1009. 
561 
FARMERS’ WIVES. 
On page 481 are two articles relating 
to fanners’ wives and their lives. It 
seems to me that the two are both true, 
in that they show the extremes. As 
showing the true condition of affairs in 
the average farm home, one is about 
as far from the point as the other. All 
farmers’ wives do not work from morn¬ 
ing until past the twilight, and neither 
do all have so pleasant a life as that 
.Mrs. Johnson so charmingly describes. 
There are certain sections in this part 
of New York where many farmers’ 
wives have their own horse and car¬ 
riage and time to drive it; where they 
are because of leisure as well-informed 
and bright as their city sisters. But a 
few r miles away, on some of the hill 
farms where perhaps the farmers them¬ 
selves are working early and late to 
keep above board, the women have not 
so easy a time. It really depends in 
most cases on the fatness of the pocket- 
book, just as it does in any other busi¬ 
ness, except, as a rule, farmers’ wives 
take more interest in their husbands’ 
work and are willing to make all sorts 
of sacrifices to get a home of their own. 
That the average farmhouse has more 
work than a city or town home is be¬ 
yond question. The farmer’s wife must 
of necessity do work that her city cou¬ 
sin knows nothing of. The merchant 
does not board his clerks, for instance, 
yet I have known women living in town 
with only two in the family who were 
“worked to death.” It depends much 
on the woman. Many farmers’ wives 
could better their condition if they only 
xnew how to simplify their work. Cer¬ 
tainly there are men, and you will find 
them in the city as well, who seem to 
expect their wives and daughters to live 
for work alone, with nothing in return 
but board and clothes, poor at that. But 
these men are not by any means typical 
of the New York or any other State 
farmer. mrs. j. f. Gregory. 
What One Farmer’s Wife Says. 
Nearly every paper we pick up has 
one or more articles picturing in dole¬ 
ful terms the terrible lot of the farmer’s 
wife. Her isolation, her hard work, 
her dismal surroundings, are dwelt upon 
at length. I am a farmer’s wife, a farm¬ 
er’s daughter and the granddaughter 
and great-granddaughter of farmers. I 
must be very stupid, for I fail to see 
the need of all this rhetoric. 1 resent 
most intensely the tone of pity and 
commiseration in these articles. Every 
farmer’s wife will tell you the same, 
except perhaps here and there a dis¬ 
content, who. failing to grasp the mean¬ 
ing of life, would be discontented and 
whinirjg wherever placed. 
Let us look at the situation sanely. 
Let us cut out the sickly sentiment and 
unasked-for sympathy of the unoccu¬ 
pied class who make it their business 
to talk about, write about and attempt 
to change conditions of which they know 
nothing. Farming is a business. The 
man is a farmer because he chooses to 
be. The woman is a farmer’s wife be¬ 
cause she loved the farmer. Other men 
choose to be carpenters, grocers, millers, 
lawyers, merchants, or any other occu¬ 
pation to which man has turned his at¬ 
tention. The man with little capital be¬ 
gins his business—whatever it qiay be 
—in a small way. The home must of 
necessity be humble—deprivations are 
many, work is there in plenty, and 
pleasures are few. Were we to visit 
a large number of these humble homes 
of working men, the wives of the farm¬ 
ers would be found the happiest, health¬ 
iest, most contented women visited. The 
woman on the farm is the business part¬ 
ner of her husband. She understands 
minutely every line of work pursued. 
She helps produce the income; she is 
consulted as to the outgo. 
In farming as surely as in other pur¬ 
suits good management brings financial 
success, added comforts, more pleas¬ 
ures. Bad management, anywhere, 
means plodding in the old ruts or deeper 
ones. A great deal is said about the 
meagre furnishings of the country home. 
The same may be said of the homes of 
people of the same means in every walk 
of life. Those who have a taste for 
books, pictures, and music find means 
to gratify these tastes. Those who do 
not care for such things would consider 
their money wasted if spent lor litera¬ 
ture or art. Go through the villages and 
cities; do you find a larger proportion 
of the homes with well-filled book 
shelves, with artistic pictures on their 
walls, with musical instruments in their 
parlors, than you find in the farm 
homes? 
