334 
She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
February  20,  1910. 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
Lincoln's  Birthday. — It  brought  the 
■worst  storm  we  have  had  this  Winter. 
The  season  will  pass  on  into  history  ns 
about  the  roughest  we  have  had  in  ‘20 
years.  There  came  a  whirl  of  snow  which 
filled  the  air  and  sifted  in  through  every 
crack  and  hole.  We  let  the  storm  alone, 
and  got  away  from  it.  Merrill  sorted  out 
seed  corn  at  the  barn.  Philip  had  some 
inside  painting  to  do,  the  women  folks 
kept  at  their  household  work,  and  the 
children  got  out  into  the  storm.  1  hey 
came  in  now  and  then  to  stand  by  the 
fire — with  faces  the  color  of  their  hair 
As  for  roe,  I  cannot  say  that  I  hurt  my¬ 
self  with  hard  labor.  We  piled  the  higs 
in  the  open  fireplace  and  started  a  roar¬ 
ing  fire.  With  a  pile  of  books  on  one  side 
and  a  pen  and  paper  at  the  other,  my  big 
chaiv  gave  a  very  good  foundation  for  a 
Lincoln  celebration.  1  presume  we  all 
have  our  personal  habits  of  reading. 
Some  people  read  only  one  kind  of  books, 
and  stick  to  the  one  in  hand  until  it  is 
finished.  My  plan  is  different.  Right 
now  I  am  reading  Dante,  “Rural  ('red its," 
“Manufacture  of  Chemical  Manures,” 
Whittier’s  Poems  and  Lowell’s  essay 
on  Abraham  Lincoln.  A  poor  jumble  of 
stuff  for  a  human  bead  you  will  say.  but 
I  turn  from  one  to  another,  so  that  in¬ 
stead  of  a  mixed-up  jumble  I  try  to  have 
these  different  thoughts  in  layers  through 
the  mind.  In  this  way  One  may  get  a 
blend  which  is  better  than  a  hash.  It 
may  seem  absurd  to  think  of  putting 
poetry  into  rural  credits  or  fertilizers,  but 
unless  you  can  do  something  of  i  lie  sort 
you  cau  never  get  very  far  with  them. 
Lincoln’s  Greatness. — That  was  the 
great  secret  of  Lincoln’s  power.  As 
judged  by  knowledge  or  training  or  what 
we  call  “education,”  there  were  many 
abler  men  in  the  country  at  his  time,  hut. 
Lincoln  knew  how  to  appeal  to  the  imag¬ 
ination  of  the  plain,  common  people: 
Itead  his  speeches  and  papers  and  see  how 
lie  framed  a  fact  with  a  mental  picture 
which  the  common  people  could  under¬ 
stand.  There  were  some  wonderful  pic¬ 
tures  at  the  World’s  Fair  in  rhicagn. 
Some  were  called  masterpieces  of  fabu¬ 
lous  value.  People  stood  before  them  and 
went  on  with  something  of  awe  in  their 
heart — not  quite  grasping  the  artist’s 
moaning.  One  less  pretentious  picture 
was  named  “The  Breaking  of  Home 
Ties,”  and  day  by  day  a  great  throng 
stood  before  it,  silent  and  wet-eyed.  Tt 
was  a  very  simple  home  scene,  picturing 
a  hoy  leaving  his-  country  home,  Mon 
studied  it.  walked  away  and  then  turned 
and  slowly  came  back  that  they  might  see 
it  once  more.  As  long  as  they  live  peo¬ 
ple  will  remember  that  picture,  because 
the  poetry  of  it  appealed  to  them  as  the 
higher  art  Could  not  do.  I  think  Lincoln 
held  the  imagination  of  the  plain  people 
much  as  that  picture  did.  He  was  one 
who  had  suffered  and  had  been  brought 
up  with  plain  and  simple  family  habits 
which  were  fixed, 
Til  t:  FAMILY. — The  children  'have  come 
running  in  to  warm  their  hands.  They 
are  lined  up  in  front  of  the  lag  fire,  rosy- 
faced  and  covered  with  snow.  They 
stand  looking  at  me  as  I  write.  Dinner 
is  nearly  ready,  and  there  is  no  question 
about  their  readiness  for  it.  Here  comes 
Mother  to  look  out  at  the  storm,  and  she 
forgets  to  remember  that  this  group  of 
snow  birds  by  my  fire  have  forgotten  to 
stamp  the  snow  off  their  feet.  There  will 
be  a  puddle  of  water  when  they  move  off 
— hut  it  will  soon  dry  up.  As  I  watch 
them  all  it  seems  a  good  time  to  pick  up 
Lowell’s  essay  on  Lincoln : 
“7/e  is  so  cmiiwntlg  our  representative 
man,  that ,  when  lie  speaks,  it  seem.*  os  if 
the  people  were  listening  to  their  o ice 
thinking  aloud.  .  .  .  Tie  has  always 
addressed  the.  intelligence  (if  wen.  Near 
their  prejudices,  their  passion  or  their 
ignore  nee.” 
