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THE WOMAN ON THE FARM. 
The Author of “Nell Beverly Farmer.” 
The Ladies’ Home Journal recently gave a long discus¬ 
sion of what it called the farmer's wife problem. It cited 
the case of one “Mattie Carson,” a farmer's daughter. 
Dor mother died, and Mattie at once informed lier father 
that she would not stay unless he provided hired girl and 
household improvements. She organized a "Bachelor Girls” 
club and proceeded to interview farm women near and 
far. She drew a doleful picture of (lie conditions under 
which the farm woman labors. We asked Mrs. Susan .1. 
Howe, author of “Nell Beverly, Farmer,” to tell us the 
truth about her section of New England. We do not 
know of anyone better qualified than Mrs. Howe to discuss 
the subject. Those who have read the book know what 
“Nell” went through. Mrs. Ilowe went through every 
strong experience pictured in the book—even to the actual 
plowing. 
I am sure that I do not know just what part of 
the country ‘‘Mattie Carson” lived in, but of one 
thing I am sure, and that is that she did not live 
near me in this part of New England, for as I view 
farmers’ wives I do not see that their lot is nearly 
as bad as she seems to 
think it is. True it is 
that there are many 
men on the farms who 
have much less heart for 
their wives than they 
have for their horses, 
cattle or swine; but on 
the other hand I know 
many farmers who work 
much harder and longer 
hours than their wives. 
Here milk goes mostly 
to Boston, and all cans 
come back clean. Men 
rise at four or five A. M. 
and milk, but breakfast 
is not ready as a rule 
before seven o’clock. If 
cream is sold instead of 
milk, it is sent to the 
creamery, so the farmer’s 
wife has no butter to 
make. True, she does 
her own housework, oft- 
times alone, hut nearly 
all homes have running 
water, nearly all women 
have washing machines, 
all have sewing ma¬ 
chines, many have tele¬ 
phones and musical in¬ 
struments, the R. F. D. 
with its daily mail and 'daily papers reaches nearly 
every home, and the railroad and trolley lines are 
within reasonable distance. All can enjoy Grange 
and church privileges unless hampered by the care 
of their little children; but such care is the blessed 
privilege which God sends to nearly all women in 
every situation. There are individual trials, but 
only such as all must undergo, whether living in city 
or country. 
Often I think that women have the easiest time, 
although I hear them saying how hard a matter it 
is to keep enough cooked to supply their large fami¬ 
lies, but I rarely hear them speak of what it costs 
the husband to supply the raw material. T know 
several farmers’ wives who “keep girls.” put out their 
washing, and have horses at their disposal, or if 
girls are not kept, the hired man helps with the 
washing and the heavy house cleaning. These people 
employ painters to paper and paint their rooms, and 
have neat and tasteful homes. These women are not 
faded and dragged out. Perhaps, if you asked them, 
some day when they have the blues, if they want 
their daughters to marry farmers, they.would say 
“No,” because fields are greener farther away. When 
they go to town and see everyone in holiday attire 
they feci as if their sisters in the city were happier 
than they. The city sister thinks the same when 
once a year or so she drives out in the country in 
a hired carriage, and sees the country woman lying 
in a hammock under a beautiful tree on a hot after¬ 
noon ; it seems to her that life in the country must 
he all play. Each sees the holiday side of the life 
she is less familiar with. There is hard and distaste¬ 
ful work in both city and country. 
We often hear many mothers with little babies in 
their arms say, “My husband has tired the men out 
with haying, but he has no pity for me. I have 
to work just as hard as if baby was not here.” Now 
this same thing is found everywhere. It seems to be 
a man’s nature, not a farmer’s nature. Men are not 
apt to be considerate, hut I blame the mothers for 
this fault. Why .do they not teach their sons kind¬ 
ness, tenderness and home politeness? Why will they 
let the sisters wait on the brothers and the brothers 
not help the sisters? Aren’t the wives and mothers 
"thus to blame for the men’s indifference toward them? 
