sfHi£ RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
302 
IF—From a Woman's Point of View. 
If you can let your foot-free friends sur¬ 
prise you 
When all your household wheels are 
out of gear. 
If you can get a meal when all about you 
Are piled the things there wasn’t time 
to clear, 
If you can serve them simple things ser¬ 
enely, 
Without a word about the plight you’re 
in, 
The while you say unto your soul, “Be 
seemly,” 
And, in the bosom fight that follows, 
win,— 
If you can love your child with all that’s 
in you, 
Yet firmly say the word that must be 
said, 
Face tearful eyes and never let them 
daunt you, 
And in the din that follows keep your 
head; 
If you know life, yet trust your children 
in it 
Because you see that God, who made 
the gale, 
To vanquish sin gave unto man the 
Spirit 
Just as to fight head winds He gave 
the sail,— 
If you can win respect from those who 
serve you, 
And run your home, and not let it run 
you; 
If you can face details nor let them 
dwarf you, 
And keep your outlook broad, your vis¬ 
ion true ; 
If you can let your sands of time run 
daily 
Into a headlong stream of endless 
tasks. 
And do the things you hate and do them 
gaily, 
Because to serve is all the joy Love 
asks,— 
If you can do, without the dust of doing, 
And, toiling, keep your soul and body 
fine, 
If you can right the words and deeds 
you're ruing, 
And lean on Love yet not become a 
vine; 
If you can be a worthy wife and mother 
And wisely meet all this shall bring 
to you,— 
Fear not to share the hardens of your 
Brother: 
What Time shall ask, that, Woman, 
you can do! 
—Jane Dowling Foote. 
* 
T HE “teacher mothers” in New York 
have won a complete victory. In¬ 
stead of being discharged for taking a 
vacation they are to be given leave of 
absence. It is a sensible outcome. If 
we were to believe some of the people 
who do most of the talking maternity 
has become something of a crime against 
society. Happily the talkers do not set¬ 
tle these things. We should think it one 
of the first principles of common sense 
that motherhood should make a woman 
a more efficient teacher of little children. 
* 
T HE Alabama Legislature has passed, 
over the Governor’s veto a bill which 
prohibits papers from carrying liquor ad¬ 
vertisements. 
The bill becomes effective at once and 
prevents all newspapers or periodicals 
from carrying advertisements regarding 
the sale of liquors. It also prevents 
newspapers and magazines from com¬ 
ing into the State that carry the adver¬ 
tisements of whisky houses. 
The Alabama Governor thinks this is 
unconstitutional. It may prove to be, 
but it is only an indication of the way a 
majority of our country people regard the 
liquor traffic. They are simply deter¬ 
mined to destroy it. and they are learning 
how to tight effectively. The liquor in¬ 
terests are spending vast sums for ad¬ 
vertising now. It will not be long before 
the papers and magazines must take one 
side or the other. 
* 
T HE New York Supreme Court has 
decided that wedding gifts belong to 
both husband and wife jointly. 
The presumption is that wedding gifts 
are given jointly to the husband and wife. 
It must be obvious that in 099 cases out 
of every 1.000 it was never the purpose 
to donate articles to the sole ownership 
of the bride. At the time of a marriage 
no thoughts enter the minds of the givers 
of gifts that the relation will be other¬ 
wise than continuous. They regard the 
couple as being one. The husband and 
wife become joint owners and as such 
have an equal right to the gifts. 
The occasion for this was a curious 
law case. At her marriage a woman had 
from her mother-in-law the choice of a 
watch, a diamond ring and a set of sil¬ 
ver. She chose the latter. The couple 
separated, and the wife pawned this sil¬ 
ver. Later under false pretenses the 
husband redeemed the silver and the wife 
sued the pawnbroker for its value. She 
won. 
* 
J UDGE BLANCHARD of the New 
York Supreme Court has ruled that 
when a man has tuberculosis and con¬ 
ceals the disease from his wife before 
marriage, the wife has sufficient grounds 
for annulment of such a marriage. A 
case was recently tried in this city. A 
woman married, believing that her hus¬ 
band was in good health. She then 
found that he had tuberculosis in an 
advanced form and she brought suit to 
annul the marriage. The judge decides 
that under such conditions: 
It would seem a gross perversion of 
justice to refuse to release a party from 
a matrimonial contract whereby no im¬ 
portant statute affecting the relationship 
of the parties to the general public or to 
each other has been established in the 
face of a situation which is attended with 
an element of such grave potential re¬ 
sults. 
