830 
<Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 24, 1 1)^2 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks 
By Rev. George B. Gilbert 
Poor Mus. Parson. —Mrs. Parson cer¬ 
tainly does have a time of it. What things 
men folks will do! The Parson had mixed 
up a wonderful dose for (Mil Ilorso Jim. 
lit 1 read the prescription in Tint It. N.-Y. 
and got it tilled in a drug store. It looked 
very yellow and smelled very strong. lie 
mixed it up in a cup and brought the cup 
back into the kitchen. Now, give him 
credit foV bringing back tin- cup. But lie 
put it down near the drinking water 
faucet. flood Mrs, Parson felt a real 
thirst, and went to get n drink. Here 
was a cup right handy, IIow nice this 
special direct-from-the-well faucet is, she 
probably said to herself as she raised the 
ambrosial fluid to her lips. The Parson 
hastily decided the goslings needed look¬ 
ing after. 
Worse Yet. —But what happened the 
other night was really worse. Any just 
judge would consider it sufficient grounds. 
The Parson had been shingling a hit. and, 
of course, left some of the nails in his 
pockets. He doesn't see anything strange 
about that. What carpenter doesn’t leave 
nails in his pocket at night? And what 
pockets do not empty themselves all over 
the floor at night? That's the pocket’s 
fault, not the Parson’s. And when the 
baby wanted something, Mrs Parson, 
nine-tenths asleep, started across the 
floor. Those big-headed nails were about 
as thick as sowed oats. Well, she was 
very wide awake very soon, indeed. She 
also has her opinion about the proper 
place to keep shingle nails. 
rioEiNG Help. —We had a great, time 
hoeing the other day, The Parson fig¬ 
ures that four men for two hours is as 
good as one man all day. So after school 
we all went over to hoe out the corn. 
But after four of us had been over a while 
we saw Sit and Ta coming. Ta had a 
little hoey, and Sit had a small hoe with 
a broomstick handle. Sit struck right 
into a row and Ta dug a hole in the 
ground. Now it happened that Sit and 
Classic were alongside on two adjoin ing 
rows when it came the last swing down 
the piece. So, what more natural than 
that they should get to racing a little 
down the row. as the hoeing was easy in 
this part of the field. But this racing 
soon led to words (what rivalry does 
not), and the words soon led to Sit pick¬ 
ing up a good-sized sod ami hurling at 
Clossie. At the inquest held later, f’lossie 
claimed this shot took him plumb on the 
bean. This led to more words, which 
resulted in Sit hitting Clossie on the crazy 
bone with her hoe. This led to tea's, and 
the Parson coming down the field. It 
seemed to the Parson that Clossie de¬ 
served credit for not resorting to weapons 
of any kind. But Chief Witness Shelley, 
his eyes not over-riveted on the weeds, 
declared that Clossie's language bad been 
very provocative. The Parson suspended 
judgment in the case of Clossie, and in 
the case of Sit decided she better go down 
to the house and help get supper on the 
table. Ta. ever loyal, decided he would 
share in the verdict, and left the corn 
patch with her. This probably took all 
the sting out. as both Sit and Ta are in 
perfect bliss when together, there being 
great devotion between them. 
Morning Glory.— The Parson used to 
love morning glory climbing about the 
house, hut he fears his liking for it is 
fast waning. Through the very best part 
of our farm the wild morning glory has 
got iu a terrible stronghold. To the Par¬ 
son's mind handling quack grass or witch 
grass is sort of a picnic pastime compared 
with wild morning glory. When the Par¬ 
son was a boy on the old farm in Ver¬ 
mont, we used to worry about common 
house plantain. Now, of course, no one 
gives that a second thought. Then came 
the witch grass; this was supposed to 
ruin the whole eonntrv. Now it ha> no 
fears for anyone. But tills morning glory 
is a hard proposition. It is getting into 
the old farm in Vermont, and the Par¬ 
son’s brother claims it to be the worst 
thing he has ever tackled. 
Cry for Help. —Borne time ago the 
Parson read in The R. N.-Y. about plow¬ 
ing this stuff in the Fall and then cross- 
plowing iti the Spring, and raking up the 
roots after much harrowing with a spring- 
tooth. But we were not able to spend 
so much time as this, at least this year. 
