OPENING OF WOODBINE TRACT 59 



picked men. A widow, with several children, cousin 

 of one of our farmers, was given the use of the other 

 six-room house just opposite the one my husband 

 selected for a home. She was to provide food for 

 all those who were willing to board with her. A big 

 barn was erected for the sixty men to live in tem- 

 porarily and a great stove installed. Those sitting 

 close to it felt warm, while the rest had to use their 

 imaginations a good deal. So much for the accom- 

 modations. 



A practical farmer, Frederick Schmidt, was engaged 

 as assistant to my husband. He had very hard work 

 at the start, surveying and dividing the land into farms. 

 Each of the farmers was allotted thirty acres of land, 

 which he was to clear for himself. In order to avoid 

 a suggestion of pauperizing the settler, the Fund paid 

 him for preparing his soil for cultivation, inasmuch as 

 there was no other method of gaining a livelihood. 

 Later on, in paying for the farm, sums advanced when 

 the land was in process of preparation for cultivation 

 were added to the cost of the farm. 



As the Jews were totally inexperienced in this work 

 of chopping down trees and pulling up tree-stumps, the 

 labor seemed to them as difficult as tearing down the 

 Egyptian pyramids. We must not forget that, as a 

 rule, these men had never done any hard physical labor 

 before. They were mostly tradesmen. To encourage 

 them, to show them that the work was not terribly 

 hard in itself, only seeming so on account of their 



