ILiLTNOIiS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOiCIATION. 197 



There is one distinction whicli is often made and whicli is 

 particularly foolish and artificial, and this is the arbitrary dis- 

 tinction raised between the country woman and the city 

 woman. This feeling, of course, is unknown in the larger 

 towns, but many who have lived in the smaller towns and vil- 

 lages and upon farms will appreciate what I mean. 



There are scores of country women today who look upon 

 the women of the city as a class, shallow and flippant, living 

 a life of selfish gaity, and, above all, extravagant and lazy. 



On the other hand many city women who know very little 

 about their country cousins, think that they are all dowdy, 

 narrow, stunted in their mental growth, complaining and in- 

 veterate gossips. 



In a certain degree they are both right, but in a very 

 much larger degree they are both wrong. A good many city 

 women are shallow and flippant, although the quickness of 

 speech and ease of manner which is acquired through daily 

 contact with many different people sometimes carries that 

 impression falsely; many of our women are extravagant; their 

 money comes easily and goes easily, but with an infinitely 

 larger proportion the scanty earnings of the family are neces- 

 sarily doled out with a carefulness born of terror, of finding 

 oneself without resources in a great city. 



A country woman without city experience is not a fair 

 judge of the difference between extravagance and absolutely 

 necessary expense. A country woman can live for years with- 

 out owning a pocket book or feeling the necessity of handling 

 money to any large extent. When she wants to go anywhere, 

 she has the horses hitched and goes ; her shopping is generally 

 done where almost an indefinite account can be kept and 

 butter and eggs taken in part payment. When a city woman 

 goes anywhere for pleasure or business, she has to pay out 

 money to get there. She has no cellar or smokehouse or 

 milk room or hen house to draw on for her dinner and it takes 

 cash money every time to ride or eat or move or breathe or 

 have being. Then in the matter of dress, what is extravagance 

 and what is necessary expense is a question depending upon 

 circumstances nor is it always the women w^ho wear the high- 

 est priced clothes who think the most about them. To many 

 a busy Chicago woman, when she goes to buy a new dress, 



