412 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Things To Think About 
The object of thi* department Is to five readers a chance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve. 
That Hired Man Question 
I have followed with interest the hired 
man and employer articles in The R.-N.Y. 
“Farmer,” on page 175, writes like a fair- 
minded man, hut the privileges lie gives 
his man are unusual, not typical. It 
would he interesting to know what the 
hired man has to say. 1 have been a hired 
man's wife several years. We do not 
like changes, either, and have spent the 
entire time on two farms. Both farmers 
say they have had loyal, conscientious 
service. Yet we are poorer than when 
we started, nnd there are hot two of us; 
not much inducement to stick, lint if we 
were given half the privileges “Farmer" 
tells about, would slick t,> it willingly. 
I will give some facts in regard to our 
past year, aud it will he quitejti contrast 
to the word picture on page 175: yet we 
get all that is customary in this locality. 
We have received $<15 a month $7SO for 
the year. Wo buy all fuel, chicken feed, 
butter, even potatoes for Winter. The 
only extras we have are a tiny cottage 
with no improvement, hay for our horse, 
and milk. We have a gar’em but hus¬ 
band was given no time to care for it and 
I made myself sick trying to, and had a 
doctor hill in consequence. 
Yet the farmers around here insist we 
must he hanking money. The hardships 
are enough, but lack of understanding 
makes things nearly unbearable. No 
danger around here of a farmer having to 
give up his garage. The hired man can’t 
even scare up a new overcoat. 
Any farm helper owes his employer de¬ 
pendable. faithful service. When lie gets 
it. I think he owes his man a comfortable 
living, ami providing part of it from the 
farm seems to me the best way to man¬ 
age it. It would not he missed much and 
would make the hi red-man question less 
of a problem. I have not written in a 
spirit of fault-finding, hut with the hope 
that our experience may give some farmer 
a broader understanding. 
A CAYUGA COUNTY REAPER. 
Reading for Prisoners 
One of our readers in Ohio, Mrs. G. A. 
McAvoy. tells us that she saw a request 
for papers to he sent to the inmates of 
the State penitentiary. She made up a 
bundle nf papers, mostly copies of Tin 
R. N.-Y., and sent them to the prison, and 
she says that her reason for sending The 
R. N.-Y. was that she felt "the next thing 
to joy of living on a farm is the chance 
to dream about it.” She was very lone¬ 
some. and took pleasure in trying to help 
others in this way. The chaplain of the 
prison acknowledged her letter in the fol¬ 
lowing. which we print, feeling sure that 
cur readers will he bellied by it: 
“Permit me to thank you for the pack¬ 
age of exceptionally fine magazines which 
you so kindly presented to our prison 
library. They have been duly received, 
and have already started upon their er¬ 
rand of courage nnd strength. Were you 
in a position to sec what I do. the up¬ 
building power of good reading matter, 
and could note the help which it extends 
in the reclamation of souls that have 
erred, you would understand far more 
clen’ly the spirit of profound appreciation 
which accompanies this work of acknowl¬ 
edgment. Thanking you again on behalf 
of both the inmates and myself, believe 
me, 
“Very truly yours. 
c. o. reed, Chaplain.” 
It is a great mistake to destroy good 
reading matter when there are so many in 
the world who need it. 
A Country Woman on Country Schools 
I was much interested in an article on 
page 272, “Helping the Local School.” 
A. B. Katkamicr gives the right impres¬ 
sion, which I endorse, but iu the district 
in which I live no one takes an interest 
in what is going on at the school. The 
children seem to he out of the way when 
sent oft’ to school, and that is all one 
hears or knows of what is going on there. 
For two years a male teacher has had 
full sway at the school, notwithstanding 
reports of people of other districts where 
lie has taught, showing that he is not 
capable of teaching any but pupils in the 
very lowest grades. 
