THE) HUR A I> NEW-YORKER 
487 
1915. 
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“The Tireless Hired Girl” 
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A Neighborhood of Gasoline Engines 
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A NEIGHBORHOOD OF ENGINES. 
—In the vicinity, within a radius of 
three miles, are 10 gasoline engines doing 
a variety of household tasks, some more 
and some less, and two others are wait¬ 
ing to he adjusted to work along that 
line. One can hardly realize until having 
had experience with them, what an 
amount of hard work these little helpers 
will take upon themselves if only given 
the opportunity. Any woman can learn 
to stop and start nearly all of them. 
Occasionally there is one that starts too 
hard, and requires a man’s strength, but 
most of them are easy to run. The 
writer has had no difficulty and has run 
one for over two years. Most of the 
engines in this vicinity are used for wash¬ 
ing, separating cream, and churning. 
These are the three most common house¬ 
hold duties. One is used simply for pump¬ 
ing water to supply a water system for 
the house. Two others are used in addi¬ 
tion to the above duties for running a 
vacuum cleaner, and still another freezes 
cream for church socials. The owners of 
this engine, having no available room out¬ 
side, put it in one corner of the kitchen, 
letting the exhaust pipe extend through 
the partition. The kitchen being a large 
room, this plan has worked very nicely, 
and is far preferable to not having an 
engine at all. A couple of the engines 
mentioned are quite good-sized, and one 
is drawn up beside the woodhouse or 
washroom on wash days and runs the 
washing machine by means of a long line 
shaft extending outside. This engine is 
also used for churning, grinding feed and 
sawing wood. The other larger one is 
placed in the woodhouse and washes and 
churns, and without complaint, runs the 
grindstone. 
No Blue Monday. —In our own neigh¬ 
borhood if one steps outside on Monday 
mornings and listens for a moment it is 
easy to hear these small engines seem¬ 
ingly calling back and forth to each other 
as they are busy in their respective 
homes, converting “Blue Monday” into a 
sunny day, and the mistress in each case 
would tell you that she would part with 
many other household furnishings before 
she would give up her “iron maid” or 
"tireless hired girl,” as the Editor of The 
It. N.-Y. facetiously calls them. Our 
own engine runs washer, wringer, vac¬ 
uum cleaner and pumps water for inside 
work. Outside it saws wood and runs 
a berry cleaner. Another engine nearby 
runs an emery wheel, besides the washing 
apparatus. This wheel is placed in a 
room up over the engine and runs by a 
line shaft. The owner anticipates utiliz¬ 
ing it for several other purposes later, he 
has had it only a short time. The engine 
which does the most work of all is, with 
one exception, the smallest of the 12. 
This little worker sets in a room adjoin¬ 
ing the kitchen, the room having no floor. 
Thus a part of the engine sets below the 
level of the kitchen floor and underneath 
the latter extends a long line shaft which 
runs washing machine, wringer, churn 
and cream separator, also the engine con¬ 
nects up with the vacuum cleaner by 
means of cord and pulleys, said cleaner 
being some distance away. 
Adapting Hand Machinery. —The 
washing machine used was an ordinary 
hand washer, which worked with a 
handle back and forth. The handle has 
been left on the machine in case of need, 
and usually flies back and forth seem¬ 
ingly of its own accord. The wringer, 
and in fact all the articles used were of 
the ordinary hand power sort. This man 
has exemplified that it is unnecessary to 
have power machines, that by persever¬ 
ance and ingenuity the common hand ap¬ 
pliances can be arranged to run with an 
engine, thus saving labor and expense. 
He also has a shop up over his engine, 
another line shaft above, and there he 
runs an emery wheel, turning lathe and 
saw, besides having other attachments. 
Outside, this little engine saws wood, runs 
berry cleaner and spray pump, and has 
been doing all these things many years. 
There are a variety of power washers 
upon the market costing from about $10 
to $85. The newer ones are built on a 
platform and have room for one or two 
extra tubs, as the case may be, and the 
wringer is so adjusted that it will operate 
from any of these. These machines cost 
$25 up. The help problem is getting 
more serious each year, and it is essential 
that the housewife avail herself of any 
and all ways to save steps and labor. 
Labor-Saving Devices Needed. — 
Much was said and written a few years 
ago about conserving the natural re¬ 
sources, and this is very applicable to the 
farmer’s wife. She certainly is one of 
the fundamental resources of this nation, 
and as such, following the basic law of 
self-preservation, it is her duty to elimi¬ 
nate every bit of work and every step 
possible. If sick she can get a trained 
nurse and pay her $25 a week. But who 
is going to wait upon the nurse? The 
expense of any labor-saving device is well 
invested. A gasoline engine is not an 
attendance of over nine thousand city 
women come with their children to rest 
and feed them, and those from the coun¬ 
try make this their headquarters during 
the day. No meals are served, but people 
can bring their lunches and eat them 
there. Young girls from nearby offices 
and a business college bring theirs, and 
aside from having a good time are in a 
homelike, safe place. 
Important as this work is. it is really 
secondary to that of educating the 
mothers in the care of the children and 
themselves and examining the babies. 
