The problem of spending the winter 
evenings, we may now lay on the table. 
The beau question may linger yet awhile, 
for spring is the proverbial time for such 
fancies. But there is a time and season 
for all things, and just now is the time 
to finish the plans for gardening. We 
wish to repeat a suggestion which we 
saw last summer, and urge that it form 
a part of the plans for the coming sea¬ 
son. See that the children each have 
some share in the garden. If they show 
little interest in the ordinary garden, 
let them select some of the newer varie¬ 
ties of flowers or vegetables, or some of 
those not ordinarily grown ; this may 
prove an incentive to faithful work. 
The expenditure need not be large. One 
package of seed might be divided among 
several, and a prize offered for the best 
results. If the children begin early to 
work for prize results, they will make 
the kind of farmers that stay on the 
farm from preference. 
* 
If such instances as those described 
in another column by “ Hybrid,” were 
the general rule, the farmer’s wife 
would deserve all the commiseration 
that is bestowed upon her by the pens 
of those who are unacquainted with 
country life. But these cases are the 
exception. While the rule of life is to 
look on the bright side of things, it is 
also our duty to learn where the shadows 
are, and try to lighten them. One need 
not doubt the truth of these assertions 
because he has not a similar case in his 
own neighborhood. The foundation for 
a better state of affairs than those de¬ 
scribed, is laid when husband and wife 
form an equal partnership, and conduct 
their business and pleasure on the basis 
of mutual interest and mutual benefit. 
We are thankful that the better way is 
prevailing. _ 
THE POINT OF VIEW. 
LOOKING AT FARM LIFF, FROM THE BRIGHT 
SIDE. 
I T has been so long the fashion to cry, 
“ Lo, the poor farmer,” and to com¬ 
miserate still more deeply the poor 
farmer’s wife, that it seems almost use¬ 
less at this late day, to attempt to say 
anything in favor of farm life. Still, 
some one has said that “ everything de¬ 
pends upon your point of view,” and I 
would like to have the subject viewed 
for a few minutes from the standpoint of 
the northern Ohio farmer and farmer's 
wife. It almost seems as though the 
writers who inveigh so loudly against 
the hardships and monotony of rural 
existence, have been for the past 50 years 
in a state of somnolency rivaling that 
famous sleep of Itip Van Winkle, from 
which they have awakened sufficiently 
to rush into print, but not enough to re¬ 
alize that the world moves, in country as 
well as city. It is true that in some 
sections, and in isolated localities, the 
farmer’s life may be very dull and full of 
hard, unprofitable work ; but his home 
need not be made dreary by futile grumb¬ 
ling at a state of things he is unable to 
better. Content is not so much a matter 
of environment as of inner consciousness; 
and while a healthy discontent with 
one’s life, and a desire to improve it, are 
commendable, the great mass of those 
who are wailing for better conditions, 
are making no effort to obtain them, and 
would be dissatisfied anywhere. 
Decrease of Dairy Work. 
In this section, farm work has been 
shorn of most of its old-time terrors. 
The cheese vat and the churn have been 
relegated to the neighborhood factories, 
and though it goes without saying that 
we still use the milking stool and pail, 
the housewife who is obliged to use 
them, is the exception, not the rule. The 
advent of modern machinery, has greatly 
lessened the number of men necessary 
to carry on the farm work, thereby ren¬ 
dering it unnecessary for the housekeeper 
of to-day to run a boarding house as her 
contribution to her husband’s enter¬ 
prises. The woman on the average farm 
has, with the exception of washing a few 
milk pails and cans when the men folks 
are too busy to do it, very few duties 
which her city sister is not quite as likely 
to have to perform. 
True, the natural depravity always 
lurking in the live stock on the farm, 
prompts them to take an occasional 
outing in corn field, garden, or flower 
bed, and such things invariably happen 
in the absence of the good man. At such 
times, the half owner of the before men¬ 
tioned chattels, is likely to wish that her 
moneyed interests were vested in brown 
stone fronts, or even a salted silver mine, 
before she succeeds in returning them to 
their proper places. But these are 
accidents, only occasional, and doubtless 
on the best regulated farms, never occur 
at all. The success of the farmer’s 
occupation depends rather more upon 
wind and weather, than he considers al¬ 
together pleasant, but if he makes the 
most of his opportunities, he is absolutely 
sure of a good living, which is more than 
his fellow worker in the city or village 
can say. 
