634 
35 he  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
April  15,  191G. 
Pastoral  Parson  on  the  Lonely  Road 
The  Hired  Girl  on  the  Farm 
By  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Gilbert 
“Moms.”  said  the  Pastoral  Parson  the 
other  day.  “we  must  have  another  party.” 
“But  you  only  had  one  a  little  while 
ago."  she  said. 
“1  know.”  said  I.  “but  we  must  have 
another.”  and  we  did.  Such  a  good  time 
as  they  all  had  with  the  Pastoral  Par¬ 
son  as  the  master  of  ceremonies.  One 
thing  followed  right  on  the  heels  of  an¬ 
other.  and  if  any  hoy  tried  to  ge‘-  too 
"funny”  he  was  taken  by  the  collar  and 
straightened  up  in  his  place  so  that  he 
knew  where  lie  belonged.  The  girl  that 
lives  in  the  Parson's  family  was  there, 
and  had  a  glorious  time  too. 
Factory  vs.  Farm. — The  question  that 
is  Up  to  a  good  many  girls  now  is:  “Shall 
it  be  the  factory  or  the  farm?”  And  the 
factory  generally  comes  out  ahead.  Our 
hired  girl  was  only  fourteen  when  she 
came — scared  and  frail,  she  arrived  at 
the  hack  door.  She  had  “lived  out”  a 
little  in  other  families.  She  found  a 
great  difference  here.  She  was  not  living 
out,  she  was  living  in  her  home.  She 
served  and  helped  as  everyone  serves  and 
helps  in  this  house,  hut  she  was  not  a 
servant.  When  offered  an  afternoon  off 
she  did  not  want  it.  as  she  had  a  better 
time  here  than  going  in  town.  Like  any 
girl  of  her  ago.  she  liked  to  get  out  of 
doors,  and  especially  to  drive  horses  and 
get  a  ride.  To  go  in  town  and  do  errands 
and  take  in  butter  and  eggs  was  a  perfect 
joy  to  her  and  a  help  to  everyone  else. 
She  readily  learned  to  milk,  and  can  milk 
the  three  cows  when  the  Parson  is  away 
just  as  well  as  he  can.  There  is  no  con¬ 
cern  about  the  washing  and  ironing,  she 
is  so  strong  and  well,  she  would  just  as 
soon  do  them  us  anything  else.  When 
Mrs.  Pastoral  Parson  is  away  -die  can 
churn,  work  over  the  butter,  and  print 
it. 
Ax  For  CATION. — Think  of  the  educa¬ 
tion  this  girl  has  got  here  on  the  farm 
and  compare  it  for  sheer  usefulness  to 
vliat  she  would  have  gotten  in  a  factory. 
There  she  would  have  learned  to  run  a 
machine — in  fact  she  would  ho  little  hot  • 
1 1  r  than  a  machine  herself.  Here  she 
lias  learned  about  everything  that  a 
woman  ought  or  needs  to  know.  She 
l.iis  learned  to  take  care  of  a  house.  She 
1  as  learned  the  difference  between  house¬ 
keeping  and  home-making — between  n 
woman  that  won't  have  a  Christmas  tree 
because  of  the  litter,  and  the  woman  who 
will  turn  the  house  over  to  a  neighbor¬ 
hood  party.  She  has  learned  how  to 
rook  anything  that  anybody*  ought  to  oat. 
and  to  make  a  cream  cake  for  a  part}’. 
How  far  beyond  the  ability  to  fry  pork 
chops  does  the  cooking  knowledge  of  a 
factory  girl  go? 
The  Most  Important. — The  most  im¬ 
portant  part  of  the  education  of  such  a 
girl  is  what  she  learns  about  the  care 
of  children.  Think  of  the  worry  and 
strain  and  fearful  expense  that  is  caused 
by  the  fact  that  the  young  mothers  know 
little  or  nothing  about  the  care  of  chil¬ 
dren.  People  seem  to  think  That  this  will 
come  by  instinct.  After  the  doctors  get 
all  their  money  they  decide  otherwise. 
1  low  often  have  I  heard  Mrs.  Pastoral 
Parson  say:  “Those  people  will  lose  that 
baby  if  they  don’t  put  warmer  clothes 
on  it",  or  "The  trouble  with  that  baby  is, 
she  feeds  it  too  often.”  She  gets  all 
wrought  ii p  over  seeing  some  fond  mother 
jounce  a  baby  up  and  down.  “Enough 
to  ruin  its  little  hack.”  she  says.  Of 
course  the  more  they  hound  the  poor 
thing  up  and  down  the  more  it  yells.  In 
many  of  the  country  schools  now  the 
care  of  chickens  and  calves  is  being 
taught.  May  we  sometimes  put  the  ba¬ 
bies  in  this  exalted  class?  While  going 
to  school  for  several  years.  Mrs.  Par¬ 
son  lived  in  a  family  where  there  were 
small  children.  Which  lias  been  of  the 
greater  value  to  us.  what  she  learned 
from  the  books  or  in  that  home?  f>o  the 
girl  that  lives  here  has  learned  about 
children. 
