1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
977 
The Country Church in Colorado. 
T WO miles from us is a small church, 
made of cement blocks. It has a 
small vestibule as entrance, an alcove for 
pulpit and organ. The windows are 
small, six lights to a sash, with green 
shades, common wood bottom chairs for 
seats. The floor is uncarpeted, but al¬ 
ways looks clean. The platform where 
the choir and minister stand is carpeted. 
When the church was first built it was 
union, all denominations contributing to 
its cost, but after a short time it was 
thought best to put a vote for some one 
denomination. The meeting called out 
considerable feeling, but as the Metho¬ 
dists had the largest number of votes it 
was decided that way. Several families 
attend the church who did not join. As a 
church it has a small membership, but all 
seem to work together for a social cen¬ 
ter. The Women’s Mission and Aid So¬ 
ciety has started a meeting together of 
the people once in three months, at 
some one’s house; take their dinners 
and have a real social time. The first 
was held last month at the house of the 
pastor, who lives on a homestead six 
miles from the church. They have but 
three rooms in their house, but one quite 
large, containing two beds, which were 
taken down, made room for the long 
table for dinner. At this meeting a very 
pretty silk and worsted crazy quilt was 
presented the pastor and wife from the 
church aid society with name of each 
donor worked on the blocks. It proved 
not only a great surprise, but a very 
happy one for the pastor and wife. The 
day was spent in friendly social enjoy¬ 
ment. It is the getting together, and 
mingling with others that gives one a 
feeling of interest and friendliness in 
others, also helps to break the monotony 
of life. We are all different; many are 
not congenial and not “our kind of peo¬ 
ple,” but they are human. 
In this Great Plains country one meets 
all sorts and conditions of life, although 
there is less of the foreign element than 
in some States. There are some young 
girls who take an active part in choir, 
church and Sunday school who are not 
only very nice looking and appearing, but 
modest as well; I am greatly charmed 
with them. One of the girls who is pre¬ 
paring for teaching, and very bright in 
her studies, asked me to come and see 
them in this manner: “Mrs. Johnson, 
we would love to have you come and see 
us. but we live in an old sod house, and 
it’s a terror.” I felt sorry for the poor 
girl; her father is one of the leading 
members in the church, a good man, I am 
told, but does not “get on in the world” 
financially very fast; has a large family 
of children and is trying to educate them 
so they can be of use in the world, a 
laudable ambition. We have some good 
singers, and a cabinet organ of very good 
tone. The young girl who plays just 
graduated from our county high school. 
Very few have any flowers or shrub¬ 
bery here on the plains, but a week ago 
Sunday a delightful surprise awaited us. 
On entering the church we saw large 
pitchers of lilacs on the platform steps. 
How beautiful they were, and brought to 
mind the great bush of lilacs by the win¬ 
dow of my mother’s room at the “old 
home on the hill” in New York State. 
There is no flower so “homey” as the 
lilac to me. It is like the robin among 
birds. We never had seen a robin since 
we came to Colorado until a few weeks 
ago, when I saw a big redbreast walking 
from the windmill towards the house. I 
almost held my breath, and tears came 
to my eyes at the sight of the “old home” 
bird, lie flew away, did not sing one 
note, and I have never seen one since. 
In Wyoming there were lots of robins, 
but there were large trees and many of 
them. 
The children are practising at Sunday 
school for “Children’s Daythat day 
usually draws a crowd. People who 
never attend church at any other time 
will go then. It is something out of the 
ordinary and attracts. They decorate the 
church as well as possible with what 
material can be had, mottoes and such 
like; all try to make the best of every¬ 
thing. The pastor is not an eloquent 
man by any means, but he preaches good 
helpful sermons. I never attended a 
Methodist communion until a short time 
ago, and I saw a great contrast in the 
little plain stand, with common ware 
pitcher and glasses with water colored 
with grape juice for the wine, from what 
I had been accustomed to in Nebraska, 
Kansas and the East. But it all meant 
the same. The presiding elder failing to 
come as expected the pastor served the 
bread and wine to the communicants 
who went to the altar. After service 
there is a general hand-shake and friendly 
intercourse which lasts some time. The 
people turn out well and 57 at Sunday 
school seemed a good number where the 
people are so scattered, and some so far 
away. There are whole sections where 
there is not a house. One cannot real¬ 
ize the conditions until she lives here and 
sees for herself. This Great Plains coun¬ 
try has been settled twice before and 
abandoned by most. This third settle¬ 
ment is not nearly so thick as even the 
first, we are told. The superintendent 
of the Sunday school lives seven miles 
from the church, and some bring their 
children 10 or more miles. But riding 
over these prairies is very different from 
the rough, rocky roads of parts of Wyo¬ 
ming and Colorado I have seen. The lit¬ 
tle country church has a good mission to 
perform, and is a blessing in many ways 
to the people. 
MRS. FREDERICK C. JOHNSON. 
Sweet Cucumber Pickles. 
W ILL you give a recipe for making 
sweet cucumber pickles, such as 
we buy at grocery stores? I. R. w. 
