1900. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
781 
Hope Farm Notes 
Human Nature. —“You’re a lazy thing 
and ought to be ashamed of yourself!” 
"But I’m tired, I tell you!” 
"Nonsense! You're lazy. Come along!’ 
"I’ve been working all day while you 
have done nothing but rest!” 
"Working! I’ve seen you work before 
—a nice citizen you are to shirk this way 
when our folks want to get to the church 
on time. You ought to be ashamed of 
yourself!” 
"I tell you I worked hard all day while 
you did nothing but gossip. That’s all 
you are going tor now. Its a shame to 
keep an honest citizen away from his rest. 
1 wish you had to work for a living!” 
"1 do. 1 tire myself out trying to make 
you do half a day’s work. Come on!”’ 
"1 won’t. There—take that for your 
impudence!” and there was a sound quite 
like a hard slap! 
Now I am sorry to be obliged to record 
this conversation between two of the 
Hope Farm people, but this is a true rec¬ 
ord. Before you conclude that the Hope 
Farm man was one of the actors in this 
domestic drama I will say that Nellie and 
Bob were talking. We were on our way 
to the Harvest Home festival. Nellie and 
Bob were hauling the wagon, and we had 
come to a little hill. Nellie hadn't been 
doing a thing all day, while Bob had been 
on the stone boat. True, he made Jerry 
do most of the hauling until Philip 
spurred him up, but as between man and 
man I couldn’t half blame him when he 
resented Nellie’s call to trot up hill. I 
know some men, good citizens, too, who 
would have given Bob an extra quart of 
oats for the way he snapped his teeth at 
Nellie—had their wives been present. 
There were five of us in the carriage, 
while the two boys were ahead with 
Madge. We had about 75 biscuits, a pot 
of baked beans and several apple pies as 
our contribution to the feast. Merrill and 
Aunt Jennie stayed at home to take care 
of the baby. This was the second night 
of the festival. Our folks came home the 
night before saying that the company ate 
up all the food—23 chickens, five hams 
and an uncounted lot beside, so we were 
like a wagon train bringing reinforcements 
and supplies. 
Bob felt better when we got him under 
the shed. There was no way of feeding 
him, so our little folks seemed disposed 
to represent him as well as themselves at 
the supper table. They succeeded. As 
for me, a church supper is quite likely to 
give me quite unchurchly thoughts on the 
following day! If a good-natured man 
found it necessary to scold somebody hard 
1 would suggest as good preparation for 
the event that he eat of all he can find at 
a church supper. I should be sorry for 
the other man. The trouble about it for 
most of us who afe plain livers is that 
there are too many good things. Every 
woman sends the best she has, and while 
the best is none too good for a farmer he 
«s not always strong-enough for too much 
of the best! 
After supper the little girls sold dolls, 
while Mother seemed to be a prominent 
member of various committees. As for 
me, there was nothing in sight but to fill 
that important but not very dignified po¬ 
sition of “one of the crowd.” I was ex¬ 
pected to buy lemonade, peanuts and ice 
cream for my coVnpany, always have 
change when called upon, keep out of the 
way, and yet help fill the room. I ob¬ 
served that some other gentlemen who 
filled the same position went out by the 
graveyard to smoke a cigar. After watch¬ 
ing my daughter sell a doll to a woman 
who tried to beat her down I concluded 
that her commercial instinct didn’t come 
from me. Our church was formerly at¬ 
tended by farmers almost entirely. In his 
farewell sermon last Spring the minister 
said that when he came the great majority 
of his people lived on farms and made 
their living from the soil. Now only two 
or three families depend entirely upon the 
farms for a living. The farms are still 
here, and many of them are worked, but 
the rise in land values and some member 
of the family at work in town or city 
provides most of the living. These things 
were reflected in the talk at our harvest 
home. The San Jose scale is playing 
fearful havoc in our orchards. The dis¬ 
play of apples was the poorest I have ever 
seen. People are quite discouraged, be¬ 
cause they find it impossible to spray the 
old high-headed trees with hand pumps. 
