RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
635 
Bits  of  Talk 
Whistle  Made  from  Pig’s  Tail 
The  old  saying  that  “you  can’t  mate  a 
whistle  out  of  a  pig's  tail”  has  been  shat¬ 
tered  by  the  work  of  a  Sodas,  N.  Y..  man. 
who  has  not  only  made  the  whistle,  but 
one  that  will  hold  a  note  as  clear  and 
long  as  any  whistle  ever  did.  The  job 
though  was  not  a  trifling  one,  and  re¬ 
quired  much  patience  and  care  in  the 
process.  The  blow  end  is  partly  closed 
by  a  wood  plug  and  a  few  brass  tacks 
less  true  and  the  baby  stopped  crying  as 
soon  as  she  found  herself  on  her  mother's 
knee.  Nor  did  the  little  girl  interfere  in 
any  way  with  her  mother's  playing.  When 
the  meeting  was  over  and  we  told  that 
mother  how  pleased  we  were  that  she  was 
"keeping  up"  her  music,  she  replied  :  “I 
have  always  made  time  for  my  music 
practice  ever  since  my  children  came,  and 
I  have  always  had  to  practice  with  one 
or  the  other  of  them  in  my  lap.”  That 
requires  effort  and  determination  as  well 
as  a  love  of  music;  but  what  one  woman 
is  accomplishing  amid  great  difficulties 
A  Whistle  from  a  Pig’s  Tail 
hold  this  in  position.  Nearly  all  the  bone 
was  removed,  so  that  the  whistle  takes 
a  good  deep  tone.  It  is  highly  prized  by 
its  owner.  A.  n.  rtJLVER. 
Country  Board  at  Wholesale 
I  have  a  building  on  my  place  that  can 
he  fitted  up  very  nicely  as  a  dormitory. 
It  will  .accommodate  25  people  and  pre¬ 
sents  a  very  attractive  appearance.  My 
farm  consists  of  about  <55  acres.  I  intend 
to  plant  every  available  lot  and  supply  it 
well  with  live  stock.  Isn't  there  a  possi¬ 
bility  of  renting  beds  in  above  mentioned 
building?  IJow  could  1  get  in  touch  with 
some  one  who  might  he  interested?  Don’t 
some  of  the  big  business  houses  send  their 
heli>  on  vacations?  Of  course,  I  intend 
to  board  them  also,  and  will  positively 
serve  on  the  tables  vegetables  as  raised  on 
the  place,  fresh  milk  and  fresh  eggs,  all 
they  want,  to  eat  of  them.  I  would  ap¬ 
preciate  it  very  much  if  you  can  inform 
me  what  method  I  could  use  to  bring  this 
to  some  one’s  attention  that  is  looking  for 
just  such  a  place.  Herbert  mottuam. 
Connecticut. 
Something  of  this  plan  is  carried  out  in 
some  localities  near  large  cities.  In  our 
own  neighborhood  one  of  the  large  depart¬ 
ment  stores  in  New  York  rented  a  farm 
for  this  purpose.  Your  best  plan  would 
be  to  advertise,  in  some  of  the  daily  papers 
or  secure  from  telephone  books  names  of 
large  stores  and  institutions  and  write 
them  direct.  They  will  call  for  rather 
cheap  board  at  wholesale  rates,  but  if  you 
can  obtain  a  houseful  you  can  sell  your 
crops  to  them  to  advantage.  That  is  prob¬ 
ably  about  all  you  can  hope  to  make  out 
of  such  a  scheme. 
A  Concert  Under  Difficulties 
Mrs.  Edith  C.  Salisbury  of  the  Arizona 
Agricultural  Extension  Service,  gives  this 
story  of  a  farm  woman  who  kept  up  the 
accomplishments  of  girlhood  through 
home-making  responsibilities  : 
I  attended  a  meeting  of  country  women 
in  an  Arizona  district  a  few  weeks  ago. 
A  musical  program  was  being  presented. 
One  of  the  numbers  announced  was  a  song 
by  a  woman  whose  daily  life  had  to  do 
with  the  routine  of  a  busy  ranch,  butter¬ 
making,  breadmaking,  gardening  and  what 
not.  I  knew  how  busy  she  was  but  I  did 
not  know  her  as  a  singer.  I  wondered 
just  how  she  would  sing  the  beautiful 
song,  “Good  Bye,  Sweet  Day.”  The  ac¬ 
companist  was  another  busy  ranch  wom¬ 
an.  the  mother  of  two  little  children,  and 
I  knew,  too,  that  her  hands  were  more 
than  full.  The  accompanist  had  to  bring 
her  baby  to  the  meeting  and  as  she  went 
to  the  piano  passed  the  little  one  to  a 
friend  to  hold  until  the  song  was  finished. 