No Lack of Society. 
The lack of social advantages, is an¬ 
other bugbear scared up by many ; but, 
except in the far Western States, and in 
exceptionally isolated places, it seems 
utterly without foundation. We cannot, 
it is true, expect to obtain the best 
talent of lecture bureaus, or to listen to 
first-class theatrical or operatic perform¬ 
ances, but we can, and do, have sufficient 
entertainment ; both social and intellec¬ 
tual, to keep us in touch with the outside 
world, and prevent our faculties from 
growing rusty by reason of total disuse. 
In the town of which I write (and it is a 
fair sample of all northern Ohio towns), 
we support two churches and two lodges, 
with their different social organizations, 
and the chief study is, not how to escape 
stagnation, but how to find time for all 
these outside duties and pleasures. 
Then, too, neighborhood interests and 
sympathies are strong and far-reaching 
in the country ; in the city they simply 
don’t exist. Let the farmer’s house or 
barn burn, and almost before the ruins 
have stopped smoking, his neighbors for 
five miles around, are on the spot with 
very practical demonstrations of their 
sympathy in the shape of assistance in 
rebuilding. Let illness attack the farm¬ 
er’s wife, and the hired girl question (and 
it is the most serious one we have to 
solve) is settled for her by the house¬ 
wives of the neighborhood assuming her 
duties in addition to their own ; which 
favors she thankfully repays in kind as 
opportunity arises. M. J. s. 
w 
WHY SHOULD THESE THINGS BE? 
11Y not start a society for the pre¬ 
vention of cruelty to the farmer's 
wife ? Of course I do not mean flagrant 
acts of brutality which the laws of the 
land will take charge of, but abuses 
which kill as surely as a knife, club or 
pistol, and which do not come within the 
pale of the law. To make my meaning 
clear, I shall mention two cases which 
have recently come under my observa¬ 
tion. On a very hot day last summer a 
farmer’s wife came to my store, carrying, 
nearly four miles, a large basket full of 
butter. Her husband was at home, their 
horse standing in the stable. The work 
was not pushing, although her husband 
was not an idle man ; in fact quite the 
other way. so much so, that he drove all 
his boys away from the farm by his 
ravenous appetite for hard work. 
A neighbor’s team was tied at the rear 
door of my store, and the woman who 
had walked into town, after exchanging 
her butter for groceries, was waiting in 
order to ride home. She thought of 
something she wanted at another store 
in another part of the town, and leaving 
her basket, she went on that errand, not 
thinking to say anything to me of her 
wishes to go along with the team. When 
she returned, the neighbor had gone. 1 
can’t begin to describe to you the look of 
pain that came upon that poor woman’s 
countenance. Tired before she started 
from home, she had walked nearly five 
miles carrying a heavy basket, and now 
had an equally heavy load to be carried 
back home. Something stuck hard in 
my throat, and I turned my head to hide 
my feelings. 
At another time, a farmer brought his 
wife to my store. She had some butter, 
a big lot of it, and good, honest, clean 
butter, well made, showing her skill. 
Everything was serene, until I began to 
talk upon the subject of a vacant piece 
of land adjoining their farm. A cloud 
at once came over her face, as she said, 
“ My husband has bought that piece of 
land. We had G5 acres already, not much 
over half of which is cleared.” As she 
continued her story, her chin quivered, 
and the tears came into her eyes, as she 
said, “ And now every dollar he can 
gather together, goes to pay for that 
additional piece of land, while we need 
so many other things about the house 
and barn—labor-saving appliances, to 
make things easier for us. In all this 
blizzard weather, I have helped milk 
14 cows, and made all the butter alone 
by hand. I am past 50 years of age, 
and can’t stand the work as I used to.” 
Now, what sort of missionary work will 
ever open the eyes of men who belong 
to the class these farmers do ? Subscribe 
to a good farm paper like The R. N.-Y., 
they won’t, because they don’t believe 
in book farming. Perhaps one could get 
the farmer’s wife to take the paper; it 
is worth trying. At the same time, let 
me ask The R. N.-Y. to preach against 
this awful inhumanity to farmers’ wives. 
hybrid. 
