316 Missouri Agyicultural Report. 



THE WOMAN ON THE FARM. 



(Miss Pearle Mitchell, Columbia.) 



I noticed when one of the speakers gave it as her opinion that 

 young married people should stay at home and 

 not "go gadding about," that all the men in the 

 audience applauded. Again, when she said that 

 a woman should give far more attention to the 

 calico house dress and have fewer "dress-up" 

 clothes the men still applauded more. Where- 

 upon a lady near me said with doubtful expres- 

 sion, "One would suppose these husbands were 

 very much abused, but I assure you they are not." 

 I quite believe she was right, though my knowl- 

 Miss Mitchell. q^^q aloug this line has come from observation 



and theory, since I do not possess one of those household articles. 

 However, this is merely by the way, for my talk has to do with the 

 woman side of the question, which to me is more important. 



It is my belief that much of the unrest and dissatisfaction 

 among the women and young people in the country comes from 

 lack of conveniences in the farm home and lack of social diversion. 

 If a great deal of thought and planning and a small amount of 

 money were expended in labor-saving devices in the house, the 

 weary housekeeper's nerves and strength would not be so taxed. 

 So simple a thing as a cupboard between dining room and kitchen 

 doors on either side through which food and clean dishes could be 

 passed, would save many steps, while a stool, which, when not in 

 use, may be pushed under the kitchen table, on which the cook may 

 sit while preparing vegetables, rests tired bodies. The oil cloth 

 or linoleum on the kitchen floor is a wonderful saving of work, and 

 to thase of us who possess the fireless cooker it is an indispensable 

 joy in the culinary department. The masculine portion of my audi- 

 ence knows what a bugbear stove wood is, and where was ever the 

 man, though he proverbially "cannot do without dining," that ever 

 submitted graciously to the demand for "stove wood," when he is 

 rushing off to the plowing or reaping," when his wife frantically calls 

 after him, "Oh, John, I have nothing to cook dinner with." "You 

 must get some chips or cobs — or something, I can't stop," comes 

 back from the distant John, You notice, too, that he said "you 

 must get" the fuel. Don't you think this wife would have been 

 justified in serving him as did a spirited woman I heard of, who 



