142 
TI-IEC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
. The Child and Its Work. 
How Shall It Be Paid ? 
Part I. 
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Conditions Involved. — In recent 
issues of Tiie It. N.-Y. there has been 
an occasional touching upon the subject 
of the management of children, with ref¬ 
erence, more particularly, to what work 
a child should be required to do and what 
pay, if any, the child should receive for 
this work. Upon this subject I by no 
means presume to speak with positive 
assurance. No one, I believe, is able to 
do that, since each child is in himself a 
problem apart and distinct from all 
others, children of the same father and 
mother differing at most as much from 
each other as from children not in the 
remotest degree of kin. However, I have 
my own childhood and youth distinctly in 
memory, and I have of my own five chil¬ 
dren, ranging in years from a little over 
15 to a little over three. Out of this ex¬ 
perience I wish to talk upon this subject 
of child management in the hope that I 
may by good fortune say something of 
benefit to some one of less experience, or 
who has so far failed to hit upon a satis¬ 
factory method of handling his children, 
also in the hope that, the subject being 
brought up, some one may in turn say 
something of benefit to me in the man¬ 
agement of my children. I say children, 
since what I shall write 1 wish to apply 
to both boys and girls without distinc¬ 
tion. 
Difficult Subject. —My observation 
upon this subject has brought to my 
notice conditions somewhat as follows: 
There are at the one extreme of opinion 
upon this subject of child management 
those who hold that where a child’s 
parents bring him into the world they 
place that child forever after under heavy 
obligations to them. They consider that it 
is that child’s most proper business to 
exert his every power of mind and body 
directly for the benefit of his parents, at 
least so long as he remain under tin' home 
roof. This in order that he may pay 
back in some degree the debt he owes 
his parents for having brought him into 
the world. Upon the other extreme are 
those parents who, when a child comes to 
them, consider that child a sacred trust, 
something for which they are responsible 
to an almost terrible degree, and for this 
child they prepare themselves to make 
without question or complaint the most 
costly sacrifices in worldly means and 
personal comfort. This in order that they 
may bring up the child to be, as they 
hope and pray, good and happy. Between 
these extremes of opinion I find every de¬ 
gree of both, dropping down to those 
parents who give the subject little or no 
consideration whatever. As to these two 
extreme opinions, T agree neither with 
the one nor the other. In the first place, 
no child is under obligation to his parents 
for having brought him into the world, 
since the child has absolutely nothing 
whatever to do with the matter. In the 
second place, while I do consider the 
parents under obligation to the child, 
and rigidly held to do their utmost to 
make him the best of which he is capable, 
yet this system of blind sacrifice on the 
part of the parents has almost without 
exception developed a child unbearably 
selfish and worthless. 
The Parent’s Part. —When a person 
condemns as wrong means and methods in 
prevalent use it is very properly “put up 
to him” to suggest something better. Ac¬ 
cordingly, taking my little experience in 
matters pertaining to children as a basis, 
and speaking with that deference which 
becomes one in approaching a subject of 
vast scope, I shall proceed to touch but 
lightly but one phase of the subject. I 
take it that every normal parent in the 
world earnestly desires to do by his chil¬ 
dren the very best that he can. Not only 
does his sense of justice and right prompt 
him to this, but there is born in him 
that which compels him to it. that thing 
which drives the most timid creature to 
fight to the death for the safety of the 
young. Granting this, it remains only to 
find that method by which a parent may 
most certainly do the best that he can 
for his child, and there is the rub. The 
subject is vast. Every child is a new 
problem, some of them easy of solution, 
some more difficult, many of them almost 
hopelessly difficult. Yet, underlying every 
proper matter of life there will be found 
some fundamental principle, which, when 
modified to fit individual cases, and care¬ 
fully followed, will bring in some degree 
CHILDREN ARE HAPPY. 
the results desired. This holds good in 
the child question. 
