&he  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1101 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
Father  ana  Son 
I  had  a  father ;  when  he  was  alive 
I  did  not  greatly  care  his  will  to 
please ; 
I  did  not  know  his  habit  was  to  strive 
For  me,  his  son,  upon  his  bended  knees. 
My  careless  eyes  found  him  but  common¬ 
place, 
And  thus  untreasured  chances  passed 
away 
Of  watching  Time — consummate  artist! 
— trace 
A  character  like  Christ’s  in  “common” 
clay. 
Then  he  appeared  a  Philistine  too  stiff 
To  sympathize  with  my  superior  mind ; 
But  now  when  he  is  dead,  it  seems  as  if 
lie  were  the  vision-seer,  I  the  blind. 
lie  knows  now  all  the  secrets  of  the  grave. 
Versed  in  profounder  than  Hegelian 
lore ; 
lie  wears  the  crown  God  gives  to  those 
who  brave 
The  world’s  contempt  and  all  its  sneers 
ignore. 
And  I  who  could  so  lightly  talk  with  him. 
Confronting  wisdom  with  youth’s  in¬ 
solence. 
Would  give  all  that  I  have  to  walk  with 
him. 
And  think  a  great  boon  won  at  small 
expense. 
I  did  not  know  how  fervently  he  longed 
In  me  deep-cherished  hopes  to  realize. 
Too  late  I  see  it  now.  the  love  I  wronged, 
Then  in  my  reach,  now  out  of  reach, 
the  prize. 
Though  they  are  lost,  which  might  have 
once  been  won, 
Rich  opportunities  I  cast  away, 
I  trust  that  even  now  he  sees  his  son 
Tracking  his  footsteps  to  the  land  of 
day. 
Then  will  I  tell  him  what  I  had  to  keep 
Buried  within  my  breast,  a  lifelong 
woe ; 
And  he  will  say  :  “My  son  !  my  son  !  why 
weep  ? 
I  have  forgiven  it  so  long  ago.” 
— C.  H.  Faure  Field,  in  the  London 
Spectator. 
Women  in  England  are  doing  a  large 
part  of  the  farm  work  in  order  that  the 
men  may  enter  the  army.  Women  are 
milking,  hoeing,  working  in  the  hay  field, 
driving  teams  and  doing  many  jobs  which 
were  thought  to  belong  exclusively  to 
men.  Most  of  the.  agricultural  colleges 
have  organized  special  schools  for  these 
farm  women  and  they  are  being  well 
trained.  Now  what  will  happen  when 
the  men  come  back  after  the  war  and 
call  for  their  old  jobs?  Will  these  women 
willingly  give  up  their  places  and  go  back 
to  the  old  occupations?  It  will  be  a  hard 
problem  to  straighten  out  the  new  divi¬ 
sion  of  labor. 
On  page  1105  we  learn  of  a  woman 
who  is  washing  dishes  in  order  to  earn 
the  money  for  buying  a  set  of  books  for 
her  children !  Good  books  are  among  the 
finest  companions  a  healthy  boy  can  ever 
have.  They  stay  by  him  through  life, 
and  influence  him  so  that  he  will  seek 
other  companions  of  the  same  sort.  The 
reading  habit  is  the  finest  thing  a  country 
boy  can  ever  acquire.  Think  of  what 
this  woman  is  doing  for  her  boy!  Dish¬ 
washing  is  often  regarded  as  a  mean  or 
ignoble  task,  but  here  is  one  who  has 
glorified  it.  What  riches  and  what  char¬ 
acter  she  is  washing  away  from  those 
dishes.  We  once  heard  of  a  girl  who 
helped  pay  her  college  expenses  by  feed¬ 
ing  the  dish  water  from  a  large  family 
to  pigs.  This  woman,  wiping 
books  off  the  plates-,  is  doing  even 
than  that. 
* 
The  New  York  Hun  recently  told  a 
little  human  nature  story  which  is  typi¬ 
cal  of  much  that  we  see  in  America.  A 
lawyer  buying  fruit  at  a  fruit  stand  rec¬ 
ognized  the  proprietor,  an  Italian,  as  a 
man  who  used  to  run  a  shoe-blacking 
stand  in  a  large  building.  “Those  were  my 
best  years,”  said  the  Italian.  “I  made 
more  money  and  had  less  care.” 
“Why  then  did  you  not  stay  at  it?” 
“I  got  married  !” 
