1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
my acquaintance was asked to sell some 
of her Winter’s store of honey. “I won’t 
sell myself short,” was her emphatic 
answer, and a moment later in reply to 
a question as to how much she had on 
hand said, “A hundred pounds.” Think 
of that much honey for a small family, 
and only about half a year from the 
next crop! Thirty turkeys, few of which 
were for sale, ranged over the big farm, 
and the visitors no longer wondered why 
their hostess was so busy with cooking 
and company. 
We occasionally air our houses here 
too, and I have never seen a well in a 
kitchen. There may be “slimy parti¬ 
tions and decayed potatoes” in some 
country cellars, but I have never seen 
them. Neither have I eaten musty but¬ 
ter and bread in farmhouses, though 
truth makes me admit to finding it on 
boardinghouse tables in town. Ohio has 
produced her full share of great men, 
and most of them were farmers’ sons. 
Every elected President but one since 
Lincoln has come from the famous 
Buckeye State, and her soldiers and 
statesmen have won honors without 
stint, so it is safe to say that they did 
not carry with them from the pleasant 
farm homes “fearful sick headaches, 
dyspepsia” and the long train of ail¬ 
ments so graphically portrayed by the 
writer. The brightest minds are housed 
in the healthiest bodies, and Ohio is the 
place for both, because the mothers see 
to it that the bodies are nourished with 
nutritious food. iiilda Richmond. 
A Connecticut Woman Speaks. 
I think the article on farm housekeep¬ 
ing and cookery under discussion ought 
to call forth an indignant protest from 
every American housewife. I believe it 
to he a gross misrepresentation of the 
real condition of things in the home of 
the prosperous or fairly prosperous 
farmer. I know there are women, born 
and raised in poverty, who, because of a 
shiftless or drunken husband, never 
have enough raw material in the house 
to prepare a palatable and nutritious 
meal, but the great majority of rural 
women I believe to be not only good 
housekeepers, but excellent cooks. They 
are used to caring for large families and 
have to depend upon their own resources 
when unexpected guests appear. And 
where but on the farm do we find things 
so fresh, the milk and eggs, the fruits 
and vegetables? Most country house¬ 
keepers would pass by the vegetables 
exposed for sale in the city market with 
scorn, and I think very few of us are 
troubled with musty bread. It is true 
there are many times things that could 
be improved about the sanitary arrange¬ 
ment of farm buildings, but I believe 
most farmers live very comfortably, and 
who as a class are as healthy? I do not 
know in what part of the country “he” 
and “she” could have taken their out¬ 
ing, but am very sure it could not have 
been New England. m. e. h. 
What a New York Housewife Says. 
In regard to the article from Good 
Housekeeping, by Rose Terry Cooke, I 
for one must protest. I do not know 
where this imaginary couple could have 
taken their outing to find the condition 
on the farms which she describes, but 
conceding it to have been found, it is the 
exception and not the rule. I have been 
a farmer’s wife for over 30 years, and I 
think I know pretty well how farmers’ 
wives live, in this part of the country 
at least, and I confess that the worst 
conditions which I have ever encoun¬ 
tered did not equal this. The farmers’ 
wives in our own neighborhood are, I 
think, a fair type of those throughout 
this part of the country. There is not 
one of them who would put musty bread 
on her table, or use musty flour in any 
form. They use good tea and make deli¬ 
cious coffee. They know how to cook 
all kinds of meat in common use, so that 
it is palatable and nutritious; they can 
roast a turkey or a chicken to a turn. 
That abomination of a cellar is not 
known here—nor have I ever seen a well 
like the one mentioned. Their pantries 
are sweet and clean; they pride them¬ 
selves on their ability to make good 
sweet butter, and many of them the 
“gilt-edged” article (witness the diffi¬ 
culty which the judges had this year in 
awarding the butter prizes at the State 
Fair). Cream separators of various 
kinds are often found. Ice houses are 
common; ice cream made with pure 
sweet cream for its foundation, and 
which far surpasses the same (?) com¬ 
modity sold in our cities, is made by the 
farmers’ wives freely for their families 
in hot weather. In fact, they are most 
of them so far as I know, excellent cooks 
and always ready and anxious to learn 
new and toothsome dishes to vary the 
daily fare. Not only are they good cooks 
and housekeepers, but they are also in¬ 
telligent and often well educated women 
—women who keep themselves informed 
of what is going on in the world around 
them—who read the best magazines and 
papers, and the latest books. They have 
not, perhaps, the polish or the superfi¬ 
cial manner of the city women, hut they 
have sent out into the world from these 
same farm tables, sons and daughters, 
not dyspeptics, but men and women who 
were able to take and have taken their 
places in the front ranks in the profes¬ 
sions, in literature, in business, in the 
army and navy, in legislative halls and 
wherever inclination and opportunity 
called them. Our own county of Onon¬ 
daga is proud of the quota she has fur¬ 
nished, and if these men and women 
were asked about this matter of their 
mothers’ cooking at the old farm home, 
I think the answer would perhaps be 
somewhat similar to that one which it 
is said Abraham Lincoln made when 
malicious jealousy complained to him 
that Gen. Grant drank whisky; he said 
that he “wished more of his generals 
had some of Grant’s whisky.” 