I am. and always have been, willing 
to help in school work, as 1 taught for 
many years in New York City. I feel 
that a person holding the office of trustee 
should he an educated person, one who 
can go into the schoolroom and see what 
is being done in the school work, and 
help the teacher and scholars; in fact, 
become interested for the good of all con¬ 
cerned. Parents and teachers and other 
taxpayers should co-operate and help the 
good cause along. I am sure that the 
heat teachers should be obtained for our 
district schools, for our taxes ought to he 
such that would be an inducement to 
bring them to us. 
“Going to Country School,” on page 
208. is very interesting also, and I am 
sure that our district, schools would fare 
better if they were in the bands of edn- 
cated people. I approve of the district 
school in every sense of the word, but a 
committee should be appointed to see that 
the teachers and scholars are really being 
educated to a knowledge of the work of 
the various grades. 
I should like to suggest that the presi¬ 
dent of the board of education in town 
should be ifsked to help in nominating 
and appointing the trustees of the dif¬ 
ferent districts, and that the parties in¬ 
terested shall meet at the town school to 
elect their trustees and other officers, as 
it seems to ine in this way better advan¬ 
tages will be obtained, and the few who 
have run things heretofore in some dis¬ 
tricts will not have any better showing 
than the rest. M c. 8. 
Opposed to Consolidated Schools 
The rural school, question has been dis¬ 
cussed fully from the standpoint of tin* 
financial and physical well-being < f pu¬ 
pils. blit I see very little about making 
any change that will in any way improve 
the morals of our children. Our educa¬ 
tors claim that the elements of a child's 
character are formed before eight years 
of age. If this is true, I am opposed to 
school consolidation. 
\Ye know from our own experience that 
where more children are gathered to¬ 
gether. there you will find more mischief- 
making. The had boy still exists, and in 
a consolidated school you may he sure of 
finding two or three. The larger the 
school, the less control the teacher has 
over the pupils, especially during the noon 
hour. Your child will be sure to learn 
many evils that he would never hear of 
iu tin' little school of eight, or 10 pupils, 
and these evils will be learned at the 
character-forming period. 
Most of otir school superintendents and 
educators are not parents of children, and 
cannot, understand a mother's deep feel¬ 
ing on this subject. The school consoli¬ 
dation lias always been opposed in my 
School district, and I am positive my 
small children will never he sent, to such 
a school. MRS. fl.JU WHITE. 
New York. 
A Minister's Busy Hen 
The minister in Jaffrey, N, II., has 
kept a few hens for family purposes for a 
number of years, but last year for the 
first time lie bought day-old chicks, a hun¬ 
dred of them, and has kept a record of 
the costs and returns. 
The chicks, of Lincoln strain White 
Leghorns, were hatched May 14. Of these 
lie raised 83, of which 50 were satisfac¬ 
tory pullets. The first laid September 30, 
and by December all were laying. Before 
the following October 1 they laid 8.073 
eggs, an average of 170. The minister 
has had to sell a considerable part of 
these. The local price ranged from $1.10 
March 18, 1922 
per dozen to 36 cents. His balance sheet 
to October 1 is as follows: 
DEBITS 
Chicks, 100. $30.00 
Food . 117.43 
Profit . 389.84 
$537.27 
CREDITS 
Roosters . $30.25 
Eggs . 423.02 
Hens, 50 . 75.00 
$537.27 
The profit for each hen was thus $7.79. 
The minister does not wish to mislead 
anyone to think that they can duplicate 
this. He knows that he cannot do it 
again. Yet he is sure a few hens can be 
made to pay well. 
lie thinks more people fail from over¬ 
feeding grains than from any Other cno 
cause, and that the matter of providing 
coarse feed is the most difficult for bens 
in captivity. He buys no fancy or mixed 
feeds. Oats and shorts have been the 
principal diet, with meat scraps and a 
scant allowance of eornmeal and corn. 
Ilis dry masli is four parts shorts, two 
parts eornmeal nnd one part meat scraps. 
At noon he feeds all the oats the liens 
will eat. and just before roosting time, 
when the hens are surfeited with oats, he 
feeds the 50 a quart of whole corn. Of 
course, hens must have plenty of clean 
water and shells and grit. F. E. 
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