“What  has  that  got  to  do  with  it?” 
“Everything,”  said  the  fruit  man.  “In 
America  every  man  has  the  same  right  as 
another,  which  is  to  try  to  make  himself 
the  equal  of  the  other  men  that  he  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  make  himself  equal  to.  That  is 
why  I  must  take  risks  uml  pay  a  lot  of 
expenses  and  not  go  back  shining  shoes.” 
“And  who  decides,”  asked  the  lawyer, 
“what  manner  of  man  a  man  shall  make 
himself  equal  to?” 
“His  wife  decides.”  was  the  answer. 
“He  must  be  equal  to  the  husbands  of 
the  women  she  knows.” 
There  is  what  we  call  human  nature 
in  that.  Have  you  not  seen  a  man  who 
was  a  good  farmer  and  a  success  on  his 
farm,  unhappy,  in  a  town  job  or  business 
because  the  wife  and  daughters  wanted 
him  to  “be  somebody.” 
* 
Last  year  the  Nebraska  Experiment 
Station  issued  Extension  Bulletin  “'2  on 
“Lunches  For  The  Rural  School.”  For 
many  years  these  stations  told  us  how  to 
feed  cattle,  sheep,  swine  and  some  horses 
but  they  neglected  the  human  family  in 
the  distribution  of  their  science.  This 
bulletin  is  excellent.  It  tells  of  the  work 
being  done  in  Nebraska  at  providing 
school  lunches.  You  might  call  this  co¬ 
operate  eating.  Instead  of  having  each 
pupil  bring  an  individual  lunch,  food  is 
provided  on  the  cooperative  plan  and  the 
pupils  prepare  and  serve  it  as  part  of 
their  educational  work.  In  some  of  the 
district  schools  a  kitchen  cabinet  like 
the  one  shown  in  the  picture  is  a  regular 
fixture.  The  picture  on  page  1007  shows 
a  homemade  fireless  cooker,  also  used  in 
this  work — both  pictures  being  taken 
from  this  Nebraska  bulletin.  It  is  an  ex¬ 
cellent  pamphlet — giving  information 
about  food  and  cost,  manner  of  prepar¬ 
ing  it  and  many  bits  of  information  about 
food  and  its  preparation. 
8f= 
A  fa  km  woman  living  in  an  Eastern 
State  sends  us  the  following  statement. 
She  says  this  is  what  she  has  to  do  ex¬ 
clusive  of  hatching  chicks  for  a  custom 
trade.  She  also  says  it  is  an  accurate 
statement  of  what  she  gets  for  the  work. 
believing  it  is  an  ex- 
aud  that  most  of  our 
declare  it  so.  Are  we 
Wanted — A  Woman  :  one  who  is 
strong  and  healthy ;  agreeable  both  in 
appearance  and  temper;  to  milk  one  to 
five  cows,  look  after  one  horse  (in  the 
barn ) ,  draw  water  with  a  bucket  for  a 
cow.  three  yearlings  and  n  colt;  take  en¬ 
tire  charge  of  2 .10  hens  and  300  to  400 
young  chickens  feeding,  watering  and 
keeping  their  houses  dean  :  make  and  care 
for  a  garden  and  berries.  She  will  also  be 
expected  to  help  in  the  field  or  haymow 
if  extra  help  is  needed. 
Any  time  left  must  be  spent  taking 
care  of  at  least  two  small  children  and  a 
somewhat  dilapidated  house  with  no  con¬ 
veniences  and  about  half  furnished.  No 
money  will  lie  allowed  for  extra  furnish¬ 
ings  or  repairs  There  is  a  cistern  down 
cellar  and  the  water  can  easily  be  dipped 
out  and  carried  up  a  set  of  old  stone 
steps,  partly  fallen  down  and  uneven. 
The  man  will  attend  to  all  the  business 
and  buy  what  groceries  he  thinks  are 
needed. 
As  compensation  for  these  slight  ser¬ 
vices  she  can  have  what  is  left  of  the 
meals  when  the  rest  have  eaten,  and  what 
clothes  are  indispensable,  the  latter  not 
including  any  fancy  things,  as  there  will 
be  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  wear 
them.  She  will  also  be  rewarded  with  a 
smile  from  the  man  if  he  is  in  good 
humor,  and  has  the  privilege  of  being 
blamed  and  perhaps  scolded  for  anything 
that  goes  wrong  about  the  place  or  for 
nothing  at  all  if  the  man  is  annoyed  by 
some  one  else.  Any  one  who  can  qualify 
apply  to  , 
A  reader,  care  R.  N.-Y. 
