482 
lbt RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Things To Think About 
The objeot of this department is to give 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 mentai safety valve. 
This Man Has a Heart 
The following story was printed in the 
New York Herald: 
“Max Schwarzer. who owns the tene¬ 
ment house at 217 Bowery, appeared be¬ 
fore Magistrate Harris recently on the 
complaint of Louis Schlett, tenement 
house inspector, who said Schwarzer had 
failed to plug up holes in the walls of 
a room in the house. 
“ ‘Judge.’ said Schwarzer, ‘I plugged 
up those holes like the inspector told me, 
but no sooner were those holes plugged up 
and everything made fine like the law 
calls for.‘than 1 heard a meowing in the 
wall. Judge, I love animals, and I’m not 
one of those who hate eats. 
“ ‘Well. I hear this meowing in the 
wall, and, Judge, I get busy and poke 
new holes in the wall to locate the noise, 
for I figured we had plastered a eat m 
the wall, and, well. Judge,^ a man can t 
plaster a dumb animal up in a wall and 
leave it there to starve, ami-—- 
“ ‘Anyway, your honor. T finally come 
to the corner and poke a hole in the wall 
I’d just fixed up. like the inspector wants, 
when what do I see inside the wall all 
thin and scared looking, but a cat. and 
she's sitting there protecting seven little 
kittens. Judge, those kitten were just 
horn. She must have crawled in there 
and had them while we were working on 
the wall like the inspector ordered. 
“‘Judge, I list'd coaxing and milk ana 
a bit of fish and meat to get the cat to 
come out and firing her babies, but she 
wouldn’t move. All she'd do was to meow 
weak like, and stare at you as if she 
was daring you to hurt her seven fialnes. 
I tried all ways <>f getting lier out, and 
I look in with a light and see that those 
babies of hers were still blind—fco young 
their eyes are still shut. They were hun¬ 
gry. too. and I shoved gome milk in to 
the mother eat. because she was sort of 
thin and weak looking. 
“ ‘I asked about it. and a man told me 
that it took nine days for a kittens eyes 
to op^u. And, your honor, I uni t got 
the heart to-’ ” .... , a 
“Neither has this court.” interrupted 
Magistrate Harris. “This case is ad¬ 
journed until those kittens get their eyes 
open.” 
Maintain the Rural School 
The writer, as a country girl, went to 
the district school, and later attended col¬ 
lege, marrying a college professor. So 1 
feel that my couvicious are the result ot 
experience. I have followed the discus¬ 
sion of the question of the rural versus 
the consolidated schools with interest, and 
cannot repress the desire to give expres¬ 
sion to mv appreciation of the remarks 
of S. A. M.. page 570, also the editorial 
on page 3,SO. The mere possession of tools 
not give skill in their nse. Long 
hours of practice arc required to gain 
proficiency in instrumental music, or 
speed with the typewriter. Even so. best 
results are not obtained by an “examina¬ 
tion.” study of many subjects, and real 
training in few or none. v\ ould thor¬ 
oughness be any disadvantage even to 
embryo statesmen, or governors i Lloyd 
George is said to have made the state¬ 
ment, after the dose of the late M orld 
War, that the hope >f the world lay in 
the sane thinking of the rural population 
of America. , „ ,, „ . 
Can the nation and the world afford 
to lose the stabilizing influence of the 
country home and the rural schools.' 1 lew. 
indeed! are those who have the mental 
balance and the moral force to withstand 
the social code which decrees that we 
must at all hazards appear as well as 
others. Unnumbered thousands have gone 
down in the race, to financial and moral 
wreckage. In the cities especially is this 
force most keenly felt, the poor trying to 
imitate the rich, and these in turn striv¬ 
ing to outdo each other, Such influences 
exclude all proper appreciation of lifes 
real values, and their outworking may he 
compared to the unnatural growth of the 
forest trees in contrast to the beauty and 
symmetry of a tree grown in the open. 
* I maintain that while it would be easy 
for a Tammany leader to develop in the 
city or consolidated' schools, the rural 
schools, with all their disadvantages, are 
abundantly sufficient for the training of 
a Lincoln. Extreme cases, not at all the 
rule, while moral worth and beauty are 
not always the result of living close to 
Nature, nor is moral deformity always the 
result, of the artificial environment in city 
and consolidated schools. 1 submit that 
such are the tendencies, and they are very 
peal. E. H. 
Michigan. 
Trustee’s Power in Building School 
At the last annual school meeting it was 
voted to build a new school, and the 
chairman appointed a building committee 
of five, one of whom is the trustee. This 
committee visited several schools, and 
finally decided on the style and estimated 
cost of a suitable building, and hired a 
local contractor to do the work for the 
committee. There were no vri fieri con¬ 
tracts, nor did he agree to build for a 
specified sum, hut to buy material and 
furnish help by the day as economically 
as possible, bills to he presented regularly 
to one member of the committee, who was 
empowered by the others to keep a gen¬ 
eral supervision of how the work was 
progressing. This man performed his 
work faithfully, and after a time was not 
satisfied with the progress, nor were the 
bills presented to him, as agreed, but the 
builder, by applying to the trustee, re¬ 
ceived orders on the treasurer and was 
paid. The committee, through this man, 
ordered him to cease work: he refused, 
applied to the trustee, threatened to bring 
suit unless permitted to continue, and, 
forthwith, said member of the committee 
resigned. Trustee said it was not neces¬ 
sary to appoint another; that the builder 
was in the right and must finish the 
school, and the work goes on. The com¬ 
mittee stands, two with the builder, at 
any cost, and two who think the building 
will exceed the appropriation. AY ill you 
give your opinion as to whether the build¬ 
er had grounds for a suit, and if the 
trustee should not have named another 
member, instead of assuming all the re¬ 
sponsibility himself. t. p. 