As for “dehorning” the trees and bringing 
the heads down, most of them seem op¬ 
posed to it, since Father never did it. An¬ 
other danger reported is the great increase 
of chicken thieves. These fellows come 
out from the cities at night with wagons, 
run in all the hens they can find and sell 
them at once. There has been quite a 
trade in shotguns among our farmers, 
and they are prepared to use buckshot, as 
salt or birdshot do not seem very impres¬ 
sive arguments. Another curious thing 
I found was the absence of grain among 
our farmers. I tried to buy a few bushels 
of rye .to finish my seeding, but no one j 
had any. In former years there were 
well-filled grain bins on every farm. Now, 
even the bins have been taken down for 
the timber. One would think this strange, 
since rye straw brings $20 or more per 
ton, but such things show how farming is 
changing, going down before the advance 
of the trolley car and the “commuter.” 
Political talk was slow! I am forced to 
confess that the announcement that I have 
been nominated for Congress in the Sixth 
New Jersey District didn’t create a rip¬ 
ple of excitement. I have heard of can¬ 
didates who created such excitement when 
they walked into a public gathering that 
the audience at once began to sing “Amer¬ 
ica.” I didn’t see a man stop eating sup¬ 
per when I came in. No one offered to 
relieve Bob and Nellie by hauling our 
wagon home. 1 have often wondered 
what these gentlemen who receive such 
attention really think of themselves. I 
am quite willing to exchange sentiments 
and tell them how it seems to be a candi¬ 
date with no chance of election. A man 
can pick up a load of human nature at a 
church festival, but I was not sorry when 
Mother said “We must go home!” 
I knew then we had come within an 
hour of starting. The little girls re¬ 
ported sales of $11.45 worth of dolls. 
John Wanamaker could not feel as proud 
over sales of $1,000,000 worth of goods. 
The auctioneer had sold the last basket of 
Hope Farm peppers, and had begun tak¬ 
ing offers for an apple pie as we drove 
off. Bob did not bite at Nellie now. He 
even reached over and rubbed his nose 
against hers. She had more laze in her 
bones on the return trip, and it was Bob 
who started into the trot first as we 
reached the leved on the ridge. Home 
going smoothes out many a domestic 
wrinkle. I have seen men and women 
who were not unlike Bob and Nellie as 
they left home—even more like them as 
they came back. Pluman nature is not un¬ 
like one of these loaded tops. It tumbles 
and rolls, but finally always rights itself 
when the weight at the bottom overcomes 
the forces that send it rolling. Thank 
God that true human nature is always 
loaded with such things as love of home. 
Good Strawberries. —We might as well 
settle this strawberry question while we 
are at it. Here we have it straight from 
a good authority: 
Glad to soe you come out man-fashion and 
do the square thing in relation to that 
President strawberry affair, for your readers 
<'otild not fail to see that the other fellow 
had the best of the argument. Business Is 
business, but I fail to see how the retail 
grower can long keep first place by selling 
low quality fruit, especially strawberries. 
My experience is that men who run stores 
and buy first quality fruit are the most suc¬ 
cessful. When they wish something cheap I 
do not care to run accounts there, for they 
are on the down grade, if they have been 
handling good fruit before. This year your 
customers evidently looked on your poor 
quality fruit as a dispensation of Providence, 
viz., caused by too much rain and you will 
find you cannot fool people long with Presi¬ 
dent who have been previously eating Mar¬ 
shall. There are a Ben Davis kind of people, 
and that quality of fruit just suits them: 
they see but do not taste. There are also 
others who prefer high quality fruit and are 
willing to pay for it, and it is that class 
that it will pay the local grower best to 
cater to. Fancy berries and a common price 
belong to the distant shipper. H. o. mkad. 