She  Says  “Moms”  Too. — “Do  you 
care  if  I  call  you  ‘Moms’  like  the  others 
do?"  she  said  one  day  to  Mrs.  Pastoral 
Parson,  and  it  has  been  “Moms”  from 
that  day  ever  since.  Why  should  those 
who  help  us  he  treated  differently  all  the 
time?  Should  they  have  to  keep  saying 
ink  to  themselves  “I  must  remember  I  am 
a  servant  here?”  “I  must  know  my 
place.”  No  one  knows  what  may  hap¬ 
pen  to  us  any  time,  and  would  we  like 
our  children  to  come  to  that?  I  have 
noticed  at  times  a  tendency  among  the 
boys  to  expect  this  girl  to  wait  on  them 
but  they  have  soon  learned  better.  When 
they  want  more  oatmeal  at  breakfast, 
they  go  out  to  the  kitchen  stove  and  get 
it  themselves. 
Mi  sic  Lessons  At. so. — As  the  boys 
in  our  family  come  on.  they  take  music 
lessons.  The  oldest  lias  been  working 
on  the  mandolin  and  will  now  take  up 
the  violin.  The  next  is  drumming  away 
on  the  piano.  Why  not  the  hired  girl, 
with  no  home  or  anyone  else  to  advise 
her  have  the  same  advantage?  From  her 
earnings  she  t>  has  taken  lessons  on 
the  mandolin,  and  is  quite  in  demand  at 
church  sociable  and  society  gatherings. 
When  there  is  no  specially  good  love 
story  on  hand  (for  every  girl  at  her  age 
ought  to  have  plenty  of  good  love  stories 
to  read)  she  often  comes  in  from  linish- 
ing  up  her  supper  things  and  sits  in  the 
living  room  with  us  and  plays  her  mando¬ 
lin  till  bedtime. 
Set  The  Barn  Afire. — A  while  ago. 
here  in  Connecticut,  a  “living  out”  girl 
walked  from  the  house  down  to  the  barn 
and  sot  it  afire.  Just  previous  to  this, 
she  had  been  congratulated  on  having 
such  a  nice  home.  She  had  good  pay, 
plenty  to  eat,  and  was  not  overworked. 
“Why,”  they  asked  her,  “did  yn  do  this 
terrible  thing?"  “I  had  to  do  something.” 
she  cried.  “I  couldn’t  stand  this  live- 
herc-ever.v-day  just  the  same;  Sunday 
like  Monday,  Monday  like  Tuesday 
through  the  whole  week.  Never  any¬ 
thing  ahead.  I  just  had  to  do  some¬ 
thing.”  This  girl  hit.  the  nail  exactly 
on  the  head  (if  she  was  a  woman)  ! 
What  have  the  girls  in  your  homes,  your 
mvu  girls  or  hired  girls,  to  look  forward 
to?  As  I  sit  here  writing  two  neighbor¬ 
hood  boys  are  driving  by  with  big  loads 
of  grain.  I  know. that  “Petty”  sees  them 
from  the  kitchen  window,  and  what  cares 
she  if  Moms  has  got  on  her  new  dress 
.and  Spring  hat  and  gone  in  town  to 
make  calls  and  left  her  with  a  tremen¬ 
dous  ironing  and  the  supper  and  the 
young  ones  and  all.  for  she  is  thinking  of 
how  next  Tuesday  night  she  and  the 
other  girls  will  be  playing  games  with 
those  and  the  other  neighborhood  “fel¬ 
lers” — courtsey,  Virginia  reel.  Tucker 
and  all,  with  a  big  freezer  of  her  own 
good  ice  cream  on  the  side. 