The End Desired. —What is it that 
the normal parent wishes his child to be¬ 
come? Would not practically all of us 
be very well satisfied if our children just 
simply went out into the world, set up 
a clean, comfortable home, remained, for 
the most part, quietly in that home, at¬ 
tending to their business, and in turn 
sent out into the world other children to 
set up clean, comfortable homes and re¬ 
peat the process? Isn’t that practically 
all there is in it? They have to go that 
far in order to be happy, and no matter 
how far beyond that they go they will 
not be any happier. If, then, it is our 
purpose to try by all means to bring up 
our children in such a way that at the 
age of, say 22, perhaps a little younger, 
perhaps older, they will be ready to go 
out into tin' world and help set up and 
maintain clean, comfortable homes, if that 
is our hope, would it not be highly neces¬ 
sary that we show them during their 
younger years as nearly as possible how 
such a home is set up and supported? I 
think it is strictly necessary, and, in that 
case, it will be necessary for parents to 
have clean, comfortable homes of their 
own. When a parent has this, then is he 
ready to begin with the child. Now a 
parent may say to his child: “Here is a 
nice home, it is clean and supported in a 
comfortable way. Mark this home well, 
my child, so that when you go out to 
make a home of your own you will know 
just how it is done.” Will that method 
work? Not at all. As well might you 
say to your son: “Here, boy, is a man 
doing a nice job of plowing. Watch this 
plowman, how he does the work, and 
when you are old enough you can plow 
as he does.” That would be foolishness. 
Again, a mother might say to her daugh¬ 
ter: “Here, girl, I am going to bake bread. 
Watch my method now and when you set 
up housekeeping for yourself you can 
bake as I do.” Foolishness again. All 
right then ; if you cannot tell a child how 
to set up and support a good home, how 
do you propose to teach him? Why, take 
the child right into the work and set him 
to do with his own hands whatever of it 
he is able to do and be right on hand to 
oversee his work and know that he does 
it right. “Oh, yes.” some one says, “I’ve 
tried that plan, and, what with the fuss 
I have to make the children to do the 
work and the trouble it is to get them to 
do it right, I’d rather do the work my¬ 
self.” Exactly, I know how you feel. I’ve 
tried the system myself. But, the chil¬ 
dren must be taught how a clean and 
comfortable home is set up and supported, 
and we agree, I hope, that telling them 
how is no good. They must do the actual 
work with their own hands, and they 
must be shown how to do it ^ight. Now 
I come to the point that I’ve had in mind 
all along. Take the children in charge, I 
say. Give them work suited to their age 
and strength, see that they do it right and 
pay them for it. 
Reasons for Payment. —Do you, 
parent, enjoy doing work for which you 
know you will receive no pay? Neither 
does a child. But you say, “The child 
does get pay; he gets food and clothing 
and a home.” Yes, but I contend that is 
not the child’s business. That is the 
business of the child’s parents, and more 
than that, if a parent is not willing to 
provide food and clothes and a home for 
a child he has no right to bring the child 
into the world. Work without pay is to 
an adult drudgery; to a child it is doubly 
so. Work that is drudgery to one soon 
becomes hateful. Therefore, if you com¬ 
pel a child to work without pay he will 
soon hate work, and that is disastrous to 
all concerned. Accordingly, if we are to 
fit our sons and daughters for going out 
into the world to set up and maintain 
clean, comfortable homes, we shall have 
to show them how such work is done, 
have them do this work with their own 
hands, and finally pay them fair and 
honest wages for their work. 
f. n. M. 
An Ohio Girl Prize Apple Grower. 
Tin the recent report of the visit of 
the young Ohio corn growers to New 
York mention was made of Miss Susan 
Everett, who won first prize for the man¬ 
agement of an apple orchard. Many of 
our women readers were interested _ in 
this, and we have obtained the following 
statement from Miss Everett.] 