On one or two occasions I have, like 
most other people, played the part of the 
ostrich with his head in the sand. The 
last time I had a good friend who came 
up and kicked hard. My hope is that I 
shall not be caught in that position again. 
What beats me is this idea people have 
that President is such a low-class berry. 
It is certainly not so with us. I don’t 
think our customers had a thought about 
Providence when they got our berries, ex¬ 
cept that they were thankful for the fruit. 
Some came and bought plants and we sold 
far more of President than any other va¬ 
riety. Brother Mead is right about the 
Ben Davis people. If he could read some 
of the letters they send me he would give 
me credit for knowing all about them. 
“In God We Trust.” —On page 747 we 
told when this motto appeared on our 
coins. Now we have a glimpse at the 
motive, which concerns us more than the 
act: 
About the question in “Hope Farm Notes* 
relating to the motto on our silver coins of 
“In God We Trust,” the credit belongs to an 
unknown old farmer: according to the ac¬ 
count I saw about it. “During the Civil 
War a God fearing old farmer wrote the 
then Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. 
Chase, that as we claimed to be a Christian 
nation we ought to acknowledge it on our 
currency.” I think that explanation fits in 
with Mr. Preston's statement. Mr. Chase 
and the old farmer made a good team. 
j. w. s. 
So they did. A statesman who fits his 
acts to the honest and careful opinion of 
a good farmer will not go far wrong. 
While past history cannot be changed, I 
have always been sorry that Salmon P. 
Chase was not elected President at the 
time he wanted the office. As I have said, 
the best way for a nation or an individual 
to make manifest its trust in God is on or 
by its money. The love of money is the 
root of all evil without doubt, but that 
root makes a wonderful grafting stock for 
the things which trust in God represents. 
H. W. C. 
A common source of Interest and Incentive 
for every member of the family every week. 
52 issues for $1.75, 
and extra free numbers. 
Some of the attractions provided for subscribers to the New 
Volume for 1907 are 
250 Capital Stories 
—humorous stories, character stories, stories of life in the great 
cities, on the farm, on the sea, on the frontier. Five Serial 
Stories by five Companion favorites, Hamlin Garland, Adeline 
Knapp, Ralph Henry Barbour, Grace Richmond and Holman F. 
Day; and a Historical Series, illustrative of life and times in 
America from the early colonial days to the close of the Civil War. 
350 Contributors 
giving assurance that every need and every taste among Com- 
panion readers will be satisfied. Governor Folk of Missouri, 
Edward Everett Hale, Margaret Deland, Commander Eva 
Booth of the Salvation Army, Gen. A. W. Greely and Ion 
Perdicaris are among them. 
The Editorial Page 
has words of help or information for every age, and deals not 
only with the affairs of the nation and the world, but with such 
more intimate topics as personal conduct, domestic economy, 
school, church and community. 
2000 One-Minute Stories 
The Companion is distinguished for the number and ex- 
cellence of its sketches and stories which take not more than 
a minute to read. They are always new, always well told. 
The Children's Page 
for those who wish to read about children, those who read 
to children, and the young readers who read for themselves. 
As much reading In the year as would fill twenty 400- 
page Hovels or Books of Science or History or Travel 
ordinarily costing $1.50 each. 
Illustrated Announcement for / 907 and Sample Copies of the Paper FREE. 
Every New Subscriber 
Who cuts out and sends at once this slip (or mentions this 
publication) with $1.75 for The Companion for the fifty- 
two weeks of 1907 will receive 
AAl’26 
Free 
All the issues of The Companion 
for the remaining weeks of 1906. 
The Thanksgiving, Christmas and 
New Year's Double Numbers. 
The Companion's 12-color, Four- 
Leaf Hanging Calendar for 1907. 
& 1 2? ^ Q fh /I in cash and many other 
ty J- \JymW ^ • v/ special awards to sub¬ 
scribers who get new subscriptions. Send for Information. 
*, 290.00 
i ho get new subscription 
THE YOUTH’S COMPANION, Boston, Mass . 
