THE RURA.lv NEW-YORKER 
851 
I WOMAN AND HOME ||j 
EZE = .fHimuMmiMiiumiiiiiiiimiiinim.......................MiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiimnmiiii.? = 
= ? .inillllllllllllllllllllllllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIMIIIIItllllllllllllllllllllllllllMIIIIIIIttlllMllllllllilllllllinillMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIItlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllltllllllllllllllMlllllllllllllllllltllllltlllllllllll^ === 
Independents Day 
essay By jimmie barlow 
the forth of july is the Glorusest day 
of all the yore, it is eald independents 
day beeaws on it our four fathers was so 
independent they Told king george we 
will not have this man to rain over us 
we will found on this continent A Repub¬ 
lic Free One And Invisibull. 
teacher said we should ask our frends 
for idears on this grate subjick so i 
askd my grandfarther first which is the 
honerbull jamos martin. he sez inde¬ 
pendents day is the time when evry thort- 
ful amerrican Thanks God that our four 
farthers cut the bonds of trade ishons 
that still fetter the soles and bodd.vs of 
men and wimmen in other lands, he sez 
james he dont call me jimmie you live 
in the only country wicli is founderd on 
the princerpulls of trew libberty wliare 
in the guvment obtanes its powers from 
the concent of the guvernd. 
grammer wicli is wife to the abuv she 
sez this forth of july ammerican wim¬ 
men can be speshully Thankful that they 
dont haf to raze boys to be food for can¬ 
on and girls to be hewers of wood and 
drovers of water for the op presser. 
my farther which is mr ezry barlow 
sez the forth of july is just what you 
make it. to hiram ditflo it is a day to 
get drunk and aboose his bosses while 
his wife milks the cows and does the 
chores, to eph salmons its a day to par¬ 
ish green his pertaters and keep his boys 
hoein corn till dark and then wonder 
why they leave home as fast as they git 
big enuff. to sum its the time to sink hi' 
low the level of the brute and to uthers 
its the time to Thank God and take Cur- 
rage. to congressmen its a oppertunity 
to say keow for cow and to make thair- 
selfs solid with the dear farmers whilst 
to reel paytriots its a call to plede for a 
return to the sim plisserty of our farth¬ 
ers. he sez thortful men and wimmen of 
all partys can be speshly Thankful this 
year that we aint got a fire eater for 
preserdunt. 
unkle jim sez Amen to that him and 
my farther is the best of frends till they 
fork pollytix. when they git to gom aunt 
lizzie tells ’em for hevens sake to hush 
up but maw sez let ’em go they dont 
neether .of ’em know what thair torkiu . 
about, unkle jim sez how cood thay when 
the wimmen know it all. i told him erbout 
the essay and he sez to put in it that the 
forth of july is a back number fokes is 
two bizzy makin money and runnin all 
over the country with ortermobeels to 
care wether thair four farthers dide to 
make em free or gave up the gost frum 
eatin two mutch watermellun. 
maw sez tbeys a rem nant what cares 
and she bet unkle jim and a hull lot of 
uthers she cood menshun wood rally 
round the flag if wurst come to wurst. 
mr spenser sez they aint no use askin 
him tliairs bin more wind exspended on 
the forth of july than all the windmills 
in liolland cood use in a millyun yeres. 
he wood like to see more Livin up to 
the Spirrit of 70 and hear less tork 
about it. 
mr hocum helped harold so i dident 
ask him and mrs hocum cause that wood¬ 
cut be fair, i askd hennery and he toled 
me to put in that if evry teeher wood try 
to in still love of country like our teeher 
he woodcut have no fears for the feweher 
of our deer old IT. S. A.. 
Emly sed grayshus jimm’e i dont know 
what to say i gess unkle sums berth day 
is the best day they is eggsept Chrismus. 
Sheldon sez ile giv you a Vi if yool 
let me off but edith sez no you wunt yool 
take your medsin. well sheldon sez say 
any thing you minter but she toled him 
thats no go so he sez botherashun ile 
make it haf a dollar so i let him off. 
edith sez then giv him a doller i aint 
goin to have peple think i know more 
than you do corse i dont she alius sez 
corse sted of caws sense she went away 
to bizness collidge. i gess ile git me a 
fishin rod with that dollar but i bet maw 
makes me put it in the bank. 
i tackkeld dr stiles and he sed well 
well yore the 15tli ime mitey glad you 
chihlrun take so mutch intrust in yore 
countrys berth day yore techers the rite 
sort, put me down as savin that evry 
trew amerrican shood do his best to make 
it so plesant for our forrin born nay- 
bors that they will feel so much at home 
tliail forget their hyfens and becum just 
plain amerricans like the rest of us. 
i askd mr stuber lie sed dont bother 
me i got 40 cows to milk my wife’s sick 
abed the only boy thats big enuff to milk 
fell olf the bridge and broke his arm ive 
got 300 eliix starvin to doth caws tliairs 
noboddy to feed em my hens aint had 
nothin to eat but tliairs own aigs sense 
yisterdy mornin and i bet they aint many 
left to gether its high time to begin bavin 
and itell soon be harvestin i cant git a 
hired man for love nor money and if i 
dont git help pritty soon ile go crazey 
dont tork forth of july to me. i sez i 
can feed your hens and chix maw lets 
me and i can milk see if i cant and i 
know where theys a hired man thats a 
jerman like you caws he askd paw for 
a job this mornin and paw sez hennery 
is all the hired men i want lies wuth 
2 good ones and i woodent have the other 
kind a round if they payed their bord. 
lies down to our house now caws maw 
toled him he cood stay till mornin if lied 
put up a chicken wire fence a round her 
garden to keep them pleggy hens out. 