In several articles recently printed {he 
farmer is pictured as an unfeeling brute 
—his wife as an overworked, ill-treated 
slave. Without doubt such cases may 
be found. Human nature does not dif¬ 
fer very greatly. We find the selfish 
specimen in shop, counting house and 
palace quite as often as on the farm. 
'THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
We find women in every walk of life 
who from incapacity or listlessness lead 
unlovely downtrodden lives. It is un¬ 
fair to go only to the farm to look for 
brutality and incapacity. The humble 
home with whitewashed walls, cheap but 
clean muslin curtains and little plot of 
(lowers before the door, with a pervad¬ 
ing atmosphere of love, comradeship and 
clean morals, may be much more truly 
a home than the gilded mansion with 
tapcstry-lning walls, greenhouses of rare 
flowers and retinue of servants. The 
strong, capable, home-making farmer’s 
wife is rather to be envied than pitied. 
She leads the most nearly an ideal life, 
surrounded by green fields and waving 
trees, the songs of birds and the rippling 
of brooks furnishing the most exquisite 
music; and clean air and pure water 
giving the best possession of all perfect 
health. nettie c. royce. 
Good Things From the Garden. 
French Stewed Beans.—Soak a pint 
'of Lima beans for an hour in cold wa¬ 
ter, then simmer for twenty minutes. 
Drain off the water, add enough sea¬ 
soned veal or chicken stock to cover, 
a teaspoonful of minced chives or on¬ 
ion, a saltspoonful of salt, half that 
quantity of white pepper and continue 
cooking until the beans have become 
very tender and the gravy nearly ab¬ 
sorbed, then add a teaspoonful of but¬ 
ter, and as soon as it is melted serve 
in a hot dish. This is a nice supper 
dish. 
Eggplant with Tomatoes.—This is a 
Neapolitan dish; it is very good. Pour 
a cup of cream or rich milk into a 
deep earthenware dish; cut several 
slices of eggplant as thin as a wafer, 
salt them liberally and line the bottom 
of the dish; slice two large, ripe to¬ 
matoes and put a layer on the egg 
plant; then a layer of cooked maca¬ 
roni sprinkled with half a dozen lumps 
of cheese the size of a thimble and as 
many of butter; pepper it thickly, cover 
with the remaining slices of tomato 
and a top layer of egg plant, both well 
salted and peppered. Bake gently an 
hour and twenty minutes in a steady 
oven and serve in the dish in which it 
is baked. 
Fricasseed Celeriac.—Cut celeriac in 
small dice and cook until tender in 
salted water. . Drain, return to the 
cooking utensil and to every pint of 
the vegetable add a cupful of rich 
milk; thicken it with a level table¬ 
spoonful of flour made smooth in a 
little cold milk. Season with half a 
teaspoon of salt and a quarter - tea¬ 
spoon of white pepper. Five minutes 
before serving add to the above pro¬ 
portions half a cupful of diced cold 
chicken (the white meat is preferable) 
and an equal amount of tiny potato 
balls, which have been cooked for the 
purpose in salted water. 
Sweet Potato and Nut Loaf.—Reheat 
two cups of mashed and'seasoned sweet 
potatoes and mix with them one cup 
of chopped nut meats. Stir in one- 
quarter cup of melted butter and a 
beaten egg. Press into a square mold 
and when cold cut into slices, dip in 
egg and bread crumb and fry. 
Asparagus and Eggs. — Cut two 
bunches of asparagus into inch pieces 
and stew until soft. Drain well and 
cover with thick drawn butter. Ar¬ 
range on a baking plate and place on 
the top some poached eggs cooked soft 
and nicely seasoned. Put into the oven 
for about five minutes and serve at 
once. 