■v 
Out  of  a  dozen  notes  on  much  the 
same  subject  we  may  take  the  following: 
I  cannot  resist  writing  a  few  words  in 
regard  to  this  question  of  the  treatment 
of  the  “old  folks”  brought  up  at  different 
times  by  The  R.  N.-Y.  and  lately  by  the 
article  entitled  “Bringing  l"p  Father,”  on 
page  1010.  My  own  father  passed  ou 
many  years  ago,  but  I  have  had  since  bis 
death  the  companionship  of  a  very  dear 
uncle,  who  has  been  in  many  ways  a 
father  to  me,  and  I  have  been  old  enough 
to  appreciate  in  a  measure  my  good  for¬ 
tune.  iM.  e. 
We  are  on  record  as  saying  that  most 
of  us  will  be  finally  judged  by  the  way 
we  treat  our  parents  and  elderly  people 
generally.  Children,  wife,  relatives,  per¬ 
sonal  and  business  friends  all  may  claim 
our  love  and  loyalty,  and  most  of  them 
return  something  of  active  service.  The 
true  thought  and  example  of  service 
comes  out  in  our  relations  to  the  aged 
who  are  put  into  our  famiies.  We  want 
you  to  read  the  poem  on  this  page.  The 
thought  we  have  in  mind  has  seldom 
been  put  into  nobler  words. 
* 
The  Hired  Man’s  Wife 
The  letter  on  page  891  dealing  with 
the  trials  and  troubles  of  the  hired  man’s 
wife  proved  very  interesting  to  me.  I 
am  under  the  impression  that  the  writer 
is  a  woman  and  l  judge  a  misinformed 
one.  I  am  the  hired  man's  wife,  hut  I 
am  afraid  she  (if  it  is  a  woman)  would 
pass  me  by  entirely  if  she  was  limiting 
for  one  that  answered  the  description  in 
that  letter.  I  am  not  extremely  young, 
a  girl  in  my  teens,  inexperienced  and  ig¬ 
norant.  I  might  have  answered  that  de¬ 
scription  once,  but  that  was  before  l  be¬ 
came  the  hired  man’s  wife  or  any  body’s 
else.  My  four  children  are  not  brought 
up  in  dirt  and  disease,  and  have  as  good 
opportunity  to  attend  school,  church  and 
the  movies,  for  that  matter,  if  I  desire 
they  should,  as  have  my  neighbors  who 
is  not  the  hired  man’s  wife.  The  hired 
man  in  this  case  is  not  the  scum  of  the 
city,  in  fact  this  section  does  not  boast 
of  that  kind,  but  a  man  brought  up  iu 
close  relation  to  the  soil,  and  a  descend¬ 
ant  of  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  We 
are  not  out  of  reach  of  a  doctor  if  we 
need  one.  I  had  a  mother  to  bring  me 
up  and  tell  me  some  of  the  things  a  girl 
needs  to  know  before  she  is  a  wife  and 
mother  and  I  also  have  magazines  for 
women,  and  last  but  not  least  I  have  The 
R.  N.-Y.  What  more  dues  the  farmer’s 
wife  get  unless  it  is  an  automobile  which 
they  can  often  ill  afford? 
The  writer  is  wrong.  The  remedy  lies, 
not  with  the  farmer's  wife,  but  with  the 
farmer.  If  he  pays  a  living  wage  the 
hired  man  can  afford  a  telephone,  mag¬ 
azines,  an  occasional  doctor  bill  if  it  be¬ 
comes  necessary  and  if  the  farmer  is  will¬ 
ing  to  give  a  man  the  privileges  that  a 
human  being  should  have,  ho  can  have  a 
day  off  and  the  use  of  a  horse  occasion¬ 
ally  for  a  day's  outing. 
Our  employer  hires  six  married  men. 
one  on  each  of  his  own  four  farms  and 
two  on  a  farm  for  which  be  is  manager. 
Each  farm  has  a  telephone  for  which  be 
pays,  the  horses  are  here  if  we  need  to 
go  to  town  or  wish  to  go  to  church,  and 
there  is  nothing  said  if  they  are  used 
within  reason.  Our  flour,  potatoes,  pork, 
fruit,  butter,  milk.  fuel,  eggs  and  chick¬ 
ens  come  out  of  the  farms,  besides  as  lib¬ 
eral  cash  wages  as  anyone  could  wish. 