Two Better Babies Contests have been 
held and they arouse interest in the 
work, one in September, 1913, and the 
other September, 1914. The Woman’s 
Home Companion score cards were used 
and one child scored 100 per cent. Most 
of the physicians of the city assisted at 
the examination, which was held in the 
Broome County Court House. The work 
does not end with the contest, but ex¬ 
tends throughout the entire year, and it 
is this feature that makes it such a 
practical help. 
When the child is enrolled it is un¬ 
dressed, weighed, height measured and a 
general examination given by the president 
of the club, who devotes her entire time 
to the work. Any defect found is point- 
0rapes 
Parsley 
Asparagus 
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{Old Bed) follow with Rutabagas 
Early Spinach preceded 3 followed by Egyptian Tree Onion Parsnips 
Three Successions Bush Beans(Snap) follow with late Cabbage 
Bush Limas Lettuce set betweenplants 
AHplants in this row 4' apari 20 Tomatoes ECabbage between Green Peppers Bird's Eye Peppers 
Early Peas 
Wrinkly Seeded Peas follow with Late Celery 
Early Potatoes 
n » 
Dry Beans ( Wire Trejlis) 
Beets sown thinly with Radishes Carrots . Swiss Chard 
Onions [Dry Bulb) 
Early Sweet Corn 
Medium » t> >> 
Later »> » 
Musk Melon 11 hills E. Cauliflower between Cucumbers IS hills 6 hills late, for Pickles 
x. x x x x x x x x x x ®®®®®®®®®*®e®®® 
Early Watermelon 14- Brussels Sprouls between hilts 
'+ _ -*• + . + «-■*-*■ + 4 + + + + -t- 
Summer Squash (Bush) 15 Hubbard Squash. 
AAAAAAAAAA&A6AA © Q O O O 0 O 
FLORIDA GRAPEFRUIT 
and ORANGES RIPENED 
IN THE SUNSHINE ON THE TREES 
Are sweet and healthy. My frnltis cut and 
shipped direct from my grove prepaid to the 
consumer ::::::::::::: 
GRAPEFRUIT, per standard 80 lb. box, $1.00 plus Ex. 
ORANGES, . “ 1.75 
MIXED, “ “ “ “ 1.50 
Write for delivered prices to your station. 
L. A. HAKES 
Winter I’ark, Orange Co,, Florida 
rprr paint color 
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kt BARN U 
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Registered U. S. Patent. Attorney. Washington, D. C. 
Gardden Plan for Family of Four. (Drawn by a Conn. College Student.) 
expensive affair. The smallest engine in 
this vicinity, whose first cost was $25, 
sawed up a pile of wood recently, and 
the pile when finished was just as large 
as any of the others in the neighborhood. 
These small engines require very little 
gasoline to run them. Ours is a two- 
horsepower, and it takes about a teacup 
of gasoline to do the washing. Two five- 
gallon cans of gasoline lasts us more than 
a year, for both inside and outside work, 
and I never think of stopping the engine 
between tasks, in order to save fuel. The 
larger engines. I understand, require 
more gasoline to run them, without fur¬ 
nishing extra power. There are many of 
these engines at work, but many more 
homes that ought to have them, and 
would if the owners only realized the 
benefit to be derived from their use. 
“farmer’s wife.” 
ed out to the mother, advice given, and 
if it requires the care of a physician she 
is urged to take the child there at once. 
If they cannot afford to do this arrange¬ 
ments are made for free treatment. The 
children are brought to the room regu¬ 
larly and a record kept of each case as 
they are examined. Those in the last 
contest are brought in the same way and 
an effort made to remedy any defect 
marked in the score card. The mothers 
are given literature on the care of chil¬ 
dren, and personal instruction 
Your 
Spare Time 
is what we want—You 
don’t have to devote 
your entire time to our 
subscription work—You 
don’t need experience 
—You don’t need capi¬ 
tal. A postal card will 
bring you details. 
Address 
Department “M” 
The Rural New-Yorkei 
333 W. 30th St. 
New York City 
The Rest Room Club of- Binghamton 
T UB Rest Room Club of Binghamton, 
N. Y., is carrying on a work for 
women and children that will bo of inter¬ 
est to people of other places who are 
seeking new ways to benefit their com¬ 
munities. The plan is both uovel and 
practical, combining as it does, the rest 
room and child-welfare headquarters and 
has been very successful. Through the 
enthusiasm and untiring efforts of one 
woman, whose heart was touched by the 
high death rate of children, due to the 
lack of intelligent care, and the need of 
a place for mothers to rest and feed 
their children a few others became inter¬ 
ested and the club was organized. 
The object of the club as stated iu the 
constitution is “to provide a rest room 
and general meeting place for women, and 
to carry on the child-welfare- work of 
the city and surrounding country.” 
Being something entirely new here it 
met with the usual opposition from peo¬ 
ple with the antiquated idea that every 
woman knows by instinct how to care for 
a baby, and this new talk of instructing 
them is “all nonsense.” The work has 
proved to be a great blessing to both 
women and children. 
The rest room was opened July 2, 1913, 
and since that time there has been an 
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