We 1 <now of cases quite the reverse of 
this, where women learned that their 
husbands were afflicted in this way, and 
instead of desiring their freedom as this 
woman did, gave up everything else, even 
health and life itself, to nurse their hus¬ 
bands during their life. 
* 
To show how women are being trained 
to take hold of practical farm operations, 
we give the following: One of our readers 
has four farms located in Delaware. 
These are well conducted, and at the 
present time there are nearly 200 acres 
in wheat alone. The heir to this prop¬ 
erty is a daughter, who will in time have 
charge of these farms. In order to give 
her a chance for experiment and observa¬ 
tion, about 15 acres of good land have 
been turned over to her this year. This 
land is now well covered with Crimson 
clover, and she is to study out the best 
plan for growing a profitable crop this 
year, and then seeding it down to per¬ 
manent meadow. This practical training 
will tit her to assume charge of all this 
real estate in the future. Many farmers’ 
wives and daughters are situated so that 
in the event of death of husband or father 
they would be left with practically noth¬ 
ing except a farm, and in many cases 
they have had no experience whatever in 
handling such a property. They should 
all be trained, to some extent at least, in 
the business management of the farm, so 
that they could, if necessary, conduct it 
profitably. 
* 
Buying Bread Justified. 
I WANT to protest against the idea 
that women on the farm ought al¬ 
ways make their own bread. The pres¬ 
ent may be an exception, but under usual 
conditions, on an average, two cents per 
loaf is the limit that can be saved by 
home baking, and of course, if the per¬ 
centage of profit were the only way of 
looking at it, it seems large, but the 
amount is very small; so that where the 
family is not large, the saving of a few 
cents per week, is mighty small pay for 
the highly skilled labor and attention re¬ 
quired to make good bread. Of course, 
every woman, and every girl, should learn 
to make good bread, but in many cases 
their time is worth more in this life, de¬ 
voted to other things. Being a good 
housekeeper is a far different matter from 
being a good home-maker sometimes, a 
feature worthy of more thought. 
On many a farm in this country, the 
husband makes the show, carrying on the 
big operations, with his expensive tools, 
machinery, teams and hired help, but 
it is only too true in too many cases, 
that the wife has not only to feed and 
wait on him and his hired men, but that 
her little side issues of poultry, fruit or 
vegetables, or whatever they may be, pro¬ 
duce the only actual profit on the entire 
farm, and yet her time, in order to do 
at a profit the baking and other such 
operations, must be figured at the price 
for labor in China or India. Of course, 
good baker’s bread cannot, always be se¬ 
cured. The point of view too, makes 
a great difference, and who has the work 
to do may change one’s opinion. If it 
could be arranged that the husband 
should take turns making and baking 
the bread, just one round of it would 
satisfy him, and when his turn came 
around again, he would kick off on the 
bargain. c. L. 
It. N.-Y.—Suppose on the average 
farm husband and wife did “change 
work” for an entire month—she to do 
his outside work and he to do till she 
does both inside and out. Of course both 
would be new and awkward at the job, 
but which would cause greater real loss 
to the farm business, and which would 
stick to the new job longest? 
* 
The Position of Farmer's Wife. 
WONDER how it is that farm women 
—I mean the wives of farmers taken 
as a class—have come to occupy the un¬ 
enviable position they seem to have in 
the minds of some? The other day, in 
a “woman’s” paper I read—“On many 
farms where there is always money 
enough to buy the latest agricultural ap¬ 
pliances there is seldom a surplus to pro¬ 
vide the women with power machinery 
that will lighten her physical labor, or 
running water that will relieve her of 
the burden of carrying from the pump 
all water that is used in the entire 
household.” And again in the same ar¬ 
ticle—“Neglect of women on the farm is 
an atrocious reality, a serious indictment 
of our civilization. More comfort, more 
conveniences, more company are the cry¬ 
ing needs in the life of farmers’ wives.” 
All this may be true; in some cases 
probably is; but was it a Government 
measure that forced all those who are 
farmers’ wives, to become so? Was it 
not a free will action on the part of the 
party of the first part? I think I would 
be safe in saying that nine-tenths of the 
wives in Canada and United States knew 
pretty well what they were undertaking 
and what sort of a person their future 
husband was. If he was not the sort of 
a man they wanted, why marry him? 
