154 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



ing the highest wages, are quite ready to leave the 

 " capitalist" to do his own milking on Sunday night 

 or "Labor Day." 



I don't understand this " labor day; " likely it is 

 because I am a woman and do not understand these 

 things. I reverence the birthdays and all the legal 

 holidays but " labor day," and I do not understand 

 what it is for — unless it is for the politician. 



Happily the men who do our work are not all of 

 this class. We have had and will have men who are 

 just what we want; faithful, trusty and capable. They 

 are not the men who demand labor day, and if they do 

 demand the highest wages are willing to give good 

 measure in return. But these men we can't keep. 

 They too are interested in homes of their own. They 

 are taking up the profession, opening up the great 

 West, making the best use they can of their capital of 

 brain and hands, and no matter where they are and 

 what they are doing they are among our best citizens. 



For several seasons we have hired the girl in the 

 house to assist in the milking of the cows. So far it 

 is, quite a success. I believe firmly that if the working 

 girls could be persuaded that milking cows is just as 

 respectable as washing soiled clothing, it would be a 

 good opening for better wages. It is neither heavy 

 nor hard work when one is accustomed to it. (I speak 

 of the milking alone.) A woman's hands are better 

 calculated for milking than the hands that hold the 

 pitchfork or the plow-handles all day. We find the 

 girls more patient and gentle with the cows. They do 

 not use tobacco either. I do not think I ever saw a 

 man that was mean enough to spit tobacco juice pur- 

 posely into the milk pail, but when I see a man sit down 

 beside his cow, place the pail between his knees, then 



