THE WELL-ORDERED HOUSEHOLD 



kitchen to save steps. The situation of 

 the farmer and his family is desperate. I 

 wish I coiild take yon in a few farm homes 

 in this locality. It wonld make your heart 

 ache. They are strnggling to pay their 

 interest and the taxes on property some 

 one else owns by mortgage. If yon wish 

 to help the farmer, do it through legis- 

 lation.'' 



"Six years ago I came to live on a farm. 

 Xow I am well and strong. Work never 

 kills. I had Jnst as soon wear ont as rnst. 

 I do all of my own work, care for a honse of 

 nine rooms; three in my family; do all 

 my sewing. I never buy canned goods 

 or bake stnff . I put up about two hundred 

 glass jars every year of fruit, jellies and 

 pickles, all of our own raising. We have 

 a vegetable farm. I enjo}^ working out-of- 

 doors. I help get the produce ready for 

 market. I raise about four hundred chick- 

 ens a vear. My husband helps a little in 

 setting the hens. I have a tlower garden, 

 and I take my evenings for reading. I 

 belong to the Grange. That is a grand 

 order for farmers and their families. My 

 pantry is between my kitchen and dining- 

 room. I have a slide door cut through 

 to each room. That saves steps." 



"I am glad you think we ought to read 

 — to do something besides housework. But 

 my greatest perplexity is to reconcile 

 housework and books. Perhaps it takes 

 too much reading to content me, but too 

 much work makes me peevish and dis- 

 agreeable and discouraged. When the 

 work crowds the books too much I put my 

 books away in another room and try to 

 forget all but the tasks. 'No amount of 

 'short cuts' can give all women a fair 

 chance for recreation or mental improve- 

 ment. I expect to long for far more than 

 I shall ever have of either. Thank you 

 for caring about what we read." 



"I have two little boys, one eight, the 

 other two. I find enough to keep me busy 

 at all times, but not so much but that I 

 find time to do some fancy work, and prac- 

 tice some on the organ, not enough to ad- 

 vance any, but simply to keep . up with 

 what I know. My neighbors tell me they 

 can not understand how I do so much. I 

 have never thought it anything wonderful. 

 I simply plan in the morning. I lay out 

 my work for the day. 



"There is one thing more I would like 

 to tell farmers' wives. Always comb your 

 hair and button your shoes before break- 



fast, clean your teeth and nails, change 

 your shoes and dress after your work is 

 done. It pays to feel that you are keeping 

 in touch with the world, and all the little 

 things count." 



"I do not know as I can be of much 

 help to others, for the reason I have but 

 little use of my left hand and am lame, 

 so I can not do my work as others do. 

 Where others can save steps I can not. If 

 I try to sometimes I usually break or spill 

 something and make myself more work 

 than I save. I rarely ever wash the 

 supper dishes, as I have worked very hard 

 all winter picking over beans from day- 

 light to dark, and I would not see my 

 kitchen by daylight except on Sunday, a& 

 I left before it was hardly light and I 

 would not come from the bean room till 

 dark. I have had to neglect my house- 

 work and it seems impossible to get caught 

 up, but I am simply resting now to go at 

 the beans again after a little." 



"I wonder how other farmers' wives- 

 get time to write, although I think if I 

 had no children, or even if I did not work 

 out-of-doors as much I could get alongv 

 but I can not see the weeds grow and not 

 try to pull them, or stay in when the cows 

 need milking or calves or chickens need 

 feeding, consequently it keeps my work 

 behind and me hustling all of the time." 



"I hav^ found a way to save my strength 

 which has not been mentioned yet in your 

 papers, I think. It is by teaching my 

 husband how to make the bread. I was 

 ill one summer and we had iio help, so 

 he began it, and now when I am tired at 

 night he sends me off to bed while he 'sets 

 the sponge.' We have ten in our family,, 

 and use twelve large loaves a week." 



"While I am an old maid, I enjoy every- 

 thing pertaining to farm life, and if I 

 were able to own a home would never live 

 in a town or large city. I think it a mis- 

 taken idea that a woman's work on a farm 

 is harder than that of the towns. I have 

 tried both. If women would only use tact 

 and ingenuity the work on farms would 

 be much easier and by far more pleasant. 

 If I owned a home in the country or even 

 in town I would want my kitchen to be 

 the largest room on the place, with hard- 

 wood floor and with the cellar door in one 

 corner of the room. I would want dark 

 painting for woodwork, calcimine walls,, 

 and plenty of light. 



