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THE FIRST PATCH OF STRAWBERRIES EVER GROWN BY E. D. FRAUTCHY, MQNTICELLO, WIS. 



Strawberries That Made a Merry Christmas 



By Elizabeth Clarke Hardy 



HAT Can a Woman Do 

 To Make Money.? Mrs. 

 Ellis read the article over 

 twice and then laid down 

 the magazine and looked 

 thoughtfully out of the 

 window. There certain- 

 ly was need that one woman should do 

 something to make some money if she 

 expected to keep a roof over her head and 

 a home for her children, for it could not 

 be denied that Mr. Ellis was a poor man- 

 ager, and had made an utter failure at 

 farming. 



That very morning they had talked over 

 the matter together. 



"There is no use of keeping on in this 

 way," he had said despondently to his 

 wife. "The best I can do is to keep up 

 the interest on the mortgage, and this year 

 it will be a tight squeeze to do that. The 

 farm is run down and we can never make 

 enough off from it to pay the principal, 

 and when the time is up we might as 

 well let it go." 



"But what will you do, Allen.'' We 

 get our living from the farm, and it will 

 be pretty hard to give up the old place 

 and not have a roof over our heads or a 

 place to call our own." 



"Yes, it will so; but if we can keep up 

 the interest we can live here for five 

 years, and I shall let Brown have the land 

 to work on shares and I shall go to work 

 for the Green Valley Nursery Company. 

 With my salary and our share of the crops 

 we shall be able to live and pay the inter- 

 est until the five years are up, and then 

 we'll trust to luck to rind another place." 

 Mrs. Allen's face wore a troubled look 

 and her voice faltered as she said: 



"But don't you hate to give up the old 



place, Allen.'' We have been very happy 

 here, and the children never have known 

 any other home. I can't bear to think of 

 letting it go on the mortgage after we 

 have paid interest all these years. It is 

 too good a home to let slip through our 

 fingers for $1,200. I wish I could do 

 something to help earn some money. 



"Well, you can't. Not on this farm, 

 anyway. You have enough to do to 

 keep up the housework and take care of 

 the children, and what a woman earns 

 never amounts to anything, anyway. You 

 can make a little garden if you want to 



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•fi expect to pass tbrougb lite 

 H but once. 11 f, tbctetorc, 

 tbere be ang Kindness IF can 

 sbow, or anis flooO tblng IF 

 can Cto to ang tello\v=bcing, 

 let me 60 It now, an5 not 

 &etec or nccilcct It, as 11 sball 

 not pass tb(6 wag again." 



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and I will earn enough to keep the family. 

 Of course, I hate to give up the place, 

 but everything seems to go against me, 

 and there's nothing else to be done. 



After this talk Mr. Ellis had hitched 

 up his team and gone to see Mr. Brown, 

 and later to conclude his arrangement 

 with the Green Valley Nursery Company, 

 and when he returned home he was no 

 longer a farmer but a traveling salesman, 

 and the fate of Spring Brook Farm was 

 settled so far as he was concerned. 



After this talk with her husband Mrs. 

 Ellis had thought over the matter long 



Pagk 237 



and earnestly. She knew her husband's 

 easy-going ways, and the ease with which 

 money slipped through his fingers too 

 well to hope that he would ever save 

 enough to pay up the mortgage and save 

 the farm home. But what could she do.'' 

 Her first duty was to her home and her 

 children. The twins, Harry and Hazel 

 were ten years old and both were still in 

 the district school. They needed a moth- 

 er's care and the safeguarding of the home 

 for the present, and for the future she 

 had the ambition that her children should 

 have their rightful chance for an educa- 

 tion that should fit them for making the 

 most of life. Evidently whatever she 

 might undertake to do must be done 

 within the limits of her home. It must 

 be work that would not rob her children 

 of her constant companionship, and it 

 must be something that a not overly 

 strong woman could do. 



It was while turning over this matter 

 in her mind that her eyes fell upon the 

 article in question "What Can a Woman 

 Do To Make Money.?" 



She read it over a third time and then 

 went thoughtfully out into the yard and 

 looked over the premises. It was a 

 charming home, but wofully run down, as 

 Mr. Ellis had said. The house was com- 

 fortable, but needed repairing and paint- 

 ing. The fences were poor, the pastures 

 thin and the fields in poor tilth for want 

 of fertilization; and it did look discourag- 

 ing indeed. 



The cultivated fields were all on the 

 side of the house next to the farm owned 

 by Mr. Brown. On the other side was 

 the barn and beyond that was five acres 

 that had been used as a pasture for calves 

 and young pigs. Mrs. Ellis looked at 