maw lit inter me when i got home for 
stay in after dark and i sez thats what 
a feller gits for bein a trew amerrican. 
she sez are you crazy i told her i aint 
nor i dont believe the dr is neether. she 
sez whats the dr got to do with it and 
when i toled her what he sed and all 
the chores i done she sez why my deer 
deer boy and like to et me up i wisht ide 
thort to spoke erbout the fishin rod i 
bet shede let me had it then, she tell.v- 
foned the dr and routed out that hired 
man and they went rite up. she staid 
thair 2 days and when she come home 
she sez mrs stuber is better and thair 
all so bizzy torkin dutch they probly aint 
mist me yet. 
the next 1 i askd was the precher i 
sed ime glad you come weal probly have 
chicken and hot biskits with cream gra- 
vey on ’em and plese tell me what you 
think erbout independents day. he sed he 
was glad i start it out young in life to 
be a paytriot but i sed teeher start it us— 
he sez hooray for tocher slies a brick i 
sez she aint slies a girl and ime goin to 
marry her when i git as ‘big as hennery, 
he sez let me perform the serrimoney and 
i wunt charge you a cent i wish more 
of our young peple took an intrest in our 
nayshuns berth day and kindred sub- 
jicks. upon them depends wether this 
nayshun shall full fill its mission of car- 
ryin the twin gospells of spirritual and 
polit.vkal freedom to the ends of the erth 
or like esaw shall sell its berth rite for 
a mess of the potage of greed and com- 
mershalism thats a pritty bigg word and 
ile rite it for you but i toled him he 
mussent teeher said we must rite it all 
our own seifs. 
sheldon aint got no farther so 1 ask his 
mother, she sed well bub she allers calls 
me bub preserdunt wilson probly u 11 
throw up his job if i dont say sumpin 
and ide hate to see him do it just now 
so you can say this forth of july ime 
goin to Praze God ime livin under the 
Stars And Stripes insted of in yewrop. 
i want it to ask uthers but evr.vbuddys 
hayin and them as aint startit hayin yit 
is cultervatin corn and the wimmen is all 
cookin vittles for the grange forth of 
july Picnic. Three Cheers For The Red 
White And Blue Ilooray. 
Mrs. Wescott’s Commencement Bonnet. 
By The Brown Owl. 
“Ready, mother?” asked Freeman Wes- 
cott. as he drove old Prince, hitched to 
the milk wagon, up to the side piazza. 
“Why, I think so,” answered Mrs. 
Wescott, from the doorway. “The wind 
seems rather strong this morning: per¬ 
haps I had better set my Begonias in¬ 
side.” 
“Here, I’ll do that. Mother,” said a 
splendid-looking boy of 18 as he leaped 
up onto the piazza, disregarding the 
steps. “Father is going to take you 
to commencement in state,” he laughed, 
“see. he has the milk wagon.” 
“I can change to the carriage in short 
order if you just say the word, Mother, ’ 
quickly answered his father, “but 1 
thought if I took the milk wagon, I could 
bring back those ground oats and so 
save a trip tomorrow.” 
“Why. of course it’s all right. Don't 
make any extra trip on that account 
when you’re so busy. Freeman,” said 
Mrs. Wescott. Then turning to her boy 
she asked: “Do you think your mother 
looks all right, Fred? No use asking 
your father, because he would say ‘Yes,' 
even if I had a bran sack tied around 
my head.” 
“You certainly look good to me. Moth¬ 
er,” smiled her boy as he lifted the last 
Begonia from its place on the broad 
piazza railing. 
“But are you sure my bonnet will do? 
I don’t know if it is anything near like 
what they are wearing, but it has been 
all right for church here at the corners, 
for—let me see—it’s all of three years 
ago that I got it—still T was not so sure 
it would do for today. This is some¬ 
thing extra you know.” 
The boy smiled suddenly and said: 
“Now mother, don’t you worry a bit 
about your old bonnet. I don’t know 
what they wear, but it seems to me hats 
are not much account now anyway. Al¬ 
most everybody goes bareheaded.” 
Somewhat reassured, Mrs. Wescott 
took her seat in the wagon and they 
started on their five-mile drive to town. 
She had spent a good deal of thought 
and time, on her clothes for this occa¬ 
sion. as she wished to appear as well as 
possible Of her three children—this boy, 
her youngest child, was the only one to 
graduate from the high school. In the 
Fall he was to begin an agricultural 
course at Canton. His two sisters would 
have finished in one more year but each 
had obtained a teacher’s license and had 
gone to teaching school. They were in 
homes of their own now, and much to 
the disappointment of their mother, were 
not going to be able to attend the exer¬ 
cises. As they rolled along over the 
State road, Mrs. Wescott, just because 
she was a woman, could not help feeling 
a bit disappointed because they were go¬ 
ing in the milk wagon. Of course it was 
all right but it seemed to turn it into 
such a commonplace trip, and so different 
from the way she bad pictured it to her¬ 
self so many times. Not for the world 
would she let her husband and son know 
that she was at all disappointed, so she 
talked brightly with them all the way 
to town. 
There was a cool breeze, sweet with 
the fragrance of the wild June roses that 
lined the roadside, and it was only when 
they left the open country and entered 
the town that they realized it was a 
very warm morning indeed. 
Soon they entered the hall where the 
exercises were to be held, and as they 
passed down the aisle to their seats near 
the front, Mrs. Wescott felt a great sink¬ 
ing of her spirits. It seemed as if every¬ 
one there was dressed in the most gor¬ 
geous clothes. Worst of all there wasn’t 
(Continued on page 855) 
