891 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
The  Pasture  Bars 
The  hunter!  stag,  now  nearly  spent, 
Turns  hormnvnnl  to  his  lair: 
The  wo un tie tl  Bedouin  seeks  his  tent 
And  finds  safe  shelter  there. 
So  life  returns  upon  its  track: 
Wo  toil,  we  light,  we  room. 
Till  I  he  long  shadows  point  ns  back, 
And  evening  brings  us  home. 
Tonight  beside  the  pasture  bars 
I  heard  the  whippoorwill. 
While,  one  by  one.  the  early  stars 
fame  out  above  the  hill. 
I  heard  the  tinkle  of  the  spring, 
]  heard  the  cattle  pass 
Slow  through  the  dusk,  and  lingesing 
To  cmp  the  wayside  grass. 
O  weary  world  of  fret  and  strife, 
( >  jioisy  years  and  vain. 
What  have  you  paid  me  for  my  life 
Since  last  along  this  lane. 
A  barefoot  hoy.  I  drove  the  cows 
In  Summer  twilights  still 
And  paused  beneath  the  orchard  boughs 
To  list  the  whippoorwill? 
Come,  peace  of  Cod.  that  passetli  all 
Our  understanding’s  sight: 
Fall  on  me  with  the  dews  that  fall, 
And  with  the  falling  night. 
Among  thesd  native  hills  and  plains. 
By  these  baptismal  streams. 
Wash  off  the  city’s  fever  stains. 
Bring  hack  my  boyhood’s  dreams. 
Beside  the  doors  where  life  began 
Hero  let  it  find  its  close; 
And  be  its  brief,  remaining  span 
All  given  to  repose. 
£ 
The  Land  of  Long  Ago 
When  twilight’s  shades  are  falling  and 
there’s  no  one  here  but  me.  1  sometimes 
get  to  thinking  of  the  days  that  used  to 
he.  T  find  I’m  sort  o’  dreaming,  as  T 
watch  the  sunset's  glow,  of  things  that 
used  to  happen  in  the  land  of  Long  Ago. 
I  recollect  how  mother  used  to  bold  me 
to  her  breast  and  rock  me  while  she  sang 
the  song  she  knew  I  loved  the  host.  I 
call  tn  mind  how  I  would  lie  and  watch 
the  shadows  creep,  as  mother  sang  it 
over  till  my  eyes  were  closed  in  sloop.  I 
don’t  suppose  to  other  folks  it  would 
have  been  so  fine.  Tl  even  might  have 
grated  some  on  other  ears  than  mine. 
But  say — to  me  when  mother  sang  that 
song  possessed  such  charms,  all  child¬ 
hood's  troubles  vanished  and  I  slept  in 
mother's  arms.  Now,  mother's  not  been 
here  to  sing  for  nearly  forty  years,  hut 
still  that  little  melody  is  ringing  in  my 
cars,  and.  though  it  starts  a  tear  or  two 
and  (dogs  my  throat  a  hit,  I  hope  it  keeps 
on  ringing  till  my  time  has  ooine  to  unit. 
(Copyright  1 0KI  by  Bide  Dudley.) 
* 
I  wish  to  put  in  an  advertisement  for 
a  good  strong  healthy  man.  who  has  seine 
knowledge  of  carpentering,  who  will 
come  and  work  for  his  hoard  and  home 
and  clothes  for  me.  Extra  good  home 
for  right  party  with  widow. 
New  Hampshire.  MRS.  S.  II. 
That  is  an  actual  letter  from  a  farm 
woman  who  needs  help  to  conduct  her 
f  irm.  We  showed  it  to  a  man  of  more 
than  average  intelligence,  and  he  “laughed 
hmg  and  loud"  at  Hie  idea  of  a  woman 
expecting  a  man  to  work  for  hoard  and 
clothes.  “Yet,”  we  asked  him.  "have  not 
thousands  of  men  expected  women  to  do 
ibis  and  more,  and  in  addition  make 
their  own  clothes  and  cook  their  own 
hoard?’'  He  stopped  laughing,  thought  a 
moment  and  said :  “You  are  right  1  I 
see !” 
* 
I  AM  still  struggling  along  “farming 
it.”  Have  a  splendid  purebred  Ayrshire 
dairy  at  last,  and  am  a  member  of  the 
Ayrshire  Breeders’  Association,  hut  1015 
is  the  first  year  (bought  my  farm  in 
1008)  that  I  have  not  sunk  my  hard- 
earned  money  every  year.  Clad  to  say 
in  1015  l  “pulled  up”  several  hundred 
dollars.  t\  k.  MOORE. 