Now  T  think  that  intelligence  and 
power  to  speak  as  people  think  can  only 
come  out  of  true  family  relations.  Do  I 
mean  to  say  that  the  family  group  is  supe¬ 
rior  to  the  college,  the  school  or  the  other 
great  institutions  for  training  human 
thought.  I  do.  whenever  the  family 
group  is  bound  together  as  it  should  be  by 
love,  good  will,  ambition  and  something 
of  sacrifice! 
The  Social  Unit. — This  nation  and 
every  other,  is  ruled  by  the  family  spirit. 
All  public  government  is  based  on  self 
government,  and  the  family  is  the  train¬ 
ing  school  for  all.  What  could  the  college 
or  the  school  do  with  a  great  crowd  or 
mob  of  students  who  have  never  known 
the  restraints  of  good  family  life?  Ask 
any  teacher  to  tell  you  the.  difference  be¬ 
tween  children  reared  in  a  clean,  careful 
family  and  in  one.  where  the  family  rela¬ 
tions  are  much  like  a  cross-cut  saw.  Line 
up  the  adults  you  know  and  make  a  fair 
estimate  of  their  character  and  see 
whether  you  can  select  those  who  in  their 
childhood  had  a  fair  chance  in  family  life. 
There  are,  of  course,  exceptions  to  all 
rules,  but  generally  the  boy  or  girl  will 
carry  through  life  the  habits  and  the  hu¬ 
man  policies  which  are  given  him  in 
the  family.  As  a  rule  these  will  be  car¬ 
ried  into  the  new  family  which  the  boy 
or  girl  may  start,  and  thus  he  carried  on 
like  those  qualities  which  are  trans¬ 
mitted  through  blood  lines.  No  use  talk¬ 
ing — the  family  unit  is  the  most  impor¬ 
tant.  element  in  human  society.  A  na¬ 
tion's  fame  rests  upon  the  nation's  family. 
Consider  Tins. — I  think  a  man  may 
fairly  be  judged  by  the  way  lie  treats  his 
parents,  his  children  and  his  wife.  I  do 
not  care  how  he  gets  out  and  shows  him¬ 
self  off  as  a  great  man  and  a  good  citi¬ 
zen.  He  might  get  an  overwhelming  vote 
for  Congress  or  Governor,  but  God  will 
judge  him  more  by  the  votes  of  father, 
mother,  son,  daughter,  wife!  To  me 
there  can  he  nothing  more  beautiful  than 
the  true  relation  between  a  man  of  middle 
years  and  his  aged  parents..  Perhaps  the 
latter  are  feeble  and  not  well-to-do.  When 
they  can  sit  in  their  son’s  home  happy 
and  comfortable,  kilo  whig  that  the  entire 
family  lias  been  taught  to  put  them  first 
of  ail  in  family  regard,  you  have  struck 
about  the  finest  test  of  a  man’s  charac¬ 
ter  that  good  citizenship  can  offer.  When 
the  children  chase  their  father  about  and. 
