Ctte  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
783 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
i'iiis  in  from  a  wise  Michigan  farmer: 
I  just  want  to  si<M  we  cat  cream  mi  our 
linked  apples,  but  following  flic  plow  all 
<la>  seems  to  control  the  fat.  c.  a.  T. 
Every  farm  family  should  have  first 
chance  at  the  cream.  This  man  is  wise  to 
balance  the  cream  with  hard  labor.  The 
fat  of  the  land  should  accompany  the 
lean  of  labor. 
* 
TliK  following  advertisement  is  said  to 
have  appeared  in  a  farm  paper: 
Wanted  A  respectable  young  man  to 
work  on  small  place  in  the  country,  to 
attend  a  cow  that  has  a  good  voice  and 
is  accustomed  to  singing  in  the  choir. 
Of  course  this  is  all  due  to  a  misplace¬ 
ment  of  commas,  but  such  a  young  man 
would  be  welcome  on  many  a  farm.  The 
barn  choir  needs  training  and  attention 
as  well  as  any  other.  When  Cows  bawl 
something  is  wrong.  They  do  not  lift  up 
their  voices  in  joy  or  satisfaction,  and 
they  need  looking  after. 
* 
Tine  newspapers  report  the  following 
tragedy  : 
Pen  Argvl,  Pa.,  April  15.  f’alvin 
Harding,  17.  while  using  a  .til' calibre 
ride  picked  up  a  pet  chicken,  holding  it 
under  one  arm  while  he  held  the  rifle  in 
the  other  hand.  The  chicken  began  to 
struggle  to  free  itself  and  one  of  its  fed 
came  in  contact  with  the  trigger,  discharg¬ 
ing  the  gun.  The  hull  entered  Harding’s 
left  eye.  lie  died  two  hours  later. 
This  may  or  may  not  lie  true.  .Many 
of  such  news  reports  are  unreliable,  but 
the  story  is  not  improbable.  There  is 
only  one  way  to  avoid  such  accidents, 
and  that  is  not  to  handle  gnus  and 
pistols.  A  rifle  in  the  hands  of  the  aver¬ 
age  young  person  is  a  dangerous  nui¬ 
sance. 
ft 
Among  the  hard  problems  which  will 
follow  the  European  war  few  will  he  har¬ 
der  than  that  of  disposing  of  the  “war 
widows."  There  will  he  more  than  n 
million  women  with  children  whose  hus¬ 
bands  have  been  killed.  What  is  to  lie- 
come  of  them  when  the  nations  begin  to 
change  the  battle  fields  into  farms  and 
homes?  Most  of  these  women  cannot; 
hope  to  be  married  again.  They  must 
assume  the  burden  of  raising  their  fam¬ 
ilies  largely  by  their  own  labor.  There  is 
a  plan  to  bring  5,000  of  them  to  Can¬ 
ada.  where  they  are  to  take  up  public 
land.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  many  of 
these  women  would  lie  suited  to  pioneer 
life,  bp!  there  ought,  to  be  a  chance  for 
them  to  find  places  on  farms  where  they 
could  help  in  the  house. 
» 
The  orator  who  wants  to  “make  him¬ 
self  solid”  with  country  voters  is  fond 
of  saying  that  the  farmer  feeds  the  world. 
Tin*  poets  and  the  thinkers  and  the  states¬ 
men  may  not  like  to  think  so.  but  they 
and  their  wares  must  all  take  a  back  sent 
in  public  importance;  for  tin*  man  who 
provides  the  plain,  substantial  bread  and 
meat  is  boss  of  the  situation.  lie  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  be,  but  he  isn’t  after  all.  The 
feeding  goes  on  further,  for  the  farmer  in 
turn  is  fed  by  the  farmer’s  wife.  Per¬ 
haps  you  never  thought  of  it  in  just  that 
way  before,  but  unless  the  farmer  was 
fed,  and  well  fed,  by  the  farm  woman,  lie 
never  could  feed  the  world  -or  even  him¬ 
self!  There  are  a  few  brilliant  excep¬ 
tions  where  men  can  cook  1,005  meals  per 
year,  but  if  the  farm  woman  gave  up 
feeding  tin*  farmer  starvation  would 
spread  abroad.  The  big  problem  now  is 
how  to  keep  tin*  girl  on  the  farm  con¬ 
tented  and  happy.  The  hoy  will  stay  if 
the  girl  does. 