We have potatoes and corn righl in the 
midst of it. The cultivator has u lug, 
wide-winged weed tooth. . This runs flat 
and thin, and is a great help iu cutting 
off those roots. Being able to go both 
ways in the corn has been a help, too. 
But to keep it out of the potato hills is a 
real proposition. The Parson will report 
again how he and the hoys come on with 
it. We try now to cultivate every other 
day, which may discourage some of it. 
As this will he old land this Fall, and we 
can plow it with one horse, we may see 
what can he done by turning up the roots 
to freeze, and even raking them up. 
TlTE Crops. — Bo far this seems ro have 
been a fine year for crops. The hay crop 
is fairly good and Was come on early. 
The side of the road and bnv land ought 
to be cut now—June 12. We cannot get 
at it till the boys get <>tlt of school. Po¬ 
tatoes certainly look fine. If has rained 
just enough for them, One thing worth 
noting—not a single hard-shell potato bug 
lias been seen on this farm (bis year. 
The potatoes are now budded to blossom, 
and not a sign of a bug. With all the 
spraying for blight, as well as lings, has 
the bug lost out? T! looks so. The Par¬ 
son remembers well when the bugs first 
appeared on a patch of potatoes down 
back of the house by the lane in Vermont, 
It must have been about 40 years ago. 
This bug has made trouble enough and 
cost enough; nmv let him die. 
At I /AST.—Yes, at last we have opened 
n)i the old. abandoned church we have 
written so much about. It certainly took 
time enough, and it certainly was job 
enough. How often it is, as we look hack 
On a job. that we doubt if we really knew 
what we were getting into, we would over 
have made the plunge. Then to work ou 
a church 12 miles away makes a great 
difference. Those wlm went to this church 
for years and had not seen it lately would 
never have known it. We painted the 
ceiling ivory white—two coats. On the 
walls we used dark brown oatmeal paper. 
Wo could not paint these, as they had 
been papered and sized, and it was too 
big a job to get off all this sizing. All 
the wood work is ivory white, window 
sash and all, with the exception of pews 
and wainscoting. These we painted a 
mahogany. It certainly made a fine com¬ 
bination. The big altar is ivory white 
against this dark brown. The lectern and 
prayer desk is also this color. A dark 
brown denim curtain is drawn across, 
and this altar furniture is curtained off 
when we have social occasions. We had 
morning service the opening Sunday, and 
then we all had dinner together. We had 
milk and coffee and chicken and sand¬ 
wiches and crackers and rhubarb sauce 
and pie and cake—enough to keep soul 
and body together a few minutes. 
The Afternoon. —Then al the after¬ 
noon session there came many of the 
Methodists that used to come to this 
church before they all moved to town. 
There was one man who was 87 and an¬ 
other 84. The latter told of conditions 
in this old Church and regions around 
about 70 years ago. Much that was 
wonderfully interesting was brought out— 
how the people used to make a living 
there in the old days. A woman was here 
and spoke, and had the Bible with her 
that she got. as a prize fot* raising the 
most money toward buying the bell in the 
church. What a great thing it was for 
the people who live there tlOW, and es¬ 
pecially for the children .and younger 
people. Does your church plan for au 
Old Home Day? This can be a great 
day in every country church, and let 
again the old-timers of the community tell 
of the old days and old times. Hot every¬ 
one have n big picnic at noontime in the 
church or out, according to weather and 
taste. We always have Old Dome Day 
in one church on tile third Sunday iu Au¬ 
gust. People have become accustomed to 
this date, and 'near if in mind the year 
round. 
Young Stock.— The Parson and Flos¬ 
sie went off to deliver a couple of young 
stock the other day to a man who bought 
them to turn out to pasture. On both the 
Parson is convinced we lost money. The 
yearling heifer brought $25. and the two- 
year-old $40, 14 is hard not to raise nice, 
pretty-looking heifer calves, but unless they 
■are purebred and you can keep them till 
they calve, it certainly does not pay to 
raise them around here—not. to sell. After 
all these years of experience, the Parson is 
perfectly convinced that raising common 
stock where there is no sale for milk and 
no conveniences for properly making but¬ 
ter and selling it, is one of (he ruinations 
id’ people on the Lonely Road ten times 
more so when, as so many do. they have 
to buy hay in the Winter. Anil to buy 
hay to feed stock just so as to have the 
manure, is nothing short of financial sui¬ 
cide. The Parson will venture a guess 
that the price of a ton of hay will buy 
four times as much plant food as would 
result from keeping a cow' the year 
around, when the manure is kept out of 
doors, most likely under the eaves. 