It  was  beautifully  sung  and  perfectly  ac¬ 
companied.  But  before  the  song  was  fin¬ 
ished  the  baby  began  to  cry ;  she  cried 
lustily  and  I  wondered  what  would  hap¬ 
pen.  Would  the  singer  continue  without 
an  accompaniment  or  must  the  song  stop 
before  the  eud?  Not  so.  The  singer  left 
her  place  by  the  piano,  walked  down  the 
aisle  to  the  east  where  the  woman  held 
the  crying  baby,  gathered  it  up  in  her 
arms  and  carried  it  to  the  mother  and  sat 
it  down  in  her  lap.  The  mother  did  not 
miss  one  note  in  the  accompaniment,  the 
singer  did  not  sing  a  tone  less  sweetly  or 
others  can  accomplish  too.  Possibly  many 
of  them  can  do  so  with  fewer  obstacles  to 
overcome. 
The  Ink  on  Grain  Sacks 
Not  long  ago  a  Vermont  farm  woman 
wrote  us  asking  what  she  could  do  to 
blot  out  the  printed  words  or  marks  on 
grain  and  fertilizer  sacks.  She  is  most 
anxious  to  get  rid  of  the  marks  on  the 
grain  sacks,  for  if  this  could  be  done  they 
could  be  used  for  pillow  cases  and  other 
articles  which  would  prove*  very  service¬ 
able.  We  consulted  several  chemists 
about  this,  but  they  all  seem  to  think 
that  those  marks  were  put  on  the  hags 
to  stay,  and  strange  enough,  none  of 
thorn  seems  to  have  considered  the 
thought  of  taking  the  marks  off,  but  they 
were  entirely  concerned  in  printing  them 
on  so  that  they  would  stay  put.  We  fin- 
Result  of  Benzine  on  Ink 
ally  received  the  following  note  from 
Prof.  0.  H.  Jones,  chemist  of  the  Ver¬ 
mont  Experiment  Station. 
I  cannot  give  you  very  positive  in¬ 
formation  on  the  subject  for  the  reason 
that  the  removal  of  ink  will  depend  upon 
the  exact  nature  of  the  ink  and  the  ma¬ 
terial  on  which  it.  is  placed.  As  no  grain 
sacks  accompanied  your  inquiry  1  can 
only  state  as  a  general  proposition  that 
you r  reader  be  told  to  soak  the  sacks  in 
benzine  for  several  hours  (preferably  all 
night;  keep  away  from  lamps  and  tires) 
and  then  .attempt  to  remove  the  ink  by 
the  vigorous  application  of  a  small  stiff 
bristle  brush.  This  treatment  will  cer¬ 
tainly  work  in  some  eases,  but  whether 
or  not  it  will  apply  to  the  present  dilemma 
is  beyond  me.  e.  H.  jones. 
Of  course  if  one  was  to  try  this  ben¬ 
zine  method  the  material  must  be  kept 
away  from  a  lamp  or  a  tire,  otherwise 
there  would  be  an  explosion.  As  to  the 
success  of  this  benzine  method  on  a  heavy 
grain  sack  the  little  cut  shows  what  hap¬ 
pened  when  one  letter  was  soaked  in  the 
benzine  and  the  other  left  untouched. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  cloth  from 
which  these  strong  sacks  are  made  could 
be  used  for  many  useful  things  if  the  tell¬ 
tale  marks  can  be  blotted  out. 
Baby  Week  in  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 
The  annual  “Baby  Week”  of  the  Child 
Welfare  Association  of  Binghamton,  is 
held  in  September,  when  we  have  the 
“Better  Babies  Contest,”  but  the  asso¬ 
ciation  wished  to  have  a  part  in  the  na¬ 
tion-wide  celebration,  and  it  was  a  great 
success.  It  was  impossible  to  secure  any 
material  in  the  line  of  exhibits,  etc.,  from 
outside,  because  of  the  great  demand  from 
every  city  in  the  State,  Imt  articles  on 
the  care  of  the  baby  were  published  in  the 
local  papers.  The  two  plays,  “The  Theft 
of  Thistledown,”  and  '  “The  Narrow 
Door,”  wore  given  before  large  audiences. 