ft 
TlilC  Pastoral  Parson  takes  a  little  va¬ 
cation  this  month  and  Airs.  Pastoral  Par¬ 
son  comes  forward  with  a  discussion  of 
the  best  live  stock  ever  grown  on  the 
farm.  Surely  Mrs,  Gilbert's  talk  on  “The 
Matty  on  the  Farm”  is  timely  and  very 
much  needed.  No  one  will  he  likely  to 
say  that  the  author  does  not  know  what 
she  is  talking  about,  nor  will  anyone  say 
that  the  subject  is  not  of  the  most  vital 
importance.  We  have  been  asked  by 
many  women  to  print  just  sucli  an  article, 
and  as  usual  we  go  to  Intelligent  mothers 
rather  than  to  theorists  who  never  eared 
for  their  own  child  or  knew  the  joys  of 
mol  hoi  hood.  The  baby  does  not  always 
have  a  fair  chance,  or  even  half  a  chance 
what;  with  careless  habits  or  too  many 
nurses.  The  coming  strong  men  of  the 
nation  are  the  farm  babies.  They  are 
now  absorbing  that  "strong  meat  which 
is  for  men”  in  the  form  of  baby  food. 
Give  them  a  chance! 
The  Maine  Winters  are  long  and 
snowy.  It  is  a  good'  test  for  a  man  with 
little  besides  chores  to  do  to  go  through 
such  a  Winter  with  good  nature  and  good 
spirits.  It  is  harder  for  the  women. 
One  of  our  readers  expected  n  good  Win¬ 
ter  job,  but  it  did  not  materialize. 
So  1  have  ladled  sap.  trimmed  apple 
trees  and  driven  my  mother  nearly  wild 
by  starting  all  worts  of  garden  sass  in  the 
house.  I  am  a  horticultural  crank,  so 
was  Dad,  and  his  father.  G.  u.  0. 
Thus  it  runs  in  the  family,  hut  like  the 
run  of  maple  sap,  it  must  be  ladled  down 
to  make  it  worth  while. 
* 
Yor  would  la*  astonished  to  sec  how 
many  letters  like  the  following  come  to 
us : 
Wishing  to  frame  and  preserve  a  copy 
of  the  first  page  illustration  on  your  issue 
of  April  22,  I  am  sending  for  a  ropy  for 
that  purpose.  May  I  ask  if  the  picture  is 
from  nature?  The  figure  in  the  center  is 
so  good  a  likeness  ami  the  occupation  so 
characteristic  of  one  with  whom  I  passed 
•1.”  most  happy  years,  and  who  now  awaits 
my  coming  to  the  Summer  Fund  where 
she  went  live  years  ago,  must  he  my  ex¬ 
cuse  for  troubling  you.  i>.  E.  1 1 . 
Past  week  a  New  York  man  wrote  ask¬ 
ing  if  the  picture  on  the  cover  of  the 
issue  for  April  2!l  was  not  that  of  an  old 
friend  in  Pennsylvania  !  <  tor  ambition  is 
to  make  The  K.  X,-Y.  express  something 
of  tin*  human  nature  oT  farm  life,  "just  as 
it  passes  on  from  day  to  day.”  We  try 
to  make  it  true  in  type  and  picture,  so 
that  our  renders  may  say  “That  is  like 
niy  old  friend,”  or  "It  seems  sensible  and 
I  believe  it  is  true !” 