Baked Succotash.—Empty a can of 
succotash into a shallow baking dish, 
add a tablespoonful of butter, half a 
teaspoon of salt, a dash of pepper and 
of paprika and enough milk (about one 
cupful) to make very soft. Bake two 
hours or so in a moderate oven. When 
done this should be very brown. Serve 
piping hot. This is far superior to 
•stewed succotash. Canned corn can be 
served in the same way. 
Some Cherry Recipes. 
Cherry Olives.—Pick cherries when 
not overly ripe, taking great care not to 
loosen the stem where it joins the fruit. 
With the shears clip off half, or more, 
of the stem, and then put the cherries 
into quart or pint cans with a table¬ 
spoonful of salt to each quart of fruit. 
Mix cold rain-water and vinegar in 
equal parts (half and half) and fill the 
cans full to overflowing—being sure no 
air spaces are left. Seal the cans; keep 
in a cool, dark place, and after standing 
a few weeks, or months, the cherries 
will furnish a very fair substitute for 
olives. 
Cherry Cup.—Stone two pounds of 
large cherries. Put both pulp and stones 
into two quarts of boiling water and let 
them steep for two hours. Boil a pint 
of water with two pounds of sugar for 
a few minutes, then add the syrup to 
the liquor strained with the cherries. 
Serve in fancy cups with bits of ice if 
convenient, otherwise as cold as it can 
be made without ice. 
Cherry Syrup.—For a syrup that can 
be kept, ready for an emergency, fake 
the stones from dead ripe cherries. 
Crack part of the stones; remove the 
pits and pound until crushed, then put 
cherries and pounded pits together and 
press until all juice is extracted. To 
each pint of juice add one cup of sugar 
and boil for ten minutes, skimming off 
all scum that rises. Bottle and seal. A 
little of this syrup in a glass with cold 
water provides a delicious drink at any 
time. 
Uncooked Pickle.—Pit and measure 
ripe cherries; put them into an earthen¬ 
ware dish and cover ^vith good vinegar; 
let them stand forty-eight hours and 
then drain as dry as possible. Weigh, 
or measure, as much sugar as you had 
cherries (after pitting) and put drained 
cherries and sugar, in alternate layers, 
into a stone crock. Stir them up, from 
bottom of crock, twice every day for 
three days, then pack in glasses or bot¬ 
tles and cover with the sugar-syrup that 
formed in the crock. What is not 
needed in the glasses will make deli¬ 
cious sauces or may be stiffened with 
gelatine and used for a dessert. The 
vinegar used is not hurt in the least by 
the cherry juice and color mixed with it. 
Cherry Bar-le-Duc.—Use large, sweet 
cherries, when dead ripe. Remove the 
stones without breaking the fruit any 
more than is absolutely necessary. 
Weigh the fruit and take three pounds 
of sugar to each pound of fruit. Ar¬ 
range fruit and sugar in layers, in por¬ 
celain kettle, and let stand over night—- 
or six hours if prepared in the morning. 
Place over the fire and bring very slowly 
to boiling heat, then cook 10 minutes. 
Take out the fruit, draining off as much 
of the syrup as possible. Cook syrup 
10 to 15 minutes longer and strain over 
the fruit, through a cloth. Put in jelly 
glasses or cups. These are not as trou¬ 
blesome to prepare as the “sunshine” 
fruits, and are really finer. 
Cherry Spice.—Allow four pounds su¬ 
gar to four pounds stoned cherries. Add 
a teacupful of vinegar to the sugar and 
bring to a boil, then drop in a bag con¬ 
taining a cupful of cherry-stones, a ta¬ 
blespoonful of ground cinnamon, and a 
tcaspoonful of whole cloves. Let sim¬ 
mer 10 minutes and add the cherries 
and their juice. Cook slowly until as 
thick as desired. Lift out the spice-bag 
before the syrup thickens. 
Cherry Cheese.—For this, use red 
cherries. Stone, and chop them fine. 
Add half their weight of sugar and 
cook, slowly, until thick enough that 
when cold they can be sliced like cheese. 
