524 
Vht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 8, 1922 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
y *' ,1= =-= — ■ — — j 
Spring still lags behind ill our country. 
She reminds me of a woman 1 once knew 
who suffered greatly from chilblains all 
through a severe Winter. When Spring 
finally came and others danced about in 
the great joy of living, this woman still 
limped as she went about her kitchen or 
crawled out to hang the clothes on the 
line. Spring comes that way this year. 
It seems as if her feet hurt her so that she 
hates to go to the trees and hang out her 
washing of bud and bloom. She will re¬ 
cover, aud we shall all forget the delay, 
but just now Spring prefers to sit beside 
nur tiro at night rather than dance out 
in the moonlight, In a way I am sorry 
to see the cool weather pass away, for 
with it will go the pleasant nights by our 
open fire. As the days grow longer and 
the nights grow warmer these family* gath¬ 
erings will break up. The children will 
be practicing baseball out on the lawn 
and the older folks will be walking up the 
hill to get a last view of the sunset, or 
putting in a little belated work in the 
garden. There is nothing in all the joys 
of Summer that can hold the family to¬ 
gether like an open fire, with dead apple 
wood blazing and popping, a basket of ap¬ 
ples, and a supply of good books. 
$ * * if * 
Of course. 1 know there are families 
seemingly put together with springs in 
between the members. Somehow they do 
not seem able to get together. They have 
few interests in common, and the young 
folks are not satisfied to remain at home. 
If they do stay there it is because they 
are forced to do so, and you never yet 
saw any child bring any real harmony 
out of '“Home, Sweet Home,” while he 
felt that he was chained to the fireside. 
Of course, I know there are some young 
folks who cannot get. the full glory of 
what a family tire means. They want to 
go flying about the county, seeking after 
“a good tune,’* and the blaze which means 
so much to me is more like a tire of tor¬ 
ture built around the stake to which their 
desires are lashed. Some children seem 
to inherit this roving tendency—-this. ina¬ 
bility to find contentment in quiet ways. 
It may be an inheritance from some old 
pirate or wanderer far back in tfe? years. 
It may have jumped over several genera¬ 
tions of sedate and dignified citizens to 
appear at just the most unexpected and 
unfortunate time. Among the many chil¬ 
dren we have had in our family, there 
have been one or two such cases. They 
were natural wanderers. It seemed as if an 
old-time character stepped out of the past 
to drive them away from^ simple things 
and quiet contentment. Now they write 
ns that they regret that they ever rebelled 
and fought against our ideas of home dis¬ 
cipline. for the memory of home content¬ 
ment and simple joys is the finest treasure 
that anyone can carry through life. 
* * * * * 
We propose to know just where our 
children are. day or night, until they are 
large enough to go out into the world and 
assume responsibility. At home or at 
school, at work or at play, we want to 
know as well as we can what they are up 
to. Of course, there will be* time? when 
they must lx 1 responsible for their con¬ 
duct. but. as a rule, we can trust them if 
we have their confidence. But I wonder 
if yon realize what this means. Tonight 
mv daughter is upstairs with the .Jap¬ 
anese bov and the smaller girl, drilling 
them in their lessons for tomorrow. Here 
beside the fire mother is coaching t Terry- 
top in his algebra, and the larger girl in 
English. Night after night these women 
give up n good share of their time to 
training these youngsters. Their days 
are packed full of work, and the evenings 
should belong to them; but they give them 
freely to these children. That is the real 
secret of holding children to the borne. 
You must not only provide food and 
clothing arid shelter, but you must, give 
something out of your life if you ever 
expect to have your children live the life 
vou desire mr them. Perhaps you never 
thought of that before. You cannot buy 
character and self-denial for your chil¬ 
dren. If they are of vour own flesh and 
hlood thev may be what you ore, and they 
may do what yon do. If they are not your 
own flesh and blood, there will be a strug¬ 
gle between what nature prompts thpm 
to do and what they realize j/ou are doing. 
With our mixed-up brood of children, it 
seems to us necessary to live as cleanly 
and simply as we can. and a country borne 
is the place to do that. 
* # # * * 
We admit that we are old-fashioned 
folks about home and school work. Borne 
people, as they become prosperous, think 
riiey must use their homes and tbeir fam¬ 
ilies ns signboards on which to Advertise 
their prosperity. Bo the house is fitted 
extravagantly, and the wife and children 
are turned into dress forms. <>n which $5 
#10 bills are pasted in the shape of 
clothing. That seems to be the modern 
blea of keeping up with or a little ahead 
• >f the neighbors. Tt is a foolish, if not 
sinful, plan f'*r people who have come up 
from poverty, and who have boen forced 
into frugal and simple habits, to make 
such a use of money when it finally comes 
to them. I cannot think of anything that 
can be worse for children. Their blood 
heritage is one of fnigal and economical 
living. To encourage them to spend freely 
and without restraint so long as their de¬ 
sires are gratified is the worst training 
the youngsters can have. Buell children 
never can he satisfied with a quiet evening 
before an open tire; they are. off seeking 
after brighter and more alluring lights. 
