. Meanwhile she often painted the
picture of the useless hours the good peo-
ple were spending at the card table; those
who had pleasant homes and friends to
play with, were trying to learn to be good
players at the progressive euchre parties;
while those boys who did not have homes
of their own and fathers and mothers,
spent all their spare time and money at the
country hotel amusing themselves with
cards for pop, peanuts, candy. cigars,
chickens, sausage, or anything for a prize
for the best players. The one who lost-the
game must pay for the prize.
The years rolled on, while the boys
' made brackets to adorn their home. played
their simple games and flew their kites.
Her girls made tidies and bedquilts, and
kites for the boys, and fed the chickens,
and she kept them all so busy with their
amusements and fun and work they never
had time to learn to play cards. And the
last time I saw her, her boys and girls had
grown to manhood and womanhood, and

alcohol.

e

she said when the boys come home she can
always kiss lips free from tobacco and

The game of dominoes was introduced
about the beginning of the eighteenth cen-

became popular in the larger towns. From
Paris it spread to Germany, where as in
France it is now played in every cofiee
house. And if any of you can show
where the game of dominoes has ever been
used for gambling to any extent, or has
injured any person, or class of persons in
any country, you can have the floor, for I
have failed to find it. .

 

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

To make good mincemeat, prepare it a
week before it is wanted. Chop three
pounds of choice lean beef and chop it fine.
Use half a pound of chopped suet, two
pounds of seeded raisins; chop about
three-fourths of them, leave the rest whole.
Use Greening apples, in proportion of
about half and half with the meat. The
chief trouble with most mince is too much
fruit. A teaspoonful of ground cinnamon
-more if you like it—ditto black pepper;
a quart of boiled cider and a pound of
sugar, a cup of New Orleans molasSes ard
canned huckleberries enough to make suf.
ficiently moist. The juice of a lemon and
half a pound of finely cut citron improve
it. Add more spice if you like. A gen
erous teaspoonful of salt should be stirred
into the chopped meat,

 

Mns. M. A. FULLER, in a noe received
too late for publication last week, says:
“I decidedly endorse the veto on the
kerosene lamp among plants. I know by
sad experience.”

 

WE can supply a few back numbers of
the HOUSEHOLD to those who desire them
to complete their files for 1890. Apply at
once.

___.~..———

AN article on the care of the complexion,
hair, etc., is asked for by one who “ would
be glad to have a little attention paid to
the ugly girls, to help them become
beautiful.” We will have car stock of in-
formation on this point put into type as
soon as possible, to help our correspond-
ent begin her good work.

 

Contributed Recipes.

 

CRANBERRY PUDDING.-One and a half cups
milk: three quarters cup molasses: one tea-
spooniul salt; one teaspoont’ul cinnamon:
three cups sifted flour: one teaspoonful soda:
two cups cranberries. Ste am one and a.
quarter hours. Serve with a rich boiled
sauce.

PEACH DUMPLING.—iliake a light baking
powder biscuit dough and roll moderately
thin. Tate pieces about s‘x inches square
and fill them with peaches cut in halves;
pinch the dough together and steam half an
hour. If canned p9 aches are used the juice
is eaten on the dun pings. Some like cream
and sugar: or a boiled sauce is excellent.

TAPIOCA PUDDING.— Half cup tapioca, soak-
ed and cooked until transparent in one and a
half pints of water. Add one cup of sugar.
salt and the yolks of six eggs Bake halt an
hour. Cover the t0p with strawberry pre-
serves, peaches or oth 1‘ fruit ;- heap the
beaten whites over; brown slightly. Serve

 

 

behind your lawful licensed saloons, and

tury, from Italy into France, where it soon

wrth cream. Evaxannmn.

 

M-‘~