168 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



go six ways at once and wonder when night came what I had 

 done. 



Woman's work at best is in little things. It is up to the 

 men to make the corporations, to run the government, to build 

 states and roads, and houses and all that. And what does the 

 woman do? I am going to come to my subject pretty soon, but I 

 want to show you first the need of thai organization. 



The farmer goes into the field after breakfast — well, no, I 

 will begin rather sooner. He gets up in the morning and goes 

 out, has some fine Hereford cattle or registered hogs; he looks 

 them over with pride; gives them their portion. The good wife 

 has been up as long as he and she has measured out some other 

 portion which is, perhaps, greater in riches, bless you, but she 

 don't know much about that because it is not measured out in 

 dollars and cents. And so she goes into the kitchen, cold and 

 dreary some mornings, and the water was not hot, perhaps she 

 did not even have a reservoir. So she had to go to the pump, 

 twenty, thirty or forty steps away, and carry that water in to get 

 breakfast. After breakfast the husband goes out and hooks 

 up to a good team and goes to plow. A neighbor drives along, 

 going to town, looks out and says, "a fine field, that ground of 

 yours is plowing fine, good plow, too," and he admires his 

 neighbor's team and good harness. The neighbor sees that. 



But the good wife is in that kitchen and the neighbor doesn't 

 see that; she is boiling beans for dinner, maybe a little pork, 

 "getting ready for the men when they come in," and he returns 

 to raise general trouble if dinner is not ready. You know and 

 I know the hustle that goes on in the kitchen to have dinner 

 ready so he doesn't have to wait. That is her ministry to him 

 and his. He does the same thing at dinner. He goes out and 

 don't even say: "Wife, that was a good dinner." He works 

 all afternoon and the neighbor goes home from town and stops 

 to talk during the afternoon. He says, "What a magnificent 

 day's work you have done." And the good wife goes to bed 

 the last one at night without a word of praise for her day's 

 work. Got up in the morning and took down the dishes off the 

 nice, clean shelves and he helped dirty them up. While the 

 man went to the field she washed them and put them back in 

 the same place. Noontime came and she took them down from 

 their shelves; after dinner was over washed them and put them 

 back in their places. Evening time came, and she takes them 

 down for the third time during the day, and after the supper is 