BEGIN WITH THE BOYS. 
ANOTHER WAY TO SETTLE THE BEAU 
QUESTION. 
S O long as there are young men and 
maidens, there will be the mooted 
“ beau question ” to disturb our minds ; 
it’s forever old and forever new. Each 
generation brings its own perplexities 
and peculiarities, yet do we not see much 
of our own youthful follies and experi¬ 
ences lived over in that of our children ? 
In all the recent articles on this ques¬ 
tion, the training, as to hours, etc., has 
all been directed toward the young 
girls. Would it not be as well to give a 
little of this to the boys'? If we do not, 
I feel that we are in danger of clinging 
to that double standard of morality, in a 
day when there should be but one. If 
we do not wish our daughters’ friends to 
stay late, why do we not teach our own 
sons that other parents are as fond and 
careful of their daughters as we are of 
ours, and it’s best that they do not pro¬ 
long their evening calls ? Who would 
wish his own son to be submitted to that 
unpleasant discipline which a Puritan 
father is said to have administered to his 
daughter’s caller ? Laying down his 
friendly pipe by the open fire, he said, 
“ Well, it’s time to wind up the clock 
and turn out the cats,” and one, at least, 
took the hint. 
I don't believe that any true mother’s 
son who has been talked with and given 
as much confidence as the daughters, 
will ever boast of “taking liberties.” 
He is above the thought. Can't we teach 
the youth to be boys and girls together, 
friends and good comrades, and let the 
question of selection take care of itself 
in its own due season ? Oliver Wendell 
Holmes said : “Nature makes every man 
love every woman, and leaves the matter 
of mere choice to the slightest happen¬ 
stance.” 
Bad Home Influence. 
Recently, while a guest in a family, a 
bright boy of eight came running in 
from his play to his mother, exclaiming, 
“ What do you think *? I asked May to 
marry me and she says that she won t; 
to which the doting mother replied, 
“ Well, never mind ; ask Nellie to-mor¬ 
row.” If at twice his present age, this 
precocious youth begins in reality to ask 
this oft repeated question, whose will be 
the fault if he is a nuisance aud con¬ 
stantly refused ? Do we realize how 
much, in our daily conversation at home, 
we speculate and talk of marriage in a 
rather amusing tone ? This influences 
the boys and girls, who are really but 
imitators, and often only do things which 
were suggested by their parent's conver¬ 
sation. 
In many communities, the idea that 
“ old maids are abominable,” has not 
wholly gone out of date, and this tempts 
the daughter to accept and desire serious 
attentions earlier than she otherwise 
would. Those of us who are acquainted 
with Louise Alcott’s books, know the 
sweet charm which came from the inter¬ 
mingling of the boys and girls, and there 
is just as much in real life, if we who are 
older will assist the young people, in¬ 
stead of forever saying, “Don’t.” Liberty 
will never run into license, when the 
boys and girls stand on an equal plane of 
confidence, and are equally well trained 
in all those amenities which go to make 
up the sum of life. When we teach our 
sons to treat other people’s daughters 
as we wish our own treated, we will have 
gone a long way toward settling a ques¬ 
tion which seems to perplex every age. 
FLORENCE BROWN. 
MOTHER LOVE THE BEST. 
1 WAS especially pleased with the arti¬ 
cles in The R. N.-Y. of February 23, 
in regard to the bringing up of children. 
I have had some experience, and fully 
indorse the sentiments of F. A. II. I, 
too, was brought up in a family where 
no love or care for sentiment was fos¬ 
tered or allowed. I never remember of 
a kiss given me even by my mother, until 
after my marriage. She held strict ideas 
of propriety, and would allow no non¬ 
sense. As a natural consequence, I was 
pleased to be appreciated by those away 
from home, and none of my own family 
ever had my confidence. 
I think parents lose a great deal of 
happiness, when they do not enjoy the 
lives of those given to them. I resolved 
to do differently by those that came to 
me. My love for my children was such 
that it led me to keep them near my 
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