Che  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Frank  of  Peach  Hill 
By  Geo.  B.  Fiske 
(Concluded  from  pngc  1335) 
“Everybody  restless  smd  discontented 
excei>t  the  fpw  who  understand  them¬ 
selves  nnd  know  what  they  really  want 
and  know  when  they  get  it,”  said  I. 
“Most  of  us  think  we  want  a  great 
many  things,”  remarked  Streeter,  “but 
down  beneath  is  the  longing  for  the  nat¬ 
ural  life.  Most  of  us  are  farmers’  sons 
or  grandsons,  or  at  least  great-grand¬ 
sons.  and  back  of  that  are  scores  of  farm¬ 
er  ancestors  reaching  way  hack  to  the 
half  savage  days  of  peasant  life  in  the 
home  country  a  thousand  years  ago.  This 
artificial  life  is  only  a  polish  over  the 
real  farmer  man,  the  son  of  his  ances¬ 
tors.  Down  beneath  is  the  hunger  for  land, 
the  joy  in  the  odor  of  hay,  in  the  tang 
of  the  freshly  turned  soil,  the  buzz  of 
bees  and  the  lowing  of  cattle.  How  he 
hates  to  be  herded  in  a  dull,  dirty  office, 
how  he  longs  for  a  little  freedom  of  his 
own  with  his  family  around  him,  and  his 
living  depending  on  nobody’s  favor.” 
“That  kind  of  talk  makes  us  feel  bet¬ 
ter  satisfied  where  we  are.”  said  neighbor 
John  Joy.  “But  you  fellows  from  the 
city  sometimes  expect  too  much  from  the 
country.  You  left  us  in  youth.  Every¬ 
thing  connected  with  youth  looks  rosy 
you  know.  The  country  gives  us  only 
what  we  take  to  it  and  it  wouldn’t  seem 
the  same  as  it  did  then.” 
A  great  mass  of  city  people  would  be 
no  happier  in  the  country  and  of  course 
there  are  some  who  ought  not  to  change 
on  any  account  because  of  age  or  other 
reasons. 
“Some  city  fellows  wouldn’t  be  any 
more  use  on  a  farm  than  a  dude  in  a 
blackberry  patch,”  suggested  Danders. 
“Ob  yes,  the  city  is  the  best  place  for 
some  people,”  replied  Joy.  “But  for  my 
part  I  believe  that  everybody  ought  to 
live  in  both  places  to  some  extent.  Coun¬ 
try  life  gives  strength  and  sense,  and 
sound  nature;  city  life  polishes  and 
brightens.  I  would  like  to  see  all  chil¬ 
dren  brought  up  in  the  country  and  their 
education  finished  off  in  the  city.  I  wish 
every  business  man  could  spend  a  few 
months  every  Summer  in  the  country, 
and  every  farmer  a  few  months  of  the 
Winter  in  the  city.” 
“Last  Summer,”  remarked  Streeter,  “I 
visited  the  old  home  farm,  went  down 
in  the  lot  to  fish,  from  the  bend  in  the 
brook  where  I  used  to  catch  whopping 
big  fish,  best  fun  I  ever  had.  There,  was 
the  same  old  fishing  hole,  and,  as  many 
fish  for  all  I  know.  But  it  wasn’t  the 
same  fisherman  willing  to  wait  and  hope 
all  tlio  afternoon.  I  grew  tired  in  half 
an  hour,  threw  the  bait  iuto  the  stream 
and  came  away.  Not  but  that  the  fishing 
was  all  right  enough,  but  I  had  been  ex¬ 
pecting  too  much.” 
“It  eosu’t  heaven  out  here  in  the  coun¬ 
try,  alrctty,”  said  Ben  Lauty,  shaking 
his  head. 
“Farm  life  is  healthful,”  said  John 
Joy,  “but  the  country  doctors  and  under¬ 
takers  manage  to  keep  from  starving 
somehow.  Farming  is  a  pretty  safe  busi¬ 
ness.  yet  the  sheriff  and  auctioneer  are 
always  ready  to  close  a  man  out  if  his 
creditors  insist.”  • 
“And  if  people  don’t  find  trouble,  they 
will  make  it  for  themselves,”  asserted 
Landers. 