(’hanging  1 1  IT, i*. — It.  never  looks  well 
to  the  Pastoral  Parson  to  be  forever 
changing  help.  It  is  one  thing  to  put 
a  dollar  on  the  plate  (quite  likely  a 
dollar  earned  by  some  one  else)  to  hire 
some  one  to  go  and  do  something  fur 
somebody  in  Africa  and  quite  another 
thing  to  take  a  real  interest  and  try  out 
the  Holden  Rule  on  the  homeless  and  un- 
hefri ended  girl  in  the  kitchen.  If  you 
really  ever  want  to  find  out  about  people, 
of  what  sort  they  are.  don't  ask  the  min¬ 
ister  or  their  friends,  ask  their  hired 
help.  Yet  nothing  pays  so  well  as  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  hired  help.  When 
we  are  interested  in  them  and  theirs, 
then  will  they  take  an  interest  in  our 
work. 
“Working”  A  Boy  On  The  Farm, — 
The  Pastoral  Parson  is  always  a  little 
suspicious  of  the  man  who  is  always  try¬ 
ing  to  hire  a  boy  on  the  farm  at  a 
hoy’s  salary.  Then  by  praising  him  up 
and  comparing  him  with  the  neighbor’s 
hired  man  and  giving  him  stunts  and 
telling  how  you  once  had  a  boy  that 
could  pitch  off  a  load  of  hay  in  seven 
minutes,  you  get  a  fearful  amount  of 
work  out  of  him  and  incidentally  dis¬ 
courage  him  with  farm  work  for  life.  In 
this  same,  way  there  are  far  too  many 
families  who  get  girls  out  of  homes  and 
institutions  because  they  come  cheap, 
have  no  one  (or  at  least  no  one  who 
knows  his  business)  to  look  after  them, 
and  they  make  perfect  drudges  of  tlu-m. 
There  is  just  one  question  to  ask  in  all 
these  cases.  What  if  this  were  my  child? 
What  a  satisfaction  to  take  into  your 
family  a  homeless  girl  and  after  four 
years  see  a  large  strong,  healthy,  capable 
woman.  This  is  worth  all  the  wages 
paid. 
The  Ministers  And  Dancing. — Some 
of  our  readers  have  seen  that  reference 
to  Virginia  reel  above,  and  are  quite  dis¬ 
gusted.  I  have  no  quarrel  with  them 
but  must  tell  what  a  good  farmer  was 
telling  me  day  before  yesterday.  It  hap¬ 
pened  in  an  adjoining  town.  The  new 
minister  had  delivered  several  tirades 
against  dancing,  when  a  dance  was  given 
in  Grange  hall.  A  minister  and  his  wife 
of  another  town  drove  some  live  miles 
over  wretched  roads  t<>  attend  this  dance, 
and  danced  several  figures  with  extreme 
grace  and  ease,  and  then  drove  home 
again  that  night.  And  he  was  of  the 
same  denomination  as  the  local  preacher. 
So  while  ministers  disagree  the  young 
folks  arc  free  to  keep  on  gathering  to¬ 
gether  in  the  way  God  seems  to  have  per¬ 
mitted  as  far  hack  as  we  have  any  his¬ 
tory  of  the  race. 
The  Maii.uag. — Sometimes  the  Parson 
thinks  he  has  written  too  many  letters 
already,  and  that  it  is  a  wise  man  who 
knows  when  to  quit.  lie  got  that  idea 
today,  anil  was  wondering  if  he  had  not 
better  write  and  say  that  the  readers  of 
The  It.  X.-Y.  must  have  gotten  his  idea 
by  this  time  and  he  would  not  trouble 
them  more,  when  just  as  I  sat  down  to 
the  old  typewriter,  the  postman  came. 
“What  man  is  this  from,  Daddy.”  says 
Moms  as  she  handed  me  u  letter.  “I 
have  no  idea,”  said  I.  “Must  he  some 
church  wants  a  supply.”  And  then  I 
read  it  and  passed  it.  over  to  Moms.  Such 
a  nice  encouraging  letter  as  it  was!  It 
would  not  do  for  me  to  quote  it  here,  but 
I  got  busy  on  this  little  contribution 
right  away  quick.  And  then  this  m’an 
who  said  lie  had  farmed  it.  for  40  years, 
went  on  to  tell  what  kind  of  ministers 
the  country  must  have  to  save  its 
churches  and  its  people,  llis  ideas  arc 
so  sensible  and  true  that  1  intend  to 
read  them  at  our  next  State  diocesan 
convention. 
I  have  been  going  to  church  all  my 
life  and  have  been  a  civil  veil  member  for 
many  years,  hilt  it  is  small  wonder  to  me 
that  the  usual  churches  are  weak,  and 
that  the  people  neglect  them.  The  great¬ 
er  part  of  our  rural  clergy  have  no  real 
understanding  of  the  problems  and  trou¬ 
bles  of  the  people  who  dwell  upon  the 
smaller  and  poorer  farms.  Many  of  them 
seem  to  consider  that  their  duty  consists 
of  conducting  the  regular  services  of  the 
church  and  making  a  few  formal  calls. 