* 
A  YOt’No  woman  in  Pennsylvania  made 
a  success  in  a  home  exhibition,  which  at¬ 
tracted  a  good  deal  of  attention  through¬ 
out  her  section.  Not  long  after  she  re¬ 
ceived  a  letter  from  a  newspaper  asking 
for  her  picture,  and  a  brief  statement  of 
her  life  and  work.  This  paper  stated 
that  they  wanted  to  print  her  picture  and 
her  address,  so  as  in  let  tin*  readers  know 
what  she  had  done.  Her  father  is  a 
wist*  man,  and  In*  wrote  us  to  learn  about 
tills  paper  before  this  photograph  w  is 
sent.  We  find  that  the  paper  has  little 
standing,  and  is  not  well  known.  It  may 
he  all  right,  hut  our  advice  was  not  to 
send  the  picture  at  all.  There  arc  so 
many  ways  in  which  undesirable  corre¬ 
spondence  can  Is*  started  through  such 
publication,  that  it  seems  to  us  very  much 
better  to  keep  out  of  print.  We  would 
not,  if  wo.  could  prevent  it,  have  pictures 
of  our  own  daughters  printed  in  this  pub¬ 
lic  way.  It  would  he  better  for  the  girls 
in  every  way  to  keep  out  of  print,  and 
our  advice  to  parents  would  be  not  to 
permit,  such  publication  if  they  can  pre¬ 
vent  it.  Of  course,  the  young  anl 
thoughtless  see  great  honor  and  possi¬ 
bilities  in  having  their  name  and  their 
picture  in  print.  There  is  really  very 
little  to  it.  and  the  children  would  he  bet¬ 
ter  off  in  the  end  if  they  keep  away  from 
this  publication.  Of  course,  the  average 
man  or  woman  will  Is*  greatly  flattered  at 
the  thought  of  having  their  offspring 
pass  into  enduring  printer’s  ink.  If  they 
are  wise,  however,  they  will  pass  up  the 
honor  and  not  send  any  picture. 
♦ 
There  is  not  much  response  yet  *o  the 
<|uestion  nbotit  the  community  or  lodge 
plan  of  employing  a  doctor.  The  only 
opinion  thus  far  received  is  ia  opposition 
to  the  plan.  It  will  he  found  on  page 
7D5.  The  large  corporations  follow  some¬ 
thing  of  this  plan  as  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Woodruff.  Wo  must  remember  that  tie* 
matter  of  personal  liking  enters  into  the 
relations  between  doctor  and  patient.  As 
between  several  doctors  of  about  equal 
ability  most  of  us  would  choose  lie*  one 
who  “gets  along"  best  with  the  family. 
This  would  bo  difl’erenl  with  a  commun¬ 
ity  doctor.  We  hope  to  gel  the  other 
side  in  due  time. 
* 
Ik  you  take  our  advice  you  will  he 
rather  slow  in  letting  your  daughters 
have  their  pictures  printed  in  the  average 
paper,  or  in  having  theii  addresses  appear 
in  print.  It  seems,  sometimes,  a  great 
honor  to  have  such  publicity,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  it  frequently  lends  to  great 
annoyance  and  trouble.  We  know  of  one 
case  near  our  own  home.  A  farmer’s 
daughter  bad  her  name  ant}  address 
printed  in  Ibis  way  and  received  many 
letters  from  strangers.  The  first  her  pa¬ 
rents  knew  she  had  actually  engaged  to 
marry  a  middle-aged  stranger  who  lived 
1,000  miles  away,  and  whom  sin*  had 
never  seen,  Our  advice  is  to  avoid  such 
publicity  for  the  girls.  It  will  do  them 
no  good.  Our  own  plan  is  to  print  pic¬ 
tures  when  llic.v  are  of  general  interest, 
but  to  withhold  tin*  addresses.  Tf  any 
letters  come  they  are  forwarded  to  the  in¬ 
terested  parties  to  answer  or  not  ns  they 
choose.  We  have  had  eases  where  men 
wrote  < Irmaiidiufi  tin*  addresses  of  young 
women  pictured  in  the  It.  N.-Y.  Need- 
loss  to  say  they  do  not  bluff  or  frighten 
anyone  here. 
ft 
Man  and  Woman  -Partners 
Why  should  so  much  he  said  about 
spending  money  for  farm  women?  We 
never  hear  about  spending  money  for  the 
hired  girl ;  is  the  wife  of  less  real  value 
than  the  servant?  H.v  what  law  do  the 
joint  earnings  of  both  belong  exclusively 
to  the  hushniid?  I  often  recall  a  little 
incident  of  my  own  early  married  life.  I 
had  returned  from  town  with  my  head 
unusually  clear  (for  a  wet  town),  and 
said  to  m,v  husband:  “I  ran  tell  you 
just  what  I  spent  and  just  what  I  spent 
it.  for.”  Instantly  came,  the  reply:  "Well, 
please  don't.”  And  then  very  kindly  he 
explained  that  if  he  allowed  me  to  tell 
him  he  should  always  be  afraid  I  had 
felt  that  la*  expected  an  accounting  of 
Moan*  sort  and  this  thought  must  never 
for  a  moment  exist  between  us.  The  fun¬ 
damental  principle  upon  which  he  based 
everything  was  an  equal  partnership  in 
all  things,  and  if  all  men  began  the  same 
way  why  need  we  ever  hear  of  pin  money 
for  women  any  more  than  for  men?  ft; 
seems  to  me  this  is  the  keynote  of  much 
of  tld*  trouble  there  is  too  little  real 
partnership.  Many  men  would  think  it 
an  insane  idea  to  consult  their  wives 
about  the  purchase  of  stock  or  tools,  hut 
possibly  the  wife  may  know  something 
about  this  that  the  husband  doesn’t. 