We  well  remember  when  Miss  Moore 
started  at  her  dairy  farm.  She  had  a 
good  position  in  New  York,  but  her 
health  was  poor,  and  so  she  went,  to  the 
farm  and  the  Ayrshires.  Seven  long 
years  of  hard  labor  before  the  tide  really 
turned !  It  has  turned  at  last,  however, 
and  that  is  the  main  point. 
* 
The  Hope  Farm  man  recently  spoke 
of  the  hooks  for  hoys  written  years  ago 
by  Rev.  Elijah  Kellogg.  It  is  surpris¬ 
ing  how  many  people  have  written  about 
these  hooks,  and  with  general  consent 
they  are  voted  the  best  hoys'  hooks  which 
B/)«?  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
the  past  generation  could  lind.  Tlmy  are 
still  as  good  as  ever  and  it  is  a  mistake 
to  let  them  drop  out  of  popular  knowl¬ 
edge.  These  books  are  still  published  and 
can  be  obtained  at  most  book  stores. 
The  “Elm  Island  Stories"  are  master¬ 
pieces  in  their  way  as  clean  and  excit¬ 
ing  tales  for  boys. 
* 
Since  the  publication  of  that  article 
on  page  785  about  the  sale  of  waste  pro¬ 
ducts  we  have  had  many  letters  from  peo¬ 
ple  who  have  papers,  old  rubber  and 
metals  for  sale.  In  some  cases  schools 
and  church  organisations  are  making 
collections  for  raising  revenues.  We 
can  furnish  names  of  dealers.  It  is  a 
good  thing  to  clean  up  the  neighborhood 
of  these  wastes  and  turn  them  into  cash. 
The  paper,  rubber  and  brass  are  needed 
in  manufacturing,  and  the  money  is  sure¬ 
ly  needed  at  home. 
* 
It  is  said  that  a  prominent  woman’s 
magazine  in  one  year  answered  20.000 
questions  for  young  women.  Of  these 
nearly  15.000  were  concerning  their 
looks,  and  the  rest  mostly  on  etiquette  or 
behavior  in  society.  The  following  ad¬ 
vice  about  how  to  obtain  a  good  complex¬ 
ion  is  going  around!  Frocure  a  pot  of 
rouge  and  a  rabbit  foot  and  bury  them 
majority  of  growers.  Last  year  T  received 
25c.  for  wool  of  same  quality,  cleanliness, 
staple,  manner  of  handling,  etc.,  as  my 
hanker  received  28c.  for.  I  am  not  kick¬ 
ing.  hut  simply  stating  the  situation  as  it 
exists,  and  if  you  can  suggest,  some  way 
for  us  to  handle  our  clips  we  shall  appre¬ 
ciate  the  help.  W. 
There  is  only  one  way  wc  can  sec  to 
remedy  such  a  situation.  That  is.  com¬ 
bine  so  as  to  handle  a  large  quantity  of 
wool  and  then  offer  it  at  auction  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Such  a  plan  will  help  the 
individual  grower  or  shipper.  Alone,  he 
offers  such  a  small  amount  of  goods  that 
the  buyers  have  him  at  a  disadvantage. 
When  he  combines  with  25  or  more  other 
growers  they  have.  Combined,  such  a 
quantity  of  produce  that  the  buyers  find  it 
a  necessity  and  they  have  to  come  and  bid 
for  it.  This  plan  has  been  worked  out 
successfully  with  many  kinds  of  Farm 
produce  and  is  the  best  one  we  know  of 
for  protecting  the  individual  farmer.  It 
may  seem  hard  at  first  to  get  farmers  to 
combine  in  this  way.  but  when  they  can 
he  made  to  see  the  advantage  and  neces¬ 
sity  of  it  they  will  come  together. 
* 
We  shall  have  to  call  attention  once 
more,  very  kindly,  to  the  habit  some  con¬ 
tributors  have  of  asking  us  important 
The  Hired  Man’s  Wife 
If  the  coming  strong  men  of  the  nation 
are  the  farm  babies,  as  The  R.  N.-Y. 
says,  then  we  are  certainly  facing  a  prob¬ 
lem.  Speaking  before  the  State  Grange 
a  few  years  ago  Dr.  Lydia  De  Vilbiss 
said  that  of  the  25.000  children  under 
one  year  who  die  of  preventable  causes  in 
New  York  State  every  year,  at  least  half 
lived  in  the  country,  where  they  should 
by  right  have  the  best  chance  for  life  an  I 
health. 
