202 
THE RURA.L, NEW-YORKER 
February 19, 
Hope Farm Notes 
Taxes Once More. —There must al¬ 
ways be a limit to all things, and I 
think we have about reached it in the 
following report from Essex Co., N. Y.: 
On page 110, I saw a list of taxes, so 
thought I would put in a word. In our 
town the present rate of assessment is: 
State, county, town and highway... G.t7 
School. . . ... 1.27% 
Total on $100 valuation. 7.44% 
Can you blfime us if we groan once in a 
while when we think it over and think of 
the value of the land we pay tuxes on, and 
also the fact that there is very little market 
for anything we can raise? Hens would pay 
if we could sell the old ones when they did 
not lay enough for profit. Corn grows very 
well here if we have a fair season, but the 
frost usually catches it, cither in Spring or 
Fall, and sometimes both. w. h. l. 
Of course it depends on the assessed 
value put on property, but this thing of 
paying $7.44 on $100 is worse than aw¬ 
ful. I have many more reports from 
all over the country, and I must now 
conclude that our tax rate is compara¬ 
tively low. It is lower than that in 
either of the towns adjoining us. Life 
in New Jersey has its good points after 
all. We do not have quite as many 
“commissions” as other States do. This 
is the way some people who are not 
commissioners feel about them. 
The Hope Farm man seems to think his 
taxes are too high. Well, there are others. 
The taxes in this town are 23 mills on the 
dollar at a full valuation ; besides should 
we be so fortunate to have a deposit in a 
savings bank, a policy in a mutual fire or 
life insurance company, or a share of rail¬ 
road stock the State taxes that, none the 
less a tax because indirect. The truth of the 
matter seems to be extravagance is the rule 
and economy the exception in our servants 
or rulers from the President down to our 
town officers. In this State the Legislature 
never meets but it adds to our burdens and 
takes off nothing. We are blessed or cursed 
with a lot of commissions, salary ranging 
from $5 a day to $3,000 a year. 1 never 
heard of their doing anything but draw 
their salaries, which they do promptly. In 
my judgment the whole lot could be abated 
and we could get along just as well and 
thereby save a good many thousand dollar; 
and no harm done. E. a. c. 
Connecticut. 
Home Notes. —What do you thing of 
a Hope P'armer being taken in by a 
cheap faker? It was done. A very 
plausible old fellow came along selling 
what he called “liquid silver.” He took 
a penny, poured some of his stuff on it. 
rubbed it with a rag and “there it is 
changed to silver.” It did look bright 
and shiny. One ofr the boys thought he 
saw a small fortune in “plating” goods, 
so he bought a dollar’s worth. No doubt 
he had some ancestors far back in the 
middle ages who chased after the theory 
of transmutation or change of the baser 
metals into gold! This is a very old 
game, and a very old result. In a few 
days the “silver” rubbed off the penny 
and a red solid gathered at the bottom 
of the bottle! All these “transmuters” 
find in the end that the change is from 
their hard-earned gold into very base 
metals. Scold the boy! Not a bit. 
It was a good lesson. You go out and 
earn a dollar by digging in a ditch and 
then spend it in any such foolish way! 
It will be the best financial education 
you ever had. . . . The smaller girl 
came and brought me a bill for Go cents 
due for waiting on the table. With our 
big family, we have found it a good 
plan to let the children take turns as 
waiter. We pay them five cent's for each 
meal and the entire arrangement works 
very well. Our girls are able to cook 
an entire meal if need be, and serve it 
creditably. I do not think any child 
should be permitted to grow up without 
knowing how to do these useful things. 
I have started one of the boys as a 
sort of bookkeeper to make a record of 
farm accounts. Among other things he 
will put dowm all the milk, fuel and food 
of all kinds which the farm furnishes 
This is to be credited to the farm at 
prices which other people pay for such 
goods. We also credit the farm with 
a fair rent, which we should be obliged 
to pa_v if we lived in town. I think this 
is the only fair way to figure farm ac¬ 
counts. The very fact that we know 
just what things cost leads us all to 
be careful of expenses. I find it a good 
thing to let the children do some figur¬ 
ing in these things. They can hardly 
get true ideas of business too early. 