Keeping Pets. —Just as the Parson 
refuses to lie awake night shedding tears 
over people who persist in buying ha.v for 
scrub stock, with no sale for milk and 
little for butter, many of them feeding 
grain to young stock, too, the liny being 
so poor, so lie refuses to blame the weather 
for the troubles of people who keep stock 
for pets. He believes in sentiment and 
affection above all things, but keeping old 
horses, waiting for (Item to die a natural 
death, instead of painlessly laying them 
away, will not pay taxes aiul interest, nor 
gain the sympathy of the Parson. Keep¬ 
ing a great larrikin dog that will never 
help the boys drive the cows or kill a 
woodchuck or hunt skunks in the Fall, 
will not buy cracked corn for the hens. 
Keeping a cow long past her usefulness 
because Uncle John gave you the calf the 
year before lie died for a birthday pres¬ 
ent is all very lovely, but don't spend 
hours talking to the Parson about the 
need of a tariff on Chinese eggs while 
doing it. 
Those Roosters. —It is a good deal so 
with hens. That is a clever old hen 
and so nice with her goslings, and eats 
out of your hand, and sings when you 
take her up; but if she’s most old enough 
to vote, boil her for two days Steady and 
take her to the church slipper. A man 
came down to the old church the other 
day. while the Parson was painting, and 
told him a pitiful tale about the expenses 
of his sick wife. It was harrowing, and 
the Parson’s heart quivered. Before he 
left, however, the conversation turned on 
the matter ,.f hens. "Didn’t I see a good 
many roosters around your place the 
other day?" said the Parson. "IIow 
many have you?" Tie admitted lie had 
wintered 15. As poor a mongrel-looking 
lot as one would see in a day's journey. 
"Why. how many hens do you keep?" 
gasped the Parson. "Why, I wintered 
18 this last year.” he said. This man 
buys every pound of grain he feeds, ami 
later parted with those pet roosters for 
less than he could have got last. Christ¬ 
mas. 
A Michigan Farm Woman on “Help" 
We were interested in the group of 
young men who want a chance to earn a 
farm, and also in Win, Pavelec’s letter, 
and we wonder if they realize what the 
average farmer has been up against the 
last few years, and how they would lie 
able to pay wages enough to help so they 
could pay for a farm “while still young.” 
Numerous owners of line, large farms 
had to borrow money to pay their taxes 
this last year. 
We have been so disgusted with the 
quality of help we have had that we seed¬ 
ed down all the land but what we could 
attend to with our own small family (one 
boy), and we make just as much without 
the aggravation, although we believe with 
good honest tenants, who worked as hard 
ns w'o have, much more could be made 
from the farm—or at least the tenant 
should make it pay enough more to pay 
his own wages, as the land is fertile. 
We furnished everything for one family 
to work our farm, giving them one-third, 
and they took in $1,200 besides having 
most of their living, chance to cut fuel 
ou shares, vegetables, meat, milk, house 
rent, etc. They broke the tools and 
lamed a horse, were dishonest and did not 
half do the work. The boss said never 
again would he furnish horses and tools 
for anyone to help them get. started. 
There was also too much tobacco and 
profane language in that family, and they 
were destructive; the children were not 
taught to respect other people’s property. 
When we were children we were told: 
“Now be careful of that, because it isn't 
ours!” But I heard a woman say, who 
was told her children were destroying 
something, "I don’t care; it isn’t ours." 
That seems to be the way they bring 
them up nowadays. There are a few ex¬ 
ceptions. perhaps; but we can't find the 
exception for a tenant. 