Did they think that the marriage cere¬ 
mony was some sort of a miracle that 
would transform him into the prince of 
their dreams? I give girls credit for too 
much sense to believe that. I would like 
to know why a woman should place her¬ 
self in such a subordinate position— 
when marriage should be a partnership 
concern—that she would not feel free to 
get “labor savers” if there was any 
money to pay for them? And why should 
February 27, 
farmers’ wives, any more than other 
wives, be so devoid of education, grit 
and gumption that if conditions do not 
suit her she doesn't remedy them? “More 
comfort?” It can more often than not 
be had by planning, system and determin¬ 
ation. “More conveniences?” In number¬ 
less cases they would not cost any more 
than the expensive furnishings of the 
spare room. “More company?” If any¬ 
body does suffer in tha* way, here is a 
simple recipe. Invite folks, be nice to 
them and give them something they like, 
whether it is food, talk or rest. As to 
reading, there is no lack. I think the 
great lack is in the desire to read. No¬ 
body can deny that reading is cheap. But 
there is considerable difference in the 
choice of expenditure. I know a woman, 
who cannot afford to take any magazine 
—she borrow’s—but her chocolates in 
the course of a year cost the price of a 
good many magazines. 
I am afraid it is true that we as a 
people are getting too far away from the 
idea of individual responsibility. We 
want too much done for us, and our 
children are being brought up the same 
way. If social and other conditions are 
not as they should be, the remedy lies in 
the hands of the men and women of the 
present day. Let them read and think 
as well as work, and teach their children 
to do the same. If you have been mean¬ 
dering along in a rut. it may take con¬ 
siderable of an effort to get out of it; 
but remember the longer you stay in it 
the deeper it will get worn and the hard¬ 
er will be the climb. “Ruts” have killed 
more women than hard work. Don’t 
try to make a personal test of this state¬ 
ment. for it is risky. Just look around. 
MRS. j. w. B. 
* 
A Hopeful View of Farming. 
OU say you have failed to find a for¬ 
tune in farming. You have pointed 
toward the wrong target, and I fear you 
will never hit the bull's eye. You should 
have aspired to comfort and independ¬ 
ence, instead. That is a subject upon 
which, I am exceedingly "touchy.” I 
am so tired of the eternal struggle to 
amass a million. Why not strive to at¬ 
tain as many comforts as possible, saving, 
of course, a certain percentage for a 
“rainy day” and, enjoy life as you live 
it? 
The days of the uneducated farmer are 
passing. The rising generation is well 
educated, thanks to compulsory education. 
Many are now and more will be, college 
men. Farming is becoming a profession. 
I do not expect great fortunes from the 
farm alone. But the farmer will find his 
fortune, however small, has not been in¬ 
vested in a bubble that will burst, if “the 
market” takes a turn and other stocks go 
tumbling down. lie will find the faith¬ 
ful cow, in her office, twice a day ready 
to dispense charity, in a very niaterial 
way, and many other regular necessities 
pertaining to the commissary department 
of his establishment, at hand, the cost of 
which is mainly muddy boots, soiled 
clothes, a liberal amount of perspiration 
and an active mind. 
Imagine the amazement of our grand¬ 
fathers could they see our auto ready 
for a quick ride to the city; the little 
insignificant box on a very ordinary ce¬ 
dar post, where Uncle Sam's postman 
does all kinds of business in his line 
once a day; possibly, parcel-post packages 
of merchandise, which he has ordered by 
the convenient telephone, and through 
this same unassuming little box does the 
farmer have access to the same extensive 
library as his city cousin, who pays a 
generous portion of his weekly salary 
for the privilege of living above his coun¬ 
try relative; in a handsome flat. After 
an especially busy day, to listen to an 
overture from “Faust,” “Abide With 
Me,” or whatever most pleases his fancy, 
while smoking his evening pipe, all ren¬ 
dered much better than the ordinary 
musician can do, is the farmer’s pleasure. 
And this is only a small number of the 
available comforts of the farmer. With 
one great progression, who can venture 
to enumerate the improvements the fu¬ 
ture holds for the countryman? I hear 
the pessimist say “That is for the rich 
man,” but the optimist can safely reply 
“The argument is much stronger in favor 
of the poor man”—if he will abolish the 
germ, that compels him to think he must 
acquire a million before he can enjoy 
life. f. m. L. 
SPRING IS COMING. 