Here  on  this  farm  we  have  excellent 
spring  water  piped  to  the  house,  a  hot 
air  furnace  and  a  comfortable  roomy 
house,  and  as  much  garden  as  we  care  to 
put  in  and  work. 
Last  week  our  employer  and  his  son 
hired  a  seven  passenger  auto  and  invited 
his  four  men  to  go  to  Hilton  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Monroe  County  Farm  Bu¬ 
reau.  They  were  his  guests  for  the  day, 
and  you  may  be  sure  they  had  a  good 
time. 
Do  you  think  the  hired  man’s  wife  is  to 
be  pitied?  I  would  rather  work  like  this 
than  farm  on  shares  or  under  the  burden 
of  a  mortgage,  at  least  while  our  children 
are  too  small  to  be  of  any  assistance.  I 
have  as  much  incentive  to  work  as  have 
many  farmers’  wives,  for  we  arc  partners 
and  each  knows  to  a  cent  where  our  in¬ 
come  is  expended.  T  try  to  keep  as  neat 
a  house  as  my  strength  will  permit  and 
it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  how  appetizing  a 
meal  I  can  serve  to  the  men  who  come 
here  to  work  and  still  come  out  ahead  at 
the  price  paid.  $20.  The  It.  N.-Y.  solved 
the  problem  of  fresh  meat  in  Summer. 
Now  we  can  a  supply  of  beef  and  pork 
and  will  try  chicken.  I  make  meat  pie, 
meat  loaf,  roast  pork  or  beef  with  brown 
gravy,  and  am  on  the  lookout  for  new 
ways  of  using  canned  meat.  This  is  a 
long  letter,  but  I  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  let  the  readers  know  that 
that  letter  was  a  libel  on  the 
HIRED  MAN’S  WIFE. 
R.  N.-Y. — A  fine,  sensible  letter  which 
we  are  glad  to  print.  We  want  more 
from  just  such  women — for  they  know 
the  real  truth  of  farm  life  and  its  needs. 
* 
Advertising  usually  brings  seller  and 
buyer  together.  Not  always  perhaps,  but 
there  is  no  better  way  of  seeking  an  in¬ 
troduction  when  you  have  something  to 
offer.  Why  should  not  school  teachers 
advertise?  Every  year  some  of  our  coun¬ 
try  readers  come  asking  where  they  can 
find  a  suitable  teacher  for  the  home 
school.  There  are  always  women  well 
qualified  to  teach,  but  with  limited  ac¬ 
quaintance,  so  that  they  Cannot  place 
themselves  to  the  best  advantage- *  Why 
not  advertise  for  a  school  the  same  as 
they  would  if  offering  farm  or  clerical 
labor? 
I  am  interested  in  the  little  oil  stove 
described  by  Mrs.  A.  G.  Doren,  page  1010, 
and  wish  she  would  tell  us  more  about  it, 
where  made  and  by  what  company,  cost 
and  if  it  can  bo  bought  directly  from  the 
company  or  do  they  sell  only  through 
agents?  From  her  description  I  think 
it  works  on  the  same  principle  as  a  kero¬ 
sene  gas  lamp  used  here  rather  exten¬ 
sively  when  there  is  no  gas.  In  fact, 
aside  from  the  small  amount  of  extra 
care  needed.  I  consider  it  ahead  of  gas 
for  light.  I  think  that  such  a  stove  as 
she  describes  in  connection  with  this 
lamp  would  make  a  pretty  good  substi¬ 
tute  for  gas  on  the  farm  home.  s.  j. 
Making  Vinegar. — In  regard  to  mak¬ 
ing  vinegar,  if  T.  J.  F.  will  rack  off  his 
cider  through  cheesecloth  filled  with  sand, 
into  another  barrel,  and  put  barrel  out 
of  doors  in  the  .sun,  in  Summer,  and  put 
a  bottle  in  bung  of  barrel,  it  will  turn 
into  first-class  vinegar  during  the  Sum¬ 
mer.  g.  a.  r. 
>0(!  Now  we  print  this, 
ire  ceptional  ease. 
farm  women  will 
A  Kitchen  Cabinet  at  a  Nebraska  Rural  School 
light  or 
'• 
vvron 
■  r 
r* 
