This Businesg of Rearing 



Children 



Some Things the Finleys of Vermilion 



County Have Learned About it 



By NELL FLATT GOODMAN 



J^ F there is one thing Mrs. Marion 



iJi R. Finley of Vermilion county 

 \^_y likes better than boys and girls, it 

 is more boys and girls. 



That is why she has made such a suc- 

 cessful 4-H club leader, Sunday School 

 teacher, and homemaker. 



"Teach them a little, learn much our- 

 selves," Mrs. Finley says paradoxically. 

 "Work with them a little, play with them 

 a great deal. Why not plan more family 

 projects? We need to study ourselves to 

 learn if we, as parents, are really the 

 problem instead of the children." 



Farm organizations offer and provide 

 excellent means for family projects, Mrs. 

 Finley points out. Farm and Home Bu- 

 reau and 4-H do much to unify activities. 

 She cites the individual interests, also the 

 unified and overlapping interests in her 

 own family. 



"Jessie Louise, now a student at the 

 University of Illinois, and in 4-H 



GETTING HEADY FOR THE SHOW 

 Mrs. Finley gives son Charles a hand 

 scrubbing his 4-H cali. 



House," she explained, "may have helped 

 direct recreation on 4-H club tours and 

 learned something about leadership. But 

 she also learned to make a petite point 

 chair we re-upholstered, to preside at a 

 meeting, and to hang pictures at eye 

 level. 



"My son Charles may have learned 

 about pigs when he won the county grand 

 championship with his litter and cham- 

 pion gilt. But, to be a good citizen, one 



THE FOUR FINLEYS 

 lessie Louise, Marion R., Charles and 

 Mrs. Finley. 



must also know how to play. So, he 

 played first base on the local 4-H soft ball 

 team and two years represented the coun- 

 ty in the shot put and broad jump at the 

 state Sports Festival. Charles and his fa- 

 ther entered the ten-acre corn yield con- 

 test. Their record was 117.54 bushels per 

 acre. From the family home beautification 

 project, Charles learned how to properly 

 plant shrubs around the house. We all 

 learned about varieties of gladiola which 

 Jessie Louise planted for the first time 

 in our garden. And certainly Charles 

 learned something of planning and 

 carpentering when we made a cupboard 

 out of an old dumb waiter in our kitch- 

 en." 



The Finleys are seeking to cultivate 

 in their children not just money-making 

 ability, but an understanding and enjoy- 

 ment of life. In sponsoring and working 

 with the 4-H clubs. Home Bureau is 

 helping toward that goal. 



It isn't necessary to point out that the 

 Finleys think alike about boys and girls. 

 Mr. Finley is now on the county 4-H 

 committee. Mrs. Finley for the past six 

 years has assisted with girls club work, 

 either as local leader or on the local com- 

 mittee. After her marriage in 1919, she 

 became a charter member of Vermilion 

 County Home Bureau and has been a 

 member since that time. When there was 

 no local unit in her own community she 

 remained a member at large. 



"Help and growth can be attained only 

 by staying with an organization," Mrs. 

 Finley says. "If you want to know some- 

 thing extra besides the program, ask for 

 it. If we have an adolescent problem we 



write to Miss Freda Al Peterson of the 

 state Home Economics Extension staff. 



Since foods always has been her fav- 

 orite subject, and certainly one kept in 

 constant use with her growing family, 

 Mrs. Finley found much of common in- 

 terest with Jessie Louise when the latter 

 was Food Preparation representative from 

 Illinois at the 4-H club Congress. 



"Our garden is another family proj- 

 ect," Mrs. Finley related. "Mr. Finley 

 helps with the heavy work and we all 

 have a part. It was a pleasure for all of 

 us to learn that sweet peas would keep 

 fresh longer when the stems are cut under 

 water, and that poppies should be cut in 

 the early morning. And, all of us appre- 

 ciate the difference between a bouquet 

 and a bunch of flowers crammed in a 

 fruit jar." 



Music appreciation is one line that 

 needs more cultivation according to Mrs. 

 Finley. She contends that rural people 

 are just as appreciative of good music 

 as others and that radio stations needn't 

 blame all their hill-billy programs on the 

 taste of the farmers. The young people 

 need to know and hear classical music. 

 If they have an opportunity to hear it, 

 they soon learn to like it. 



"To keep the larder well stocked, Mrs. 

 Finley, as many another busy housewife, 

 cans fruits, vegetables, and meats. She 

 uses tin cans, finding the finished product 

 so much better. The one exception is 

 tomatoes for which she uses the left-over 

 glass fruit jars. When she cans asparagus, 

 she blanches 4 minutes just the amount to 

 be used in one can, uses that liquid as 

 juice and processes it for 40 minutes at 

 10 pounds pressure. 



Not so much meat is canned since the 

 purchase of an 11 cubic feet electric re- 

 frigerator. Mr. Finley butchers often. 



THE FINLEY HOME 

 "The children learned about home 

 beautification too." 



one hog or beef at a time. They sell some 

 and keep the rest in the refrigerator. 

 They have butchered lamb, f)ork, and 

 beef, in the middle of the summer. 



When Mr. Finley raises his 300 to 

 400 hogs each year, the whole family 

 takes an interest. Not only the men folk. 



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I. A, A. RECORD 



