1070 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
LAWYER AND FARMER 
Waiting for a train in a New England 
city, I .lobbed about for lessons in human 
nature. Some may look for evidence of 
business or of play, but human nature is, 
after all, the human link which binds us 
together in this country. It is the one 
thing which cannot be analyzed, bought 
and sold or Inst or exchanged. A pleas¬ 
ant-faced Italian had a boot-blacking 
stand near the railroad station, and his 
young boy was helping him. I have never 
known why so many people regard boot¬ 
blacking as a degrading or humiliating 
business. As society is now made tip, 
and as business is now conducted, a pol¬ 
ished shoe is as necessary as a clean shave 
or a clean collar. There are plenty of 
cases where a man would surely lose the 
business he went after if he appeared with 
muddy or unclean shoes. Thus in the 
city bootblacking seems just as honorable 
as the business of the barber or the fash¬ 
ionable tailor. I do not see why the man 
who polishes the outside of the shoe is not 
as much of an artist as the “chiropodist” 
who pares the corns and cuts the nails 
which the shoe covers. As for profits. I 
am told of a bootblack with five assist¬ 
ants. who during the war bought half a 
dozen silk shirts at $8 each, cut off the 
sleeves at the elbows and bad "the bunch” 
wear them while at work. 
But there was nothin** of silk about 
the bootblack who gave ino a lesson in 
human nature, except his smile. lie 
made every customer feel that it was a 
privilege to sit in his chair. There came 
a big colored man as black as a stovepipe, 
with feet so large that they required a 
double dose of blacking. He paid for the 
service in good American money, and 
gave the boy a tip besides. There are a 
good many white men who might be 
driven, through necessity, into a frame of 
mind which would enable them to black 
boots for a temporary living, but their 
pride would revolt at the thought of ren¬ 
dering such service to a black man. My 
Italian friend did not feel that way. 
When I asked him about it, he shrugged 
his shoulders—you know bow such men 
can make their shoulders more eloquent 
than their tongues. 
“I care not da color of a man. so he 
paya da price. All men what wear boots 
and shoes—my job to shina him. Da 
money have same color from any hand. 
I shina shoe today and sava da money. 
Bime by I have da shoes shine by him. 
Many man sit in my chair and throw 
away da money. Ilis boy will shine da 
shoe"for my boy maybe some day.” 
“Well, will your boy follow your job?” 
“No. My bigga boy be maka da law¬ 
yer. some day. He gotta da head—he 
speak, be argue, he think. I make money 
by da shine, and bimeby I send da boy to 
Yale, or maybe Harvard, as he tells me." 
“Then you will keep right on working 
here?” 
"No. I sell out m.v place here and wc 
all go with him. I shina da shoe in New 
Haven, or Boston, or where he go. We 
keep him by home. I study with him.” 
“Go to school?” 
“No. 1 keepa da job, but when night 
come I read and talk with da boy over 
his lessons. You know why I wanta da 
boy to be lawyer? Because I see many 
man study da law and get wise who work 
away from da poor and sella da brains 
and wisdom to ^ reecb man. Du law he 
should be by da poor, and so I study 
along with my boy and keepa him—what 
you say—da foot on da ground, lie huva 
da brains, and da brushes dey gif him da 
chance. I keep close to him. so he never 
forget wlmt make him da education!” 
It was a curious thought to me, and I 
could imagine the future when the bright 
boy at Yale or Harvard reflected that his 
father was still blacking shoes in order to 
put the polish on his education. Will the 
man be able to hold his boy? Will this 
simple, earnest man. with his dream of 
the power of education, be able to so in¬ 
fluence his boy as to keep “da foot on da 
ground”? Will the boy become ashamed 
of father? Will lie not, ns too many have 
done, sell his brains to the highest bid¬ 
der, and forget “da poor”? It is a great 
thought, and one that may well enter the 
minds of thousands of men in moderate 
circumstances whose boys are going back 
to college this month. In too many 
cases. I fear, “the old man” no longer in¬ 
fluences his boy. 
l r es, in his crude way this bootblack 
father expressed a great thought. If it is 
possible for him to hold that boy to hum¬ 
ble things, and make him realize the glory 
of service and what he owes to his fellow 
man as a return for what America has 
done for him, the bootblack will brighten 
a little spot on the shield of Columbia 
which will shine like the honest polish he 
has put on many a shoe. In a public 
square of New York there stands a great 
statue of Abraham Lincoln. I am told 
that each day little bootblacks of foreign 
birth climb up and polish the feet of that 
metal statue. They try to express through 
the work of their hands something of 
what they feel toward the great Lib¬ 
erator. As I listened to my friend I 
thought of R. H. Dana, who learned the 
hard life of a sailor through “Two Years 
Before the Mast,” and who, in conse¬ 
quence, fought for the rights of seamen 
until he changed laws in their favor. He 
remembered "da poor.” 
“But what about making your boy a 
farmer?” 1 asked. 
“All! My leetle hoy, he tnaka da farm. 
My fader and all back behind him maka 
da farm and da garden. It in da blood of 
my leNle boy—he see through bis eyes da 
fine flowers and da fruits, and what you 
call da beauty of da country, lie now 
raise da rose and da tomato in da back¬ 
yard. He maka da farm!” 
“How will you do it?” 
“Well, we all *sava da money—me. my 
bigga boy, da wife—all sava money. Bime 
by we tiud da piece of laud what suit us. 
We buy it and when da leetle boy lie 
ready he go and maka da farm.” 
“What do you mean by ready?” 
“Well da leetle boy lie must be beeg 
and strong enough and he must have 
some of da education, too. I send him 
to da school where they learn how to 
maka da certified milk and all things 
good. Dey maka da certified boy— is it 
not so? If da bigga boy have da law 
education, da leetle boy. if lie maka da 
farmer, must huva da education, too. If 
(la farmer have it not he fall behind. Da 
bigga boy and da leetle boy hnva (la fair 
chance—so da fanner he be just, so much 
a man as da lawyer!” 