They  do  not  enter  into  the  intimate, 
everyday  life  of  the  people,  and  do  not 
realize  the  trouble  and  cares  which  con¬ 
front  them.  Often  they  are  city-bred 
young  men,  fresh  from  their  seminaries, 
to  whom  a  country  pastorate  is  only  a 
stepping-stone  io  a  larger  and  more  lu¬ 
crative  field,  or  elderly  men  who  have  be¬ 
come  incapacitated  by  age  for  work  in 
larger  communities.  In  either  of  these 
cases  their  heart  is  not  in  their  work. 
In  the  one  case  their  real  interest  is  in 
the  future,  in  the  other  ill  the  past. 
I  have  lived  nearby  all  of  my  forty 
years  in  the  country,  either  upon  a  farm 
or  in  a  country  store,  and  think  that  I 
have  had  au  opportunity  to  learn  and 
understand  the  problems  of  rural  life 
quite  thoroughly. 
If  the  country  church  is  to  he  saved 
(and  the  country  people  as  well  I  we 
must  have  clergymen  like  yourself — 
trained  for  their  especial  field  of  labor 
and  to  do  real  pastoral  work.  They  must 
realize  that  their  people  have  physical 
needs  and  problems  as  well  as  spiritual 
ones.  They  must  consider  that  helping  a 
poor,  struggling  family  over  a  hard  place 
is  just  as  effective  missionary  work  as- 
taking  a  collection  for  foreign  missions. 
They  mils!  develop  the  social  side  of  Un¬ 
people  and  break  tip  that  isolation  and 
narrow-mindedness  which  too  often  pre¬ 
vails  in  the  remote  rural  districts.  When 
the  people  see  that  their  pastor  has  an 
interest  in  them  beyond  getting  them  to 
contribute  toward  his  salary  they  will 
flock  to  hear  him.  a.  is.  r. 
The  Sick  Folks  -  The  man  with  a 
keen  sense  of  humor  who  got  stuck  in 
flic  show  b.V  the  chapel  is  so  far  recov¬ 
ered  as  to  be  able  to  go  to  the  home  of 
his  daughter.  The  little  woman  whose 
husband.  Mr.  Tightwad,  had  to  loosen  up 
and  give  her  good  care,  is  slowly  im¬ 
proving.  She  is  in  a  lovely  home,  aud 
has  every  tender  attention.  Her  hus¬ 
band  seems  fast  learning  the  way  to  do 
the  light  thing,  lie  pays  all  bills  with¬ 
out  grudging,  and  this  week  handed  to 
Pastoral  I’arson  a  five-dollar  bill  for  her 
to  have  on  hand  for  any  little  extras 
she  may  need!  The  hard-working  little 
woman  whose  lions  got  no  cold  feet  on 
the  laying  proposition,  though  they  ran 
outdoors  all  Winter,  is  in  the  hospital 
here  recovering  from  an  operation.  Her 
home  is  fourteen  miles  out  on  the  Lone¬ 
ly  Road.  When  very  weak  she  heard  a 
footstep  at  the  door  of  her  private  ward 
and  looking  up,  she  saw  the  Pastoral 
Parson  there.  A  look  of  cheer  spread 
over  her  face  and  lie  could  just  hear  her 
saying  over  and  over  t<>  herself,  “Many 
good  times,  many  good  times,  many  good 
times.”  May  she  yet  again  he  able  many 
times  to  come  down  to  the  little  church 
by  the  quiet  brook  and  the  wooden  bridge 
where  meet  together  three  Lonely  Roads. 
Last  year  a  Florida  man  wanted  to 
find  a  market  for  an  alligator  which  oc¬ 
cupied  a  lake  on  the  place.  Of  course 
selling  an  uueuUght  alligator  is  some¬ 
thing  Of  a  chore,  but  the  suggestion  seems 
to  have  started  others  up  with  all  sorts 
of  wants.  Hero  is  one: 
From  whom  or  where  could  I  get  a 
few  of  the  big  Eastern  bull-frogs?  I 
would  like  to  have  enough  for  seed. 
Oregon.  a.  holaday. 
The  bull  frogs  can  probably  be  obtained 
from  the  Th  S.  Bureau  of  Fisheries  at 
Washington.  T).  ("’.  If  any  of  our  read¬ 
ers  think  they  have  superior  stock  and 
extra  fine  singers  they  may  have  the  ad¬ 
dress  of  Mr.  IIoTnduy, 