We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  it 
is  not  the  farmer’s  wife's  baby  that  dies, 
hut  the  hired  man’s  wife’s  baby.  To, 
often  the  high  infant  mortality  is  the 
fault  of  these  little  country  mothers  who 
do  not  know  how  to  take  care  of  either 
themselves  or  their  babies,  and  are  far 
from  doctors,  free  dispensaries  and  visit¬ 
ing  nurses.  The  life  of  the  usual  hired 
man's  wife  is  the  most  hopeless  of  any 
class  of  women,  principally  because  they 
lack  incentive  and  opportunity  for  im¬ 
provement:.  For  one  thing  if  she  cannot 
afford  books  and  magazines  she  does  not 
have  access  to  a  public  library,  as  does 
the  poorest  class  of  village  women.  It  is 
seldom  that  the  hired  man’s  family  can 
get  to  church  or  Sunday  school,  and  she 
has  but  little  chance  to  measure  herself 
and  family  by  others  as  to  clothes,  man¬ 
ners.  and  similar  details.  Too  often  in¬ 
deed  she  is  but  a  child  in  her  'teens  her¬ 
self.  immature,  inexperienced  and  igno¬ 
rant.  In  these  days,  too,  the  man  who 
works  for  the  farmer  is  likely  to  be  Ur* 
scum  of  the  city,  There  are  thousands  of 
families  of  this  type  scattered  through  the 
farming  districts  of  the  Empire  State, 
bringing  children  up  not  only  in  dirt  and 
ignorance,  but  in  sickness  and  disease. 
Who  can  take  these  elements  and  make 
of  them  the  foundations  of  citizenship? 
Possibly  the  new  trend  of  thought  in  rural 
church  work — possibly  new  methods  in 
rural  schools,  hut  back  of  everything  els** 
1  believe  must  he  the  farmer's  wife  and 
her  influence  over  the  hired  man's  wife. 
She  naturally  stands  closest  to  the  hired 
man's  wife  and  in  her  hands  is  the  great¬ 
est  opportunity  to  help  toward  higher 
standards  of  living. 
We  all  need  friendliness  and  social  in¬ 
tercourse  on  the  farm,  lint  the  hired  man's 
wife  needs  it  most  of  all.  She  needs  to 
see  how  other  women  manage  and  what 
they  achieve ;  what  they  wear  and  cook 
and  talk  about ;  to  get  a  perspective  on 
her  own  children  by  seeing  others.  If  the 
Grange  is  not  reaching  these  women,  or¬ 
ganize  a  series  of  thimble  parties  or  a 
W.  C'.  T.  T\  or  even  a  soap  club,  any¬ 
thing  that  will  get  the  women  of  a 
neighborhood  together  for  a  social  time. 
It  needs  tact  and  discretion  and  genuine 
sympathy  of  course,  and  still  results  he 
nothing,  hut  it  is  worth  trying.  e,  C'.  y. 
* 
The  Baby  in  the  Flower  Garden 
iii  the  ground  two  miles  front  home,  walk 
over  every  day  to  see  if  they  are  still 
buried.  In  other  words  it  is  the  exercise 
rather  than  the  rouge  that  will  most 
likely  bring  tin*  bloom  of  health.  A  cyni¬ 
cal  old  friend  who  evidently  does  not 
know  much  about  such  things,  suggests 
that  if  some  of  the  fashion  plates  who 
take  all  sorts  of  preparations  and  baths 
for  their  complexion  would  take  a  turn 
at  the  hot  wash  tub  with  his  wife  about 
three  times  a  week,  they  would  find  both 
their  shape  and  their  complexion  greatly 
improved.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that, 
hut  it  is  doubtful  if  their  society  on 
wash-days  would  be  the  most  amicable 
thing  in  the  world. 