“And you?” 
“Oh. I keepa da job till da leetle boy 
maka da farm. Den da wife and I we 
go live with him. Da bigga boy and all 
da rest, dev have what you call head¬ 
quarters dere. I keepa m.v money. I 
fliula fault, as you say. I maka da part¬ 
ner boss. My wife and me we live 
many happy years on dat farm which my 
leetle hoy make. We watch da bigga boy 
grow up in da law. working for da poor, 
and we all thank da good God what 
brings us to America and giva da chance! 
What? You huva da oil shine? All right! 
Niea day!” 
This last remark was addressed to a 
fat woman who climbed into the high 
chair, with many a wheeze and puff. She 
did not know it. but she was helping to 
bring “da farm” a little nearer. 
Well, what of it? Will America be 
safe in the hands of “da bigga boy” and 
his “leetle” brother? It would seem to 
me that such people are likely to own the 
country In the future unless more of our 
purebred Americans renew some of the 
spirit, and vision of this Italian boot¬ 
black, For, as I see it. this man is only 
reviving the spirit and vision ami energy 
which sent our ancestors oil' into (lie wil¬ 
derness to make homes and lay the foun¬ 
dation of a Republic. The Italian has 
merely adapted this old land hunger to 
modern days. You may consider your 
future bright and fair, but can you imag¬ 
ine anything more satisfactory than the 
mental picture of the future which this 
humble man brightens with every shoe he 
polishes? „ 
I have just been reading “Babbitt, 
by the author of “Main Street.” The 
last-named book was really a series of 
photographs of life in a small town. In 
“Babbitt” tlm author pictures certain 
phases of lift 1 in a city of MoO.OOO people. 
If this is also a collection of real pho¬ 
tographs. Americans may well lie thank¬ 
ful that there are men as simple and true 
as my Italian friend left in the country. 
Can there be any finer vision or patriotic 
hope than that' of the immigrant who 
longs to give to the future of America a 
voung Rienzi and a new* Agricola? 
H. W. C. 
A Mixed-up Joint Account 
Will you advise roe what the New* York 
State laws are in this case? A man mar¬ 
ried a widow* with one child six years 
old. Thev bought a farm and are living 
on the place. They each (husband and 
wife) contributed a share to partly pay 
cash for the place, from the money each 
had before marriage, and now hold a 
joint deed of the place with a mortgage 
of $2,000 remaining. After a few* years 
had passed, the husband bought said mort¬ 
gage with his own money, which he saved 
before marrying, as his personal interest 
in the place, and has it properly recorded 
in the county clerk’s office. They also 
have a joint bank account, and the hus¬ 
band lias a Liberty bond, which he pur¬ 
chased with his own money. lie also 
bought a second mortgage that was on the 
place, with bis own money after one year 
from the time they made the joint deed, 
but has not this second mortgage recorded 
in county clerk's office. In case the hus¬ 
September 2, 1922 
band dies without leaving a will, how is 
the real and personal property appor¬ 
tioned or divided? What portion legally 
falls to the child? Also, in case the hus¬ 
band leaves a legal will, what portion of 
the real and personal property can he 
will to whom lie pleases, and what portion 
does the law allow to I lie widow and 
child? There are no other children. Also, 
is the mortgagee, husband, entitled to in¬ 
terest on the mortgages, same as any 
other person holding a mortgage on farm 
property? How if wife dies first? 
II. c. S. 
It is difficult to understand why so 
many people try to avoid making a will 
when a will properly made during life¬ 
time will speak for ages to come the 
wishes of the testator expressed during 
bis life. 
In your ease you can dispose of any 
real property or personal property that 
you may have exactly as you desire, ex¬ 
cept that you cannot cut off the widow’s 
dower interest in any real property you 
might have. You evidently have a deed 
which, upon the death of either, will pass 
all of the legal title to the survivor. Yon 
have attempted to retain an equitable in¬ 
terest. hut for what reason it is difficult 
to understand. Ordinarily where the 
owner of the legal title acquires the equit¬ 
able title (a mortgage), the equitable title 
merges into the legal title. There are 
eases when the courts have held that a 
legal title may he maintained separate 
from the equitable title for the purpose 
of giving some additional protection to 
the holder of the legal title, but it seems 
very doubtful if yours is a case where 
that distinction will be made. 
The survivor would take the whole of 
the bank account at the death of the 
other. There is nothing to prohibit you 
from disposing of all your property by 
will without providing for your wife’s 
child. If you have registered Liberty 
bonds, it. will be necessary at yonr death 
to take nut letters of administration, if 
you do not leave a will. 
Our advice tn you is that you and your 
wife each make a will disposing of your 
property as you see fit. Then discharge 
the mortgages for which you hold assign¬ 
ments and leave your title in a marketable 
condition. N. T. 
Light in weight but sturdy in build — 
economical of gasoline, tires, and oil—rugged 
and reliable in all the service of the farm. 
Cord tires, non-skid front and rear; disc steel wheels, demountable £t rim and at 
hub; dtum type lamps; Alemite lubrication; motor driven electric horn ; unusually 
long springs; deep, wide, roomy seats ; real leather upholster)- in open cars, broad¬ 
cloth In closed cars; open car side-curtains open with doors; clutch and brake 
action, steering and gear shifting, remarkably easy ; new type water-tight windshield. 
MAXWELL MOTOR CORPORATION, DETROIT, MICHIGAN 
MAXWELL MOTOR CO. OF CANADA, LTD., WINDSOR, ONTARIO 
^he Good 
MAXWELL 
