TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 423 



gwan and mind yo' own bizness. I's boilin' de aigs; I alwas sing three 

 verses for aigs sof and four for aigs hard." (Daughter). 



Now, that might be good practice, but maybe I sing faster than you do, 

 and as a result the eggs aren't boiled correctly, after all. But there 

 is much that we can be taught, and much that can be worked out, and 

 "the reason why" will often turn a tragedy into a triumph thru the work 

 of these home demonstration agents. 



The work of the girls' club, that has been so nobly fostered by the home 

 demonstration agent, is another line of activity that requires our co- 

 operation. I don't believe it is kept up even in as fine a state as Iowa. I 

 am sure there is nothing that we can do that will tie the young people fas- 

 ter to the farm than the club work. Give them a sense of ownership ; give 

 them a sense of responsibility; give them a business sense — a boy or 

 girl with a calf or a pig, or an acre of corn, and they will watch the 

 markets, and when prices go up they are rich, and when it goes down they 

 are poor. I don't knov/ that I ever saw that better illustrated than in an 

 experience we had in our own home. Our youngster had a prize acre of 

 corn which he had planted, and he took great pride in it; but one day a 

 storm blew up and it rained and rained and rained, and as the ground 

 became soft the tall stalks of corn, under the weight of the maturing 

 ears, and the lashing of the wind, began to sag, and finally of their own 

 weight fell to the ground. I remember watching that tear-stained face 

 as he sat by the window glooming over the wreck of his high hopes. But, 

 you know, it taught that little chap that father sometimes has losses, and 

 it made him more tolerant when father had to refuse him things that he 

 wanted, because we didn't have the money with which to buy them. It 

 is not wise, always, for the boys to succeed, neither is it for the girls, 

 and the club work that has been done by the home demonstration agent 

 v/ill be of great help. 



The next thing I would urge upon the farm woman, if she wants to 

 keep up with father and the boys, is the matter of her personal appear- 

 ance. The speaker who preceded me remarked that you don't look like 

 farmers, that you look more like bankers and bankers' wives; and I say 

 that is as it should be. I remember one morning during the short course 

 we were taking at Purdue, of going up into the balcony of Fowler Hall 

 and listening to an address to the corn growers. A woman was with me 

 \^ho was merely visiting there, and, after looking about a bit, she said, 

 "Aren't those fellows down there all county agents or college professors?" 

 and I said "Why, no; those men are just a lot of farmers going to 

 school." Just because it happened to tickle my vanity, and because I 

 wanted to see results, I said "You pick out the ones that you think are 

 county agents or professors, and I'll tell you if you're right," and in eight 

 out of ten times she guessed wrong, she couldn't tell them from college 

 professors and county agents. 



Sometimes the farmer's wife has not kept up her personal appearance, 

 for one reason or another. Lillian Russell, that great beauty of the 

 stage, once said, "Whenever a woman says 'I don't care how I look,' she 

 generally looks the part." (Laughter). Someone has said that a police- 