New York. 
The educational law provides that it 
shall be the duty of the trustee of every 
school district, and they shall have pow¬ 
er to build such school houses as may be 
designated by the taxpayers. The trustee 
has power to appoint a committee to as¬ 
sist him, or had the right to ask a com¬ 
mittee to assist him. but he remained the 
head of the governing power of the com¬ 
mittee. It is doubtful if there ever was 
a school building built to the satisfaction 
of all of the residents of the district. 
The trustee would have done better had 
he had a written contract with the build¬ 
er; then there could have been no ques¬ 
tion as to what be was to do. It is im¬ 
possible to give an opinion as to the 
merits of the threatened lawsuit by the 
builder without knowing all of the facts 
connected with the case, but had he 
brought an action it would have been ex¬ 
pensive for the district, whether the 
builder was right or wrong It Would be 
advisable to stand behind your trustee 
while he is in office, and if you are not 
satisfied with the work he has done he 
probably will not be offended if you elect 
someone else next year. N. T. 
Conducting a Tea Room 
We are living in a beautiful building 
in a park which belongs to this city. My 
husband has been appointed custodian of 
this chateau. There is a large tea room, 
fitted up with tables and chairs, dishes, 
etc. Pan you advise me in any way how 
to open up and run the tea room? I 
would like to decorate il and make it at¬ 
tractive in some way. It is entirely new 
to me in every way, as we came here from 
a little country place. This place was 
purchased by the city and dedicated in 
honor of the boys who gave their lives in 
the recent war. The woman who was 
here before l came catered to large par¬ 
ties. The complaint which comes from 
the poorer class of taxpayers is that there 
never is any privilege for them to enjoy 
any pleasures in this building, because 
they can’t afford to give large parties. 
1 would like to know how I could run it 
so all could enjoy it. E. M. d. 
Oklahoma. 
For a person entirely unacquainted 
with the business to open a full-fledged 
ten room seems uncertain as to results. 
Such a business is very expensive, both 
to lit up and to run. Not only skill in 
cooking and serving, but also in buying 
materials, is imperative. If the room is 
there, with tables, chairs and dishes, our 
advice would be to begin by serving tea, 
coffee, and sandwiches, cakes or pies, 
working out the tea-room idea by de¬ 
grees, If, as suggested, the appeal is to 
be made by popular prices, rather than 
by catering to the exclusive class, the 
quiet tea-room idea is loss likely to be a 
success. Decorations may he made at¬ 
tractive by giving an air of light and 
cheerfulness. Painted walls with a sten¬ 
cil decoration are very effective. Yellow 
walls with a stencil border of bright bine, 
the furniture painted to match, would 
be pretty, and table runners of un¬ 
bleached toweling with a little blue 
decoration would carry out the idea. Of 
course if you already have dishes with 
a colored border, decorations should be 
planned to harmonize with them. 
A cook book that yon would find useful 
is “Recipes and Menus for Fifty.” by 
Frances Lowe Smith, as this will tell 
how to cook in quantity. There is no 
reason why you should not extend the 
enterprise you are considering, but even 
experienced people sometimes fail in the 
restaurant business, and one entirely in¬ 
experienced should progress slowly. A 
small beginning in an unambitious way 
will tell you whether you are fitted for 
the business, and whether its possibili¬ 
ties warrant the expense involved in 
starting an attractive tea room. 
The Value of Hot Corn 
One evening during the cold spell my 
wife said: "Moogaly has caked udder.” 
Upon examination I found one quarter 
quite hard. There T was. “all of a heap" 
—no experience, nine miles to a veter¬ 
inarian, no conveyance. T went'into the 
house to study a bit, and my eye was 
caught by some corn in a pan in the oven, 
heating for the chickens in the morning. 
I knew the caked udder needed heat and 
grease of some kind, but lioic to apply it? 
April 1, 1922 
Then the idea struck me.. I put about 
four quarts of hot corn in a bag and took 
my own “sassafolas" box in my pocket 
(that is a concoction of vaseline, sassa¬ 
fras oil and camphor), and went out to 
the barn. Now my two cows have got 
so they would let me carry them if I 
could, and always come nosing me for th* 
nubbins 1 carry in my pockets for them, 
for L use nubbins in place of a whip. 