“I  really  believe,”  said  Streeter  re¬ 
flectively,  “that  some  of  us  city  people 
more  than  half  imagine  we  are  to  avoid 
all  trouble  when  we  move  to  the  country. 
We  look  at  the  country  through  a  rosy 
haze  of  boyhood  or  vacation  memories, 
and  liberal  imaginations.  When  we  get 
out  there  our  pet  calves  and  tame  chick¬ 
ens  and  the  bees  and  the  garden  things 
are  not  quite  as  we  expected,  ia  some 
ways.” 
“In  the  long  run,  none  of  us  find  the 
world  just  what  we  once  thought  it  was, 
city  or  country,”  declared  John  Joy. 
So  you  see  not  even  Mnpleton  scores 
one  hundred  as  a  Paradise,  and  our  most 
enthusiastic  people  are  sometimes  those 
who  are  here  not  over  three  weeks  in  a 
year.  But  as  fur  me  I  lmd  hardly  a 
doubt  even  in  my  hardest  days  nnd  years, 
for  it  was  in  in  my  blood  to  be  happy 
on  the  land. 
There  is  no  farm  so  dear  as  one  that 
has  been  won  over  and  made  from  little 
or  nothing  by  one's  own  effort  It  repre¬ 
sents  one’s  best  thought  and  effort,  spread 
out  always  like  a  picture  and  record. 
One  can  read  little  stories  between  every 
row  of  trees.  Neglect  those  busy  trees 
that  spread  themselves  and  grow  day  and 
night  to  support  those  I  love?  Neglect 
that  beautiful  feathered  stock  showing  in 
each  line  and  marking  the  result  of  a 
study  as  painstaking,  as  calculating  and 
as  long  continued  as  that  of  an  artist 
bringing  out  his  master  painting?  I 
should  say  not.  Why,  I  could  describe 
many  of  those  trees  and  their  needs  aud 
individual  qualities  aud  differences  with¬ 
out  looking  at  them.  Those  brilliant 
glistening  birds,  I  know  their  very  faces. 
No  two  expressions  are  alike  when  you 
know  them.  Some  are  my  special  friends 
that  know  me  well.  They  talk  to  me  in 
their  own  amusing  way  and  show  me  odd. 
clever,  humanlike  hits  of  poultry  char¬ 
acter.  So  here  you  have  me.  I  travel 
more  than  I  used  to  and  take  a  wider  in¬ 
terest  in  local  and  general  affairs.  But 
my  heart  is  here  with  my  family  aud  all 
that  I  love  on  the  breezy  hilltop. 
Selling  Standing  Corn 
Several  of  us  here  wish  to  sell  surplus 
field,  fir  silage  corn  to  others  who  are 
short  in  filling  their  silos,  aud  no  one  has 
any  idea  of  its  value  or  low  to  fit  price. 
I  presume  it  would  he  based  on  weight 
and  if  so  there  is  a  set  of  wagon  scales 
at  the  local  store.  Would  you  advise  us? 
D.  IT.  C. 
We  have  no  record  here  of  the  sale  of 
corn  fodder  standing  in  the  field.  Very 
likely  some  of  our  readers  have  handled 
corn  in  that  way,  and  we  Would  like  to 
have  their  figures.  If  we  had  a  trade  of 
1367 
this  kind  on  hand  we  should  get  at  It 
about  as  follows: 
Standing  grass  is  worth  about  one- 
third  of  hay  in  the  stack  or  mow;  that  is. 
if  a  field  will  cut  two  tons  of  hay  to  the 
acre,  and  hay  is  worth  $18  in  the  local 
market,  the  grass  on  that  field  would  he 
worth  $12  or  $6  a  ton.  Silage  is  con¬ 
sidered  worth  not  far  from  35  per  cent,  of 
the  value  of  hay  in  the  mow.  Thus  if 
hay  is  worth  $18  a  ton  in  the  mow.  a  ton 
of  silage  in  the  silo  would  he  worth  $<>.30. 
and  on  the  same  basis  of  figuring  the 
green  corn  in  the  fiidd  would  be  worth 
one-third  of  this  or  a  little  over  $2  per 
ton.  That  is  the  way  we  should  figure 
out  such  a  trade  and  from  the  nature  of 
it  no  definite  price  would  be  given,  as 
that  would  depend  on  the  local  price  of 
hay  and  silage. 
“The  farmer  said  one  of  his  little  pigs 
was  sick,  so  I  brought  it  some  sugar.” 