Put into cups and seal like jellies or 
jams. Cut in thin slices, roll in pow¬ 
dered sugar, and serve with gelatine 
creams, cakes, or wafers. Pleasing to 
both sight and taste. 
EVA RYMAN-GAILLARD. 
Simpson-Eddy stone 
Zephyrette||§p 
Ginghams, 
- Lff, 
Stylish dressing is with¬ 
in easy range of moderate 
means by the use of these 
fine dress ginghams. 
The durable fabric and 
beautiful patterns with 
the intense fast colors 
obtained by our new sci¬ 
entific process, give an 
exceptional combination 
of style and economy. 
New Process 
Dress 
Ginghams 
^PC6JL$ PAT.OFF, 
EDdystoNl 
Zephyrettes 
To Insure getting: 
the genuine, be sure 
to ask your dealer 
for Simpson-Eddy- 
stone Zephyrette 
ginghams. Write 
us his name if he 
hasn't them. We’ll 
help him supply 
you. 
The Eddystone 
Mfg. Co. 
Philadelphia 
vour 
JL Buy no 
RAZOR ALWAYS SHARP 
Buy no more razors. Fay no more hone bills. 
Shave in comfort. Send us your name at once. 
SEDELKE & COMPANY, Dept. 17, ELYRIA, OHIO 
TOWER'S FISH BRAND 
• TfWtXa 
. ri Mt BR«®> 
M W ' 
WATERPROOF 
OILED 
CLOTHING 
will give you full value 
for every dollar spent 
and keep you dry in 
the wettest weather. 
SUITS #322 
SUCKERS #322 
POMMEL SUCKERS 
#3 so 
SOLO EVERYWHERE 
CATALOG FREE 
AJ.Tower Co. boston. u7s.a. »» 
Tower Canadian Co. limited Toronto.can. 
10 DAYS FREE TRIAL 
W® ship on approval, without » cent 
deposit, freight prepaid. DON’T 
PAY A CENT If you »ro not satisfied 
after using the bicycle 10 days. 
DO NOT BUYo?«£« a n££ 
at any price until you receive our latest 
art catalogs illustrating ever* kind of 
bicycle, and have learned our ten heard of 
prices and marvelous new offers. 
nUC PCUT is >11 9 will cost yon to 
Ullk ULn I write a postal and every¬ 
thing will be sent you tree postpaid by 
return mail. You will get much valuable in¬ 
formation. Do not wait, write it now. 
TIKES, Coaster-Brakes, Built- 
np-Wheels and all sundries at half usual prices. 
MEAD CYCLE CO. Dept.BSO, CHICAGO 
If your dealer cannot supply these 
jars, send $3, and wo will express 
prepaid thirty (30) quart size Atlas 
E-Z Seal J Aits to any town having 
an oillco of the Adams or U. S- 
Express Co., within tho States of 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New 
York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indi¬ 
ana or Michigan, or we will quote 
delivery prices ill other portions of 
tho United States by freight or 
express. 
This is the Jar 
That Saves You Trouble 
The Atlas E-Z Seal Jar — the best 
made and most convenient fruit con¬ 
tainer yet put on the market. 
It has a mouth sufficiently wide to 
take in large fruits, like peaches and 
pears, whole. 
It seals by a simple downward pres¬ 
sure of the hand, and when sealed, 
keeps its contents perfectly for any 
length of time. The 
ATLAS 
E-Z Seal Jar 
(Lightning Trimmings) 
is machine-made ; of extra tough glass and 
very strong at top where common jars so 
often break. Being smooth finish on the 
lip, there are no fine glass particles to fall 
into the jar, as sometimes happens when 
putting cap on a hand-made jar. The 
Atlas Special Mason 
has a wider mouth, but is made with screw 
cap. 
Always ask your dealerfor“Atlas” jarsand 
take no substitute — then you have the best. 
A Book of Preserving Recipes 
Sent free to every woman who sends us the 
name of her grocer, stating whether or not he 
sells Atlas Jars. 
HAZEL-ATLAS GLASS CO., Wheeling, W. Va. 