First, 1 thoroughly greased the caked ud¬ 
der with the "snssafoln" and then I held 
the bag of hot corn against and around it 
until I nearly burned my fingers with it, 
it was so hot, and there I held it while 
“Moogal.v” blew and backed, but she soon 
held still when she felt that grateful 
warmth; I held it until I could not hold 
it any longer, my fingers got so cramped, 
and as true as I tell you I felt a big dif¬ 
ference right then and there. It. seemed 
as if the cake dissolved. I did the same 
the next morning and the next, night, and 
she was cured—three applications of say 
15 minutes each. Well, that bag of hot 
corn felt so good that 1 made another 
just like it and put. it in my cold bed, 
and every night since I have mv “corn 
bag.” 
My wife uses too much coffee, and 
casting about for some way to cut down 
her increasing consumption of the drug, 
and having had experience of various sub¬ 
stitutes. I browned some nice corn just 
like coffee, and ground it and requested 
her to make me some coffee from that. 
Consequence is we have “corn coffee” reg¬ 
ularly once or twice a day; use less 
drugs, cut the cost, and nobody has any 
“grounds for complain!.” as a few 
grounds are only “food,” and swallow 
easily. Friends, thank your lucky stars 
that corn is cheap. Just use more of it. 
Here is my recipe for the best, pan¬ 
cakes on earth: One cut! fresh ground 
cornmeal, one cup buckwheat flour, one 
cup wheat flour, one tablespoon sugar or 
New Orleans molasses, three-fourths tea¬ 
spoon baking soda, one and one-half cups 
butternrik or one, cup buttermilk and 
half a cup of hot ’water, one level tea¬ 
spoon salt. Anyone who cannot relish 
these griddle cakes should see a doctor. 
My wife says I have them all beat. 
Pennsylvania. geo. h. parke. 
Smoked Herring 
Can some of your readers give me a 
recipe for preparing smoked, or red her¬ 
ring, such as we used to buy in every 
grocery store? I have tried twice with 
the formula given me, and in each case 
they moulded. F. B. L. 
New York. 
There are several methods of smoking 
fish for eating. Eels are usually salted 
lightly and then cooked in the smoke. 
Lake herring or ciscoes are salted lightly 
and smoked lightly, and will not keep any 
length of time unless put in cold storage. 
Herring or other fish which are to be 
kept a long time without special treat¬ 
ment must be salted heavily and smoked a 
long time. 
There are many recipes for preparing 
Ted herring, but more depends on the ex¬ 
perience of the one using them than on 
the formula itself. Anyone can make a 
product that will keep, by simply taking 
1 m ins lo salt the fish very heavily and 
then smoking it a long time. In the places 
where the fish are smoked for market 
they may be kept in very strong brine for 
several months or even years before smok¬ 
ing. If they are too heavily salted when 
taken out they are freshened in sea wa¬ 
ter. It is claimed that sen water is bet¬ 
tor than fresh water for this purpose. 
Possibly this is because it will not he so 
likely to take out too much salt from any 
part of the fish. 
After the fish are taken out of the brine 
they are strung on small sticks and dried 
several days before being put in the smoke 
houses, w here they are smoked for sev¬ 
eral weeks. The important point seems 
to he to get the fish dry as soon as pos¬ 
sible after taking them from the pickle, 
and then to keep them dry while being 
smoked, and afterward. 
Possibly the formula givpn F. B, L. 
was all right, but he neglected to get his 
fish dry quickly enough. In a strong 
brine, the fish will not be hurt h.v staying 
much longer than called for by the formu¬ 
la, but it will he necessary to freshen 
them before smoking. After freshening 
and stringing, the fish should be hung in 
the open air for several hours until the 
water lias drained away and the surface 
has dried a little. Then they may be 
hung in the smokehouse. 
A very delicious product is made by 
salting and smoking lake herring or cis¬ 
coes very lightly. The fish are opened 
along the belly and put in a mild brine for 
a few hours before being smoked. It 
makes a better product to prop the belly 
open with a small stick so that the fish 
are sjnoked inside as well as out. After 
the fish have been in a mild smoke for 
four or five hours the dampers are closed 
and the fires built up so ns to cook them 
for nnp nr two hours. A lake herring 
smoked as indicated above should have 
a small piece of butter placed inside and 
then be propped up on its back iu a bak¬ 
ing pan in a hot oven for about 20 min¬ 
utes. Served with a generous helping of 
mashed potatoes it is a dish to make any¬ 
one hungry. ai.kked c. weed. 
Nurse: ‘‘Why. Bobby, you selfish 
little boy. Why didn’t you give your 
sister a piece of your apple?” Bobby: 
“I gave her the seeds. She can plant ’em 
and have a whole orchard.”—Kingston 
Standard. 
This is the little daughter of W. M. Grey, County Agent at Sanford, Mo.—Ruth 
Barbara Grey. She is called “Club material in the making,” of the sweetheart of 
the corn. At any rate, she has a good garden for a background and knows how 
to select corn. 
This photograph was taken in Delaware Co., N. Y. The dairyman started out to 
make his head sire do his share of the work about the farm and on the road. 
Thus we have him harnessed to the milk cart. The dairyman is Gustave Noss. 
We have heard of one case where the bull is worked in a tread power and made 
to pump water for the cows. Another farmer thinks he can use his two bulls 
to work an electric light plant. 