Soak four quarts of small green cu¬ 
cumbers in a strong brine for three days, 
then drain and cover with fresh water 
with one tablespoon of alum added, and 
let soak three days longer, then drain; 
wipe dry. and cover with weak vinegar; 
let them simmer in this two hours, then 
turn into the colander and drain. Make 
a spice-bag by tying in a piece of muslin 
one ounce each of cinnamon buds and 
allspice berries, and one-lmlf ounce of 
celery seed. Put this in three quarts of 
vinegar, with one pint of brown sugar, 
and let heat until boiling hot; pour over 
the cucumbers, cover, and let stand until 
the next day, and repeat this for two 
mornings; the third day cook the liquor 
until syrupy, add the cucumbers and heat 
slowly until scalding hot. then pack in 
glass jars, pour the hot liquor over them 
and seal. 
How’the Bell, System Spends its Money 
Every subscriber’s telephone represents an actual invest¬ 
ment averaging $153, and the gross average revenue is 
$41.75. _ The total revenue is distributed as follows: 
\ * 
Employes—$100,000,000 
Nearly half the total—$100,- 
000,000—paid in wages to more 
than one hundred thousand em¬ 
ployes engaged in giving to the 
public the best and the cheapest 
telephone service in the world. 
For Supplies—$45,000,000 \ 
Paid to merchants, supply 
dealers and others for materials 
and apparatus, and for rent, light, 
heat, traveling, etc. 
Tax Collector—$11,000,000 
Taxes of more than $1 1,000,- 
000 are paid to the Federal, state 
and local authorities. The people 
derive the benefit in better high¬ 
ways, schools and the like. 
Bondholders—$17,000,000 
Paid in interest to thousands or 
men and women, savings banks, 
insurance companies and other 
institutions owning bonds and 
notes. 
Stockholders—$30,000,000 
70,000 stockholders, about half 
of whom are women, receive 
$30,000,000. 
(These payments to stockhold¬ 
ers and bondholders who have 
put their savings into the tele¬ 
phone business represent 6.05 % 
on the investment.) 
Surplus—$12,000,000 
This is invested in telephone 
plant and equipment, to furnish 
and keep telephone service al¬ 
ways up to the Bell standard. 
Boiling Green Corn. —The very best 
way to boil green corn, and I have tried 
a good many, is to put it into cold water 
to cover nicely, add one tablespoonful of 
salt for every half dozen ears, let it 
come to a boil, and boil five minutes. 
You will find it done and very palatable 
when cooked this way. I. M. B. 
Peanut Brittle. —Stir two cups of 
granulated sugar in a frying-pan over a 
hot fire until the sugar is changed to 
caramel. Pour at once over a cup of 
shelled peanuts, heated and turned into 
a shallow, buttered pan. When cold tap 
the pan, turn upside down, upon the 
table, to remove candy, then break into 
small pieces. The peanuts are at their 
best when fresh roasted. A. c. 
The question of a night light for the 
sick room in a country home may be i 
solved by borrowing one of the barn lan¬ 
terns. Hang the lighted lantern outside 
the window; with the shade raised there 
will be plenty of light inside the room 
for most purposes, while the mere drop¬ 
ping of the shade will shut it out. There 
will be no unpleasant fumes inside the 
room, nor any absorption of the oxygen. 
Michigan. M. E. s. H. 
Swiss Ciiard. —In your issue of 
March 21 you give a recipe for cooking 
Swiss chard. Y”ou say “the first young 
leaves are boiled.” also “as the chard 
grows larger the leaf is stripped and only 
the mid-rib is used.” I have grown 
Swiss chard for a number of years, the 
past two years the variety named Lu- 
eullus. This grows very large. We cut 
out the mid-rib and use the green leaves 
all Summer up to heavy frosts in the late 
Fall. Cook the same as spinach except 
that the large leaves may need cooking 
a little longer. F. A. c. 
No great thing is created suddenly, any 
more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If 
you tell me that you desire a fig, I 
answer you that there must be time. Let 
it first blossom, then bear fruit, then 
ripen.—Epictetus, about 60 A. D. 
American Telephone and Telegraph Company 
And Associated Companies, 
One ‘Policy One ^System Universal ^Service 
Indian Bead Work 
\TOTHING is more fascinating or more in vogue at this time than 
1 ^ Indian Bead Work articles. We have procured an outfit for 
making these articles, which will be sent, delivery charges prepaid, for 
ONE NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION 
OR 
THREE YEARLY RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTIONS 
(One of these may be the renewal of your own subscription for one year.) 
This outfit consists of a Patented Loom for making articles, an instruc¬ 
tion and design book, a spool of cotton, twelve H. Milward Sons’ needles, 
seven bottles of colored beads—dark blue, green, light blue, black, red, 
yellow and white—a complete outfit to start the work. 
Every woman knows and appreciates the value of these home-made 
articles. 
Your neighbor needs The Rural New-Yorker. If he is not a reader 
get bis subscription. If he is a subscriber get his renewal. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 333 W. 30th St., NEW YORK CITY 