I o my knowledge about ten per cent of the farm¬ 
ers are hard, cruel task-masters; in other words, 
“slave drivers.” Some one has said that when a girl 
marries she either becomes a slave or a slave driver; 
and I think the same might apply to the men. Now, 
I would as soon be one as the other; but I am 
happy to say that I have, from observation, no rea¬ 
son to believe that the average farmer’s wife has any 
harder life than her town sister. She is well fed and 
well clothed; she has time to enjoy herself with com¬ 
pany, books or music. She has many modern con¬ 
veniences, well arranged rooms, dishes, pots and pans, 
good furniture, good pictures and books and pure 
water; the latter is more than they have in towns. 
The thing the country needs most is a good town 
high school. If one school located centrally in each 
town was high school, that is with teachers qualified 
to teach all high school branches, and the children 
could graduate from their home towns instead of being 
sent to neighboring towns either to board, or to go 
back and forth night and morning, either on trains 
or teams to the great inconvenience of themselves and 
their parents, the country would be the best place in 
the world for a home for any family. But the send¬ 
ing of our boys and girls from the country to a town 
school has the tendency to wean them from home, 
and the country. They hate to be called countrified; 
they ape lofty ways; and soon want to leave the old 
farm home. But if these boys and girls could attend 
their high schools at home, more would be educated 
and all would have their interests centered in their 
home towns. I often hear mothers say: “I would 
not mind living here if it was not for educating my 
children. I cannot bear to think of their going away 
from home to attend school, so I wish we could sell 
out and move into a larger place.” 
All our shopping towns have feed stables to which 
is attached a neat little waiting room for all patrons. 
Pay 10 cents for having your horse put up, and you 
arc free to wait and rest and get warm. Rocking 
chairs, a clean toilet, plenty of soap and water, fresh 
towels for your use. You can leave your soapstone 
heating until you wish to leave, then touch a button 
and your hostler appears with your horse. As for the 
“egg and butter money” 
I think that most mar¬ 
ried women find that 
their husbands are not 
mindful of the desire of 
their wives for pin 
money. It is hard for 
any girl to give up her 
wages which she has had 
for herself, in exchange 
for the title of '‘Mrs.,’’ 
but as long as girls will 
do so they must be con¬ 
tent with having to ask 
for hats, shoes, hairpins, 
etc., and even postage 
stamps, whether the hus¬ 
band shoes horses, builds 
houses or follows the 
plow, for bread. 
A year or so ago an 
article appeared in Col¬ 
lier’s, written by a city- 
bred woman who had 
married a country mer¬ 
chant, in which she gave 
the country as black a 
record as was ever my 
lot to read. In part she 
said that generations of 
“cider soaking” and “to¬ 
bacco smoking” had left 
its ' stamp on the young 
generation, and that on an average of one in a 
family its mark was shown in a lack of intellect. 
Now nothing more false could ever have been 
printed; I defy any city to show a better average of 
intelligent children than in our New England towns 
to-day. They are above the average. To be sure 
there arc “cider soakers” and “tobacco smokers,” but 
no greater per cent of them are found in the country 
than there are “beer-besotted, whisky-rotted” men in 
the cities, and the percentage of drunken women in 
cities is mountains higher than in the country. What 
our boys need to-day are contented mothers who are 
willing to devote their lives to home and children; 
willing to lay the corner-stone for the coming nation; 
and be contented to let their sons reap the glories of 
their labors; and our girls need mothers who will 
educate their daughters to be home women, and will 
teach them that the highest ambition of a woman 
should be to become a true wife and mother when 
the man who is worthy of her comes into her life. 
If he does not come, stay single. But after all God’s 
highest aim for a woman is motherhood. 
“For tlie hand that rocks the cradle, 
Is the hand that rul^§. the _ world.” 
SUSAN JEWETT HOWE. 
A PICTURE OF CONTENTMENT. Fig. 145. 