Some  women’s  lives  of  usefulness  might 
run  in  entirely  different  directions,  but 
some  localities  an*  more  progressive  than 
others,  , *uhI  my  home  was  in  one  of  these. 
M.v  husband  and  his  people  were  in  many 
ways  the  pioneers  of  their  section,  and  in 
this  way  I  had  often  lutd  greater  oppor¬ 
tunity  than  hi*  to  know  about  new  things 
possibly  they  were  in  common  use  near 
my  own  home.  And  a  woman  likes  a  man 
who  prefers  to  be  as  modern  as  he  can, 
whether  tin*  people  around  him ’an*  pro¬ 
gressive  or  not.  Let  us  have  more  part* 
nership  and  less  parsimony,  and  more 
spending  money  wiki  eotm*  to  the  farm 
woman  as  her  own  right.  My  this  I  don’t 
mean  that  all  men  can  if  they  will,-  pro* 
vide  everything  their  wives  want,  hut  I 
do  mean  that  two  real  partners  cannot 
hut  produce  more  than  one  man  alone 
who  owns  a  slave.  E.  M.  A. 
* 
Making  Sassafras  Tta 
<>u  page  (>2!t  Mrs.  Ray  of  Kentucky, 
adv  ised  I  la*  use  of  a  tea  made  from  sassa¬ 
fras  to  reduce  flesh.  Several  women 
have  written  to  know  more  about  this  and 
Mrs.  Ray  gives  the  following: 
A  strong  infusion  is  made  at  the  rate 
of  an  ounce  of  tin*  hark  of  the  sassafras 
root  <  what  we  call  here  tin*  “red”  va¬ 
riety)  to  a  quart  of  water.  Moil  it  half 
an  hour  very  slowly,  and  then  let  it  stand 
until  Cold,  I >o  not  sweeten;  keep  from 
the  air  by  keeping  it  in  a  self-sealing  jar. 
Drink  half  cupful  five  or  six  times  a  day. 
It  is  a  line  blood  purifier,  and  perfectly 
safe  to  use — in  fact,  we  use  it  in  tin* 
Spring  as  freely  as  some  use  coffee  or  tea. 
For  best  results,  tin*  bark  should  he  fresh. 
VI Its.  VV.  WAV. 
ft 
The  following  note  is  found  in  an  Eng¬ 
lish  paper : 
The  Moan!  of  Agriculture  has  now  is¬ 
sued  the  armlet  to  be  given  to  women 
Workers  on  tin*  land,  ll  is  of  green  baize, 
bearing  a  red  crown,  nod  is  to  be  given 
to  all  women  wlu>  have  done  not  less  than 
.■’,()  days  (of  eight  hours)  on  the  land 
since  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
Those  who  worked  last  year  will  he  en¬ 
titled  to  it  if  vouched  for  by  their  em¬ 
ployers. 
Thus  women  who  have  done  farm  work 
may  wear  a  badge  of  service  much  like 
that  worn  by  Red  Cross  nurses.  It  is  a 
fine  thing  to  honor  farm  workers  in  this 
way.  Would  that  we  could  have  in  this 
country  a  spirit  of  public  acknowledge¬ 
ment  of  the  service  which  so  many  farm 
women  render  to  their  country. 
ft 
Paruaemn  ox  Jku.y.-  If  an.v  house¬ 
wives  have  had  trouble  in  using  paraffin 
to  preserve  jellies  and  jams  and  will  fol¬ 
low  tills  method  1  think  they  will  have 
no  further  trouble.  When  filling  your 
glosses  have  the  paratlin  melted  and  turn 
it  over  the  jelly  as  fast  as  the  glasses  are 
filled.  I  used  to  wait  until  the  jelly  was 
cold  and  it  invariably  spoiled.  Now  I 
have  no  trouble,  it  keeps  perfectly. 
At  Nl  IE  HOPKINS. 