* 
A  WOMAN  farmer  in  a  far  Western 
State  sends  the  following  business  prob¬ 
lem  : 
Gan  you  suggest  a  way  for  me  to  mar¬ 
ket  my  wool  clip?  We  are  at  the  mercy 
of  the  rapacious  wool  buyers.  They  come 
West,  find  out  the  financial  standing  of 
the  grower,  that  is.  learn  if  he  needs  his 
money  to  run  his  business,  or  if  he  can 
hold  if  price  does  not  suit  him.  Those  of 
us  who  are  using  borrowed  money  at  10 
or  12  per  cent,  cannot  afford  to  hold  our 
wool  clip,  or  consign  and  get  Imt  a  small 
advance.  Then,  too.  there  is  storage,  in¬ 
surance  and  commission  to  he  paid  when 
wool  is  consigned.  Prominent  business 
men  receive  higher  prices  for  their  wool 
than  the  average  grower;  it  is  a  “drawing 
card"  for  the  buyer,  but  does  not  help  the 
questions  and  neglecting  to  sign  their 
names.  Some  of  these  questions  are  per¬ 
sonal  ones,  and  would  not  interest  the 
general  public,  vet  the  writers  evidently 
try  to  conceal  their  identity  so  that  \ve 
could  make  answer  if  at  all  only  in  print. 
We  have  many  of  such  questions  here 
now.  but  it  is  our  fixed  and  invariable 
rule  not  to  answer  such  letters  without 
knowing  who  sends  them.  The  name 
must  accompany  the  letter  as  evidence  of 
good  faith,  hut  we  always  respect  confi¬ 
dences  and  will  not  betray  the  identity  of 
the  writer.  As  an  illustration  of  what 
we  mean  take  the  following  actual  letter: 
A  man  owning  a  small  farm  is  so  crip¬ 
pled  with  rheumatism  that  he  cannot  do 
any •thing,  and  the  rent  would  not  pay  his 
hoard  and  taxes,  sn  he  lias  no  way  of 
making  a  living.  He  has  a  good  dm  nee 
to  sell,  blit  his  wife  has  refused  to  sign 
any  deed,  she  having  left  him  over  n  year. 
Is  there  not  some  way  he  can  sell  with¬ 
out  her  signing?  He  cannot  go  to  the 
poor  farm  as  long  as  lie  has  property. 
A  SUBSCRIBER. 
There  is  no  way  of  identifying  this 
writer  or  knowing  where  he  lives,  or  of 
knowing  the  actual  facts.  In  order  to 
give  competent  advice  we  must  know 
mure  about  it.  and  perhaps  we  could  help 
reconcile  this  matter  if  we  had  a  chance. 
\Vc  dislike  to  think  that  such  people  feel 
they  are  neglected,  but  what  can  anyone 
do  in  such  a  case? 
About  Beauty  Doctors 
One  of  my  lips  is  a  little  too  full  for 
my  liking  and  it  annoys  me.  Kindly  tell 
me  if  there  is  any  safe  way  of  reducing  it. 
What  is  your  opinion  of  the  New  York 
beauty  doctors  who  do  such  work?  I 
could  afford  to  have  it  done  if  I  was  as¬ 
sured  by  some  disinterested  person  that 
it  could  he  done  safely.  w.  p. 
Oar  opinion  of  “beauty  doctors"  is 
that  they  should  never  be  patronized  ex 
oept  by  the  direct  advice  of  a  competent 
physician  or  surgeon  who  will,  in  some 
cases,  direct  you  to  one.  For  years  good 
surgeons  ignored  defects  which  were 
harmless,  and  on  this  neglect  a  class  .*f 
iuconipeteuts  who  would  take  any  chance 
for  money  grew  rich.  Of  late,  fortunate¬ 
ly.  some  really  competent  and  honorable 
men  have  turned  their  skill  to  the  correc¬ 
tion  of  harmless  lmt  annoying  peculiari¬ 
ties  of  th.*  face.  These  men  refuse  t>>  do 
risky  or  doubtful  operations,  but  are  will¬ 
ing  to  correct  deformity  when  it  can  safe¬ 
ly  lie  done.  Your  regular  physician  will 
doubtless  refer  you  to  such  a  surgeon. 
$ 
I  saw  the  piece  written  by  FT.  South- 
worth,  Vermont,  saying  they  never  tap¬ 
ped  soft  maples.  My  father  lias  50  soft 
maple  trees  he  has  tapped  for  six  years; 
they  may  not  run  quite  as  sweet  sap 
as  the  hard  maple.  btP  we  make  the  very 
finest,  whitest  sugar  I  ever  saw.  When 
lie  began  his  sugar-making  the  neighbors 
all  laughed  and  said  it.  would  nor  grain, 
it  would  be  black  as  tar,  and  would  be 
salvy.  We  showed  them  our  sugar  and 
all  declared  it  the  best  they  ever  saw. 
New  York.  mrs.  jessie  lockwood. 
