424 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



man in plain-clothes is only one man, but in uniform lie is ten men. And 

 so it is true of the farmer's wife, as well as it is of the farmer himself. 



When I say that the farmer's wife should be well-dressed, don't under- 

 stand me to say that she should be stylishly dressed. You women who 

 are well-dressed are women who are suitably and becomingly dressed, and 

 if you have followed women's styles in the past few years you will agree 

 with me that in a majority of instances the woman who is stylishly 

 dressed is neither suitably nor becomingly dressed. (Laughter and ap- 

 plause). 



The next place I would urge for you to keep up with father and the 

 boys is in the matter of self-improvement. There is no sadder sight in 

 the whole wide world than that of the woman who has given the best that 

 she has to her husband and family, and not taken the time to keep up 

 with father and the children, but allowed her husband and family to out- 

 grow her, and perhaps in time come to be ashamed of their mother. I 

 have no patience with the woman of today, in these stirring times of 

 reconstruction, who sees nothing in a daily paper but a clean cover for 

 the cupboard shelf or something to cut a pattern out of. Don't let your 

 fingers grow too stiff that you cannot play on the organ or piano; play a 

 little for husband and the children every evening. The old organ in the 

 parlor, or the piano of the present day, is a wonderful instrument around 

 which to keep the family home group. I wouldn't pay any attention to 

 what the neighbors thought about how I spent my spare time, because it 

 is none of their business. (Applause). 



It is the business of every farm woman who is represented here today, 

 either directly or by proxy, to live just as long and as well as she can. 

 An old oriental proverb says : "An educated man is an educated individual, 

 but an educated woman is an educated household." I believe, if you will 

 go thru our own history, you will find that in few cases have the great 

 men of our nation left behind them great sons. Few of those great men 

 but haven't said, as did the immortal Lincoln, "All that I am or ever hope 

 to be, I owe to my angel mother." So that the farmer's wife must keep 

 up in self-improvement. 



One of the lamentable facts of farm life is that only one out of every 

 thirteen farm women have an annual vacation. I wonder if the farmers 

 have been as careful about seeing that the farm wife got a vacation as 

 they have been about themselves? She may not take it as does the city 

 woman, who goes to the sea-shore or mountains when it is hot, and to 

 California or Florida when it is cold; but she must go away for a while so 

 that she may come back. The far-off fields in the springtime are always 

 greenest, so that if she can go away from her house for a few days or 

 weeks, it is a wonderful help. I know men in our own state, men promin- 

 ent in Federation affairs, whose wives don't go anywhere, and they always 

 say "I couldn't get my wife to come." I have wondered, altho I didn't 

 know the woman in every instance, if they have been as insistent on the 

 invitation as they were when she was a rosie-cheeked farmer's daughter 

 on the neighboring farm, or the girl from the little village nearby; and I 

 am urging upon you farmers not to forget just how much you owe to 