Both  teach  an  important  lesson  of  the 
need  of  child  welfare  work.  In  the  latter 
play  Death  stands  by  the  “Narrow  Door,” 
and  two  women,  “Life"  and  “Health" 
spin.  The  children  come  in  and  play,  and 
a  thread  breaks,  a  name  is  called  and  the 
child  goes  out  through  the  door.  Soon 
another  is  called  and  another  till  the 
others  miss  them,  and  try  to  call  them 
back,  but  in  vain.  Then  the  spinners  tell 
them  there  is  no  need  that  children  pass 
through  the  door,  leaving  their  work  in 
the  world  not  even  begun,  and  the  ]>-  ’w 
pleads  with  the  audience  to  help  in  the 
work  of  saving  these  little  lives.  Pictures 
of  Binghamton  prize  babies  were  shown 
on  the  screen  at  the  opera  house,  and  one 
of  a  little  starved,  thin  child,  who  was 
nearly  dead  from  malnutrition,  and  an¬ 
other  of  the  same  one  nine  mouths  later, 
as  fine  a  child  as  you  often  sec,  saved  by 
the  Child  Welfare  Association. 
We  have  started  a  Little  Mothers’ 
League,  and  a  nurse  teaches  the  girls 
how  to  care  for  a  baby  as  well  as  many 
things  about  a’  home,  like  cleanliness, 
fresh  air.  etc.,  and  how  to  care  for  them¬ 
selves  also,  as  these  girls  are  in  the  for¬ 
eign  section  of  the  city  and  their  parents 
know  very  little  of  our  ways  of  living. 
The  League  meets  in  a  sehoolhouse  and 
we  expect  to  organize  several  in  different 
localities  as  soon  as  possible.  The  reg¬ 
ular  work  is  carried  on  at  the  headquar¬ 
ters,  as  explained  in  the  report,  and  over 
200  children  are  under  supervision.  This 
means  healthier  hoys  and  girls  and  better 
citizens  for  the  future?  viola  m.  lee. 
inSuspen 
Forty  million  pair  of  Shirley  Presi¬ 
dent  Suspenders  have  been  made, 
sold  and  given  comfort  and  satis¬ 
faction  to  the  wearers.  There  is 
just  one  reason  why  a  man  contin¬ 
ues  to  replace  a  worn-out  pair  of 
SHirley 
Suspenders  CQ, 
with  a  new  pair  of  the  r 
same  kind.  He  likes  them.  A  trial 
proved  them  to  be  comfortable  and 
durable.  Future  purchases  are  made 
because  of  satisfaction. 
Many  wearers  have  a  pair  for  each  suit. 
It  s  convenient. 
Shirley  President  means 
Suspender  Comfort  and  a  Guarantee. 
PRESIDENT  SUSPENDER  CO. 
SHIRLEY.  MASS. 
A  Rainy  Day 
need  not  be  dull. j 
Cheer  up!—  Get  to  work  in  a 
TOWERS  FISH  BRAND 
rv\ 
J  Tower  Co. 
Boston 
£BSSiSH5J3£SiSS2,'ift3SW 
A  Tame  Mocking  Bird. 
In  reply  to  E.  31.  L.,  page  1019,  in  re¬ 
gard  to  rearing  mocking  birds,  after  very 
successfully  raising  several  before  South 
Carolina  laws  became  so  stringent,  would 
say  the  foremost  thing  is  cleanliness  of 
feed,  drinking  cups  and  perches,  well 
sanded  cage  bottoms.  Food  for  birds,  un¬ 
til  grown,  yolk  only  of  hard-boiled  egg 
chopped  with  well-done  potato.  One  me¬ 
dium  size  potato  with  one  yolk,  is  suffi¬ 
cient  for  two  birds  for  24  hours;  keep 
fresh ;  very  small  piece  of  well-ripened 
fruit  or  berries.  After  grown  you  can 
buy  specially  prepared  mocking  bird  food, 
25  cents  a  bottle.  One  bottle  is  sufficient 
for  two  or  three  months.  Feed  young 
birds  with  stick  or  hairpin. 
Long  Island.  w.  a.  Clifford. 
It.  N.-Y. — The  Federal  laws  prohibit 
taking  wild  native  song  birds  froti^  one 
State  into  another  without  permission. 
LEVIN  PRUNER 
rTTIE  best  Pruner,  Cuts  %-inch 
dry  branch.  Quick,  clean, 
easy  cut.  We  will  send  it  post¬ 
paid  for  one  new  yearly  subscrip¬ 
tion  at  $1.  or  for  club  of  10  ten- 
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Good  harness  deserves 
good  care;  keep  the 
trimmings  clean 
and  bright  with 
Old  Dutch 
/ 