HE boys are all interested in corn 
growing, but I am more interested 
in apple growing. I think tliere lias not 
been enough interest stirred up in fruit 
growing. I think it is just as important 
as corn growing and is certainly more 
interesting. I would rather devote my 
time to the orchard than anything else 
on the farm. I have studied agriculture 
three years, one year in eighth grade and 
two years in high school. I have also 
studied botany one year. I have obtained 
a number of bulletins (Ohio and United 
States bulletins, also from Wooster), and 
farm papers concerning fruit growing. 
The neglected orchard is a poor asset, 
and if properly cared for, gives better re¬ 
turns than any similar area on the farm 
devoted to other purposes; its value in 
contributing to the health, happiness and 
hospitality of the farm home is too great 
to be estimated in dollars and cents. I 
am located in a country which devotes 
much time to dairying, and in my imme¬ 
diate locality the orchards of an acre or 
two have received no attention in half a 
century. The two-acre orchard owned 
by my father shows profitable returns 
from the effort that I have made. 
Having won second prize in the State 
last year, I decided to enter the contest 
again this year and try to do better 
work, which I succeeded in doing by win¬ 
January 30, 
ning the first prize for apple growing in 
the State of Ohio. I selected 10 trees 
which I intended to take special care of 
as prize trees. I made a thorough study 
on the “management of the farm or¬ 
chard.” The first work I did was prun¬ 
ing, which was very difficult on account 
of neglect in former years. The trees 
had not been pruned for years, therefore, 
Miss Susan Everett—Apple Grower. 
they were in very bad condition. I topped 
the trees and this tended to decrease the 
height of same about five feet; it also 
made the trees healthier by letting the air 
and sunlight circulate through the trees, 
which is very important. The next step 
was spraying, the first application being 
applied March 18. I used a strong solu¬ 
tion of lime and sulphur to extinguish 
the oyster-shell scale. I repeated the 
process again April 0. The trees bloomed 
about May 10, bloom being heavy. The 
weather was quite changeable. 
Here I became interested in bees, 
which are of mutual interest to the fruit 
grower. I made a careful study of these 
small insects carrying pollen from blos¬ 
som to blossom. Bees are much more 
efficient agents of pollination than wind 
in our orchards, and their absence is al¬ 
ways deleterious. The common honey¬ 
bee is the most regular, important, and 
abundant visitor and probably does more 
good than any other species. 
I sprayed the trees again May 11 using 
a solution containing three pounds arse¬ 
nate of lead and four quarts of concen¬ 
trated commercial lime and sulphur, to¬ 
gether with -10 gallons of water. I used 
this formula to extinguish the Codling 
moth, this being the most important 
spraying of the season. I spent four 
hours watering my trees and five hours 
cutting water sprouts. May 20 sprayed 
my trees again, using the same formula 
as on May 11 for the purpose of extin¬ 
guishing the Codling moth and canker- 
worm. In June I thinned from the trees 
about eight bushels of apples. I aimed to 
have the remaining apples about four to 
six inches apart. I charged for my time 
12 cents an hour. The work I did, in¬ 
cluding spraying material for the 10 prize 
apple trees, amounted to $17.42. Figur¬ 
ing the selling price of the apples, which 
would amount to $44 for 42 bushels, the 
profit or net proceeds amounted to $26.58. 
I have an opportunity of contracting 
with a gentleman to care for his orchard, 
which is about 80 miles from my home. 
He became interested in my work by in¬ 
specting a spray of apples which I dis¬ 
played in a local store. I intend to in¬ 
spect this orchard soon in order to make 
a complete study of the trees and out¬ 
line the Spring and Summer work re¬ 
quired on same. My father is inter¬ 
ested in apple growing, and in my work, 
and occasionally asks me questions con¬ 
cerning apple culture. The neighbors 
are also interested in my work, and have 
asked me to assist in heading their trees. 
I would be very much pleased to see as 
much enthusiasm in apple growing in 
Ohio as there is in corn growing, and I 
am sure no one would go apple hungry. 
SUSAN A. EVERETT. 