I think this misuse of the prosperity 
which comes late in life is partly respon¬ 
sible for the breaking up of family groups 
and the conduct of many young people. 
Many of these, men understand perfectly 
that the use they are making of their 
money is undermining the character of 
their* children. I have heard some of 
these men say that the wife was respon¬ 
sible for their extravagance. Then the 
wife will deny it and say her husband 
thinks this is the way for him to adver¬ 
tise his success. Be it extravagance or 
pride, the children are riding to a fall. 
It is not likely that my- family will ever 
be confronted by snob a condition of 
wealth. Happily, I have no desire to live 
any life but that of a fairly prosperous 
farmer. It would seem to ino that when 
a man gains a competence lie may well 
go on living comfortably right in the 
line be has always followed, and devote 
the money he might, spend on luxuries in 
giving some of his fricuds a start. Every 
successful man must know half a dozen 
old friends who have not btv’n able to get 
ahead, largely through their failure to 
gain capital. "Why not use the surplus 
to help these fellows start? In a republic 
the great aim is to prevent, money and 
financial power from working into the 
hands of a small, privileged class. Wo 
evidently cannot prevent such a thing by¬ 
law. It is one of the things where "tee 
must do it ourselves /” The way to put 
“Wall Street” outnf_ illegitimate business 
is to refuse to imitate ‘“Wall Street” 
methods of plunder. The daily papers are 
full of talk about ‘“flappers” or '“shifters.” 
A “flapper” has been defined as “’one who 
flaps.” And what does she flap? Esunlly 
a flag on which is displayed the foolish 
pride or the feeble character of her par¬ 
ents. Many a "flapper” today represents 
the failure to put to full use something 
that often flaps on a roof—a shingle 1 
* * * * * 
And we are old-fashioned about schools, 
too. That is why my women folks are 
drilling away at these children. There is 
little theory about, this—it's a collec¬ 
tion of sad facts. A test was recently made 
at one of our State Normal Schools. A 
class of 70 girls who entered this school 
were asked such questions as the follow¬ 
ing: . , 
If you can rend 75 pages in two hours, 
how long will it take you to read a book 
of TOO pages? 
What is the yearly interest on a $o00 
Liberty bond paying 414 P*‘r cent inter¬ 
est ? 
A recipe calls for throe pounds of gran¬ 
ulated sugar to two pounds of brown. 
IIow much of each is needed for 20 pounds 
of mixture? 
There ywre 25 of these questions, and 
4S of these would-be young teachers ran 
below 70 per cent in trying to answer 
them : some of them as loyv as 20 per cent. 
In a simple English examination they 
were as low. or even worse. Yet these are 
the girls who are expected to go out and 
teach our children, nod the Btnte insists 
that only normal school graduates shall 
teach! This yens in New Jersey, which 
State is said to be ahead of New York 
and Pennsylvania in educational progress. 
Mv explanation for this serious state of 
affairs is that the educators have forced 
the study of so many fads and unessential 
things into our schools that our children 
are no longer well drilled in the essential 
things of education. In a way it is- Jike 
setting the blind to teach the blind. "What 
sort, of arithmetic and English will chil¬ 
dren he guilty of if taught by gilds,who 
cannot answer these simple questions? 
One of our little girls, in her English les¬ 
son. was taught, that an axiom is a ‘'self- 
evident truth.” Therefore, in her essay 
she wrote: “5Ve must always tell an 
axiom !" Well, why not? 
‘‘Rut what do they teneli in place of 
the old essentials?” 
Mother heaves a deep sigh as she 
finishes her tutoring, and gets ready to go 
upstairs. Bhe pauses by the door, and. 
well versed in the art of interpreting 
things to a deaf man. says "This!” 
It is accompanied by a very fair imi¬ 
tation of a modern dnmye. The lady is 
not as graceful perhaps as on that happy 
day nearly 10 long years ago when T tried 
to dance with her—and stepped on her 
foot! But I understand. 
* 4c * * * 
Cherry-top has mastered his algebra, 
and can turn to happier tilings. The 
trout-fishing season opens next week, and 
the Baddle River is well stocked. The 
hoy inis his license. It describes an indi¬ 
vidual with blue eyes, red hair, five feet 
nine inches, and 145 pounds weight. M e'l ! 
well! I never did think it! Cau this be 
the little, red-beaded baby I tucked under 
m,v arm and carried so easily years ago? 
The old license was $1; now it’s $1.50. 
You see. they nne after us all with this 
tax burden. I tell mv boys that if we 
are to pay the soldiers’ bonus, we shall be 
faced to tax all luxuries and amusements. 
"T think every hoy who plays baseball 
should be obliged to pay $1 and wear a 
badge.” 
I say it to try him. And he agrees 
to it. I.ike most of youth, he thinks this 
nation should show the color of its grati¬ 
tude in cash. Hie isn’t much concerned 
about where that rash is to come from, 
but he will contribute his dollar. 
IT. W. C. 
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