out  of  their  own  thought,  run  to  antici¬ 
pate  his  wants,  you  can  make  up  your 
mind  that  in  that  family  are  being 
trained  men  and  women  who  can  go  out 
and  absorb  education  and  financial  power 
which  will  he  used  for  the  true  benefit  of 
humanity.  Most  of  us  can  never  hope  to 
he  great  men  or  to  handle  large  public 
affairs,  but  we  can  make  our  family  a 
training  school  for  good  citizenship,  I 
have  no  thought  that  in  this  bright-eyed 
group  of  youngsters  lined  up  by  my  fire 
we  are  to  have  any  great  Statesmen  or 
authors  or  merchant  prince  or  big  folks 
generally.  On  the  whole  I  hope  not,  as 
it  would  seem  to  me  that  the  great  man 
has  a  rather  lonely  life.  I  do  expect,  how¬ 
ever.  that  these  children  will  always  re¬ 
member  Hope  Farm,  and  that  in  future 
years  when  the  world  may  turn  a  very 
cold  side  to  them  they  will  remember  this 
stormy  day  and  will  feel  the  warmth  of 
this  kindly  fire. 
Come  On  ! — 1  have  wandered  away 
from  wlmt  I  wanted  to  say  about  Lincoln 
and  his  power  over  the  people.  It  was 
this  family  feeling  which  made  him 
strong,  and  if  you  want  your  boy  or  girl 
to  be  really  worth  while  you  just  gi\e 
them  and  their  mother  the  best  family 
surroundings  you  can  possibly  secure. 
The  man  who  taps  the  spring  or  the  well 
and  sends  the  water  running  through  his 
house  does  far  more  for  his  country  than 
he  who  runs  for  Congress  and  taps  the 
public  pockethook ! 
But  here  comes  Mother  again,  with 
“Come  now,  dinner’s  ready.  Don’t  let  it 
get  cold  !”  Get  cold?  The  children  are 
already  at  the  table!  I  wish  you  could 
come  right  along  with  me.  I  would  put 
two  sausage  cakes  on  your  plate,  and  fill 
it  up  with  mealy  potatoes  and  yellow  tur¬ 
nips.  Then  you  would  have  rice  iu  an¬ 
other  dish.  There  is  a  dish  of  thick, 
brown  gravy,  and  nothing  would  suit  me 
better  than  to  have  you  call  for  an  egg — 
fried  or  boiled.  The  Reds  are  laying  well 
now.  There  are  two  kinds  of  bread  and 
plenty  of  butter,  and  we  will  take  a  fam¬ 
ily  vote  as  to  whether  we  shall  take 
peaches,  strawberries.  KiefiVr  pears,  cher¬ 
ries  or  raspberries  off  the  pantry  shelves. 
1  vote  for  Crosby  peaches,  but  you  will 
have  a  free  choice  and  all  you  van  eat. 
Surely  the  table  makes  a  very  strong  fam¬ 
ily  tie.  Come  onj  n.  w.  c. 
If  you  read  this  book  you  will  keep  it  fot  future  reference. 
E.  Frank  Coe  Fertilizers 
Manufactured  only  by 
The  Coe-Mortimer  Company 
51  Chambers  Street  New  York  City 
This  is  not  an  unusual  yield  but  did  you  get  it  this  year  ? 
If  you  were  planning  to  raise  300  bushels  to  the  acre,  how  far  away  would 
you  space  your  rows  ? 
How  far  apart  would  you  drop  the  seed  pieces  in  the  row  ? 
What  are  you  doing  to  prevent  “scab”  and  "blight? 
Do  you  realize  that  a  fertilizer  containing  no  potash  produced  302 
bushels  on  a  measured  acre  at  Aroostook  Farm  in  1913? 
(Figures  from  report  of  Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station). 
We  have  a  Practical  Book  for  Practical  Potato  Growers,  entitled 
“POTATOES:  A  MONEY  CROP” 
All  of  these  points  and  many  more  are  fully  covered  in  this  worth  while  publication.  If 
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Do  You  Raise  300  Bushels 
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Combined  N 
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