“Happy Days.” —You may remember 
that at the end of last year our folks 
wanted to express their good wishes to 
R. N.-Y. readers. So we went around 
among the employees of the paper and 
had them write “Good Luck” in as 
many languages as they represented 
Well, sir, I thought this was a pleas¬ 
ant way of expressing our feelings, and 
it seemed a remarkable thing that all 
these different tongues and nations were 
represented in this one business. But 
here comes a letter from St. Petersburg, 
Russia, which finds several flies in the 
ointment: 
Sometimes people in England or America 
are somewhat surprised at finding out that 
some of their letters addressed to this or 
any other country, where the English lan¬ 
guage is not generally understood, are etther 
returned to the sender or not delivered to 
the addressee. They will not think for a 
moment that their addresses were written 
wrongly. Is it mere carelessness or ignor¬ 
ance? I will not undertake to answer this 
question. But perhaps you will better he 
able to answer this question when looking 
up The Rural New-Yorker of December 
25, 1909. page 1110. where you give: “Aiif 
Cluck !“ instead of “Viel Gluck!" “Bon 
Voyage!” instead of “Bonne chance !” “Dob- 
roe cracmac !” instead of "Mnogo stchastia !” 
I hope you will not misunderstand my ex¬ 
plaining the above and, even in America, 
where French is generally so little known, 
when wishing your friends a pleasant 
journey, you use the French term “bon voy¬ 
age” and it is quite a different thing from 
“good luck”—“bonne chance.” Just imagine 
when wishing me in French “good luck” on 
the first of .January, you will say to me 
“bon voyage,” whilst I have not in the 
least any intention of travelling, tinless you 
wish me to travel away to the next world. 
D. A. RUFFMANN. 
I hasten to admit for my own part 
that I am not the master of many 
languages. You may put me down rather 
as the fettered and limping slave of 
one. I can only say that those expres¬ 
sions were written by people who make 
themselves well understood in French, 
Russian, German and all the rest. We 
would like to have Mr. Ruffmann under¬ 
stand that we want him to remain right 
with us for many years, and no matter 
how the words may be mixed up he will 
understand the sentiment that goes with 
them. An educated German once un¬ 
dertook to tell us of the reception given 
him by a lady: 
“She shozved her teeth mit me!” 
Now, this lady did not try to bite my 
friend—she smiled at him—“showed her 
teeth.” Had I taken this gentleman’s 
words literally there might have been 
trouble. I wisely decline to split gram¬ 
matical hairs or chop up foreign lan¬ 
guages, but I want to say that no matter 
how the words may be twisted up, the 
spirit that goes with the wish of "good 
luck” was genuine and sincere. 
I he New Farm. —That is what we 
call the tract of 11 acres across the road 
which I have just bought. Our folks 
find all sorts of good things on this 
new place. The baby finds a steep 
little hill where he can coast. There 
is a fine spring and a grove of beautiful 
cedars. There is a swamp meadow 
which can be drained and made into a 
celery or onion field. At the end of the 
field a large brook gives a good chance 
for a pond and power for electric use. 
Then there are nearly 100 more good 
apple trees. Most of this new place is 
well set in clover. I shall put one 
field in oats and peas and follow with 
Alfalfa, or at least make our strongest 
effort to get this crop permanently 
started. By keeping this new farm in 
hay I can leave more grass in the sod 
orchards on the hills. You will see 
that Hope Farm is broadening out a 
little more, with a few newr problems 
to take up. h. w. c. 
The doctor says you have 
got to take Cod Liver Oil—- 
if so, why not take it in the 
easiest and best form— why 
not take 
Scott's Emulsion 
That is what the doctor 
means. He would not force 
you to take the crude oil 
when he knows the Emulsion 
is better—more easily digested 
and absorbed into the system 
—and will not upset the 
stomach like the plain oil. 
FOR SALE BY ALL DRUGGISTS 
Send 10c., name of paper and this ad. for oui 
beautiful Savings Bank and Child’s Sketch-Book. 
Each bank contains a Good Luck Penny. 
SCOTT & BOWNF* 409 Pearl St.. New York 
IMPERIAL ^PULVERIZER 
Clod Crusher and Holler. For Dry Farming. 
Send for circulars. THE PETERSON MFG. CO., Kent, 0. 
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