Now, Wm. Pavelon says he would like 
to work for a man “who has other ideals 
in life than to gain money." Unfor¬ 
tunately. even a man of high ideals and a 
good farm has to have money to “make 
the mare go.” also the flivver, and ex¬ 
penses on a large farm are enormous. We 
have been working hard to get enough 
ahead to put in modern conveniences in 
the home, and have not succeeded yet, 
though we live in hopes. We find it takes 
money to "put your ideals across." But 
we believe in giving the worker a fair 
share of what he has helped to produce, 
in both money and better living condi¬ 
tions—but never again until he has 
proven his worth, and no tobacco users 
wanted. MRS. c. J. 
Michigan. 
R. N.-Y.—There were over 20 letters 
for Win. Pavalec. They came from all 
over, He got what seems to be a good 
job in New York State, and we hope be 
will make good. 
College Students and Hired Men 
The invitation on page 722 to discuss 
the hiring of college men I cannot resist. 
I do not hire college men for the reason 
that I consider farming to be, at its best, 
about 75 per cent hard work and 25 per 
cent science of the business, Is it not a 
fact that one of the main reasons that 
our colleges hold out to the student get¬ 
ting an education is so as not to be 
obliged to do the hard work of the farm? 
In case ibis be true, who can tell us what 
one of these creatures would he worth to 
the ordinary farmer? As for myself, I 
am hiring married men with good intelli¬ 
gence, furnishing them with a comfortable 
home to live in and supplying them to¬ 
ward their living all the farm would fur¬ 
nish me if 1 were in their place, also a 
cash payment monthly, which enables 
them to live as well as farmers owning 
their farms and living on them. This 
system has worked well, and I find by 
leaving men on the farms to manage, 
with myself as adviser, we can help each 
other, and just as many times do I get 
pointers from them as they do from me. 
We cannot use the college man to our 
advantage, because his education is such 
that he overestimates himself and under¬ 
estimates that which does the most good 
to the most people— iCork. 
If you are interested in what I have 
written you might want to know whereof 
I speak. My son and I are operating 
five different farms with a hired man on 
each of them. Our business is growing 
apples, general farm crops and breeding 
purebred Aberdeen Angus cattle. 
Wyoming Co., N. Y. w. A. HAWLEY. 
Trouble with Chicks 
Last year I had 1,000 Leghorn chicks, 
and had good results in raising them. 
This year I got more, and am feeding 
them the same way. At the ago of five 
and six weeks some began to he rickety, 
and soon die. Some of tliei” droppings 
contain blood. I held a post-mortem on 
some of them and found their gizzard 
lining sore or with holes eaten in it. 
Am I feeding them wrong? I give a 
mash mixed 80 lbs. bran. 20 lbs. white 
middlings. 10 lbs. corn meal, 10 lbs. sifted 
beef scrap. They have this dry mash 
all the time. I feed some wetted with 
sweet milk and some sweet milk is cooked 
mid cooled before given them to drink. 
The milk they got from the start. I 
bought a mixed scratch feed for them ; 
we mix with it a little cracked corn and 
wheat. Water, grit, shells and charcoal 
are in reach, and they are on free range. 
Myerstown, Pa. ' n B. 
There is nothing in this mash that 
should eat holes in the lining of the giz¬ 
zard or produce a bloody diarrhoea. If 
you are giving the chicks all the milk 
that they will drink the greater part of 
the meat scrap had better be left out of 
the mash. If they have only a limited 
supply of milk one-seventh part of the 
mash iu meat scrap is not too much. 
Perhaps a better mixture would he equal 
parts by weight of wheat bran, mid¬ 
dlings. cornmeal, grouud oats and one- 
lmlf part meat scrap. This to be fed 
with a limited amount of milk. Are you 
feeding tender green stuff of any kind— 
young clover, tender lawn clippings, etc.? 
If not. lose no time in adding greens to 
your chick ration ; they are a valuable 
“regulator” and will make up for some 
indiscretions in feeding of other kinds. 
M. B. D. 
Here is a suggestion for the rural church. The one here shown is located in Wayne 
Co., N. Y., mi the road between two villages. The advertising sign shown in the 
picture is nailed to the tree. You may say that hurried car drivers, rushing through 
the country never would stop anyway. Do not be too sure of that. You never can 
tell what they will do. “It pays to advertise"—even the church. 