“Sugar!  What  for?”  “For  medicine,  of 
course.  Haven’t  you  ever  heard  of  sugar- 
cured  hams?” — Credit  Ix>st. 
26  Extra  Features 
73  New  Conceptions 
MID-YEAR 
MODEL 
20%  Extra  Value 
Due  to  Factory  Efficiency 
111111111111 
$6.62  Per  1000  Miles 
Bate -Built  Mitchells  Have  Run  200,000  Miles 
Two  Bate-built  Mitchells  have  already  ex¬ 
ceeded  200,000  miles  each.  One  has  to  its  credit 
218,734  miles.  Seven  have  averaged  175,000 
miles  each. 
Think  of  200,000  miles.  That  is  forty  years  of 
ordinary  service.  And  at  $1325  a  Mitchell  which 
did  that  would  cost  $6.62  per  thousand  miles. 
Mr.  Bate’s  Lifetime  Car 
John  W.  Bate  has  aimed  in  the  Mitchell  to 
give  you  a  lifetime  car.  The  Mid-Year  Mitchell 
is  his  17th  model  with  this  aim  in  view.  It  is 
the  final  result  of  700  improvements. 
Part  by  part  he  worked  for  perfection.  To 
every  part  he  has  given  at  least  50  per  cent  over¬ 
strength.  Castings  are  almost  eliminated.  There 
are  440  parts  which  are  drop  forged  or  steel 
stamped. 
Chrome -Vanadium  steel,  costing  up  to  15 
cents  per  pound,  is  used  to  meet  major  strains. 
The  Bate  cantilever  springs  are  so  strong  that 
not  one  has  ever  broken. 
The  Mid-Year  Mitchell,  with  its  127-inch  wheel¬ 
base,  weighs  under  3000  pounds.  It  runs  from 
16  to  22  mites  on  a  gallon  of 
gasoline.  Yet  the  high-grade 
materials  make  it  the  won¬ 
der-car  in  endurance. 
cars  omit.  We  include  them  all  in  the  Mitchell 
without  extra  price,  though  they  cost  us  this  sea¬ 
son  over  $2,000,000. 
In  the  Mid-Year  Mitchell  you  get  a  22-coat 
finish.  You  get  French-finished  leather.  You 
get  73  new  conceptions,  all  added  within  a  year. 
You  get  all  the  best  new  ideas  which  our  de¬ 
signers  found  in  257  of  the  latest  European  and 
American  models. 
Compared  with  other  cars  in  this  class,  you 
get,  we  believe,  at  least  20  per  cent  extra  value. 
And  that  is  all  due  to  our  factory  economies, 
worked  out  here  by  John  W.  Bate. 
This  efficiency  engineer  designed  all  our  new 
buildings.  Fie  equipped  them  with  2000  up-to- 
date  machines.  The  reasult  is  a  model  plant, 
where  our  factory  cost  has  been  reduced  one-half. 
That  is  the  reason  for  the  Mitchell  extra  values. 
20%  Extra  Value 
A  car  of  this  grade  has 
never  before  been  sold  at  the 
Mitchell  price.  In  addition, 
the  Mitchell  has  26  extra  fea¬ 
tures  —  things  which  other 
$1325 
F.  o.  b. 
Racine 
For  5-Passenger  Touring  Car 
or  3-Passenger  Roadster 
7-Passenger  Body,  $35  Extra 
Equipped  with  Demountable  Top  Only, 
5300  Extra 
High-speed  economical  Six — 48  horsepower— 
127-inch  wheelbase.  Complete  equipment,  in¬ 
cluding  26  extra  features. 
You  will  want  these  extras  in  your  car.  You 
will  want  this  strength  and  endurance.  You  will 
want  these  new  ideas  and  touches.  Go  and  see 
what  they  mean  to  you,  at  your  nearest  Mitchell 
dealer’s.  If  you  do  not  know  him,  ask  us  for 
his  name. 
He  will  show  you  a  list 
of  great  engineers  —  men  of 
nation-wide  fame  —  who 
bought  the  Mitchell  for  their 
personal  cars.  You  will 
gladly  take  their  judgment 
on  the  best-built  car.  (124) 
Mitchell  Motors  Company,  Inc. 
Racine,  Wis.,  U.  S.  A. 