There is another point in this article 
which I wish to touch upon, and that is 
the freedom with which many people 
on their outings quarter themselves on 
the farmers’ wives, instead of making 
it a point to reach the hotels kept for 
that very purpose in every little village 
which dots the country. There is no 
other class of people which will suffer 
this, and it is an indisputable fact that 
farmers’ wives are an overworked class, 
and bear many burdens which are un¬ 
known to the city housewife. There is 
much romance about country life, but 
there is also a hard reality. This im¬ 
position, if I may call it so, is shown in 
many ways. I am reminded of a little 
specimen of it which occurred here this 
Summer almost in sight of our door. A 
party of city people drove up here, I 
suppose for a day’s outing, stopped their 
horses in front of a little cemetery which 
we take pride in keeping neat and clean, 
camped upon the nicely kept grass 
among the flowers and trees in front of 
the gates, ate their lunch and proceeded 
to enjoy themselves for several hours. 
When they went away they left the re¬ 
mains of their repast and the wrappings 
scattered in every direction; broken 
boxes, old newspapers, egg shells, 
banana skins, cucumber peelings, tin 
cans, pieces of bread, crackers, etc., 
were in evidence, and I assure you that 
it was a very indignant farmer’s wife 
who cleaned up after them. Now would 
it not be an exaggerated charge to class 
all city people with this party and say, 
in the spirit of Rose Terry Cooke: “Why 
don’t city people learn good manners?” 
e. w. 
An Opinion from Pennsylvania. 
It will only be just if many farmers’ 
wives and daughters rise up in indigna¬ 
tion against this misrepresentation of 
their housekeeping ability. The state¬ 
ment in the article referred to may be 
absolutely correct, but as a condition of 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
791 
things generally speaking, I do not hesi¬ 
tate to dispute it. The facts of the case 
seem to have taken place in New Eng¬ 
land, so the housewives of those States 
may stand up for themselves or rest un¬ 
der this stigma if they will, I am speak¬ 
ing for four or five counties of Penn¬ 
sylvania and Maryland that touch the 
Mason and Dixon line. In ninety-nine 
out of a hundred of the homes scattered 
thickly through these counties you will 
find the farmers’ families living on the 
best farm produce served in the best 
way. What they don’t need of the best 
and the rest is sent to the city market. 
You will find good bread, and usually 
it is eaten before it has time to become 
musty. The butter is sweet, pure and 
clean, often made at a creamery, as 
little churning is done on the farms, 
and has been kept in a good spring 
house or ice house. I new saw lumpy, 
streaked mashed potatoes. What streak¬ 
ed them, dirt? I never but once heard of 
peas served in greasy water. Our din¬ 
ing rooms are cool and flyless in Sum¬ 
mer, as they can be kept with screens 
and blinds. Our kitchens and pantries. 
AMERICAN 
BUFFALO 
ROBES 
are a thing of the past 
bat we have the Kazoo Buffalo 
Robe, a substitute that has every uppcuriincc and 
many udvsntuKes over the Genuine Buffalo Skin 
Robe, first quality only. Made of very heavy EIDER¬ 
DOWN, pliable, soft, lined with astrachan and much 
warmer than a stiff skin Robe. Interlined with rubber 
cloth, wind and water proof. Wholesale Prlee *6. fin, % 
the price of a skin robb. Money back i f not satisfactory. 
Catalog G 83, free. Cash Suppy ft JUg. Co., Kalamaioo, Mich, 
Charity^ 
Charity begins at home. 
The 11 ret thing to do is to 
buy lots of new Furniture. 
HouseFurnishings,Christmas 
Gifts, etc., to 
make Home 
Happy. If 
you buy the 
goods from 
us you can 
give liberal- | 
jy to'tho poor i 
from the sav¬ 
ing that you 
make, Send ] 
for out com. 
plete Illus¬ 
trated 300 
page WHOLK 
Sale catalog 
at once. We 
pay postage. 
H. Leonard & Sons. 
scenes of much work and some worry, 
are clean and well ventilated, and any¬ 
one filled with the spirit of investiga¬ 
tion, may investigate. 
And now tell me why is a painted floor 
more appropriate for our rooms than a 
carpeted one? Do we not need our 
rooms kept warm? Do we not admire 
a pretty carpet? Would not Axminster 
be just as suitable for us as for anyone 
if we admire it and can afford to pay for 
it? If Rose Terry Cooke will make a 
tour of Lancaster, Chester and York 
counties, in Pennsylvania, and Balti¬ 
more and Harford counties, Md., taking 
“pot luck” for oreakfast, dinner or sup¬ 
per, as she reaches farmhouses in her 
travels, I believe she will be ready to 
apologize to the farmers’ wives and 
daughters at least in these communities. 
MISS JAMAR. 
No Smoke House. Smoke meat with 
KRAUSERS.’ LIQUID EXTRACT OF SMOKE. 
Made from hickory wood. Gives delicious flavor. 
Cheaper, cleaner than old way. Send for cir¬ 
cular. £. Krause; & Ilro., .Hilton, l’a. 
SPECTACLES 
agents wanted. COULTEIt CO., Chicago 
EMI 
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' Cast Iron Roll Rim Bath Tubs, 
length B ft. Complete 
with full set of nickel 
plated fittings, each, 
«ll.OO. 
They are new goods, 
ask for free catalogue 
No. 57 on plumbing 
and building material. 
Chicago House W-ecking Co., W. 35th and Iron Sf*.,Chicago 
6o»ton H«»«.t>—.ta.reO». 
A CHRISTMAS STORY. 
By Sarah Barnwell Elliott. 
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R117 
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