972 
THE RURAL NEW-VOKKER 
•Tuly 31, 1915. 
Bringing Back a Worn-out Farm 
With Children Along With It 
The Beginning. —The problem of 
child-helping always interested me from 
the time I was old enough to appreciate 
the fact that there were many thousands 
of them all around who lacked the com¬ 
forts and pleasures of life which I en¬ 
joyed. My father being a minister I was 
constantly brought into touch with peo¬ 
ple in destitute and distressing condi¬ 
tions of life. When I was 14 years of 
age my father purchased a tract of land 
near our home containing about 100 
acres. This land had formerly been a 
farm, but the buildings burned many 
years ago. and it had been allowed to 
degenerate to a pasture and brush piece. 
I remember spending many hours upon 
this old farm, wishing that I could have 
it for my very own. and build a house 
upon it large enough to take in a lot of 
poor boys and girls. In process of time 
I entered business with my father and 
this property became the property of the 
firm. I never lost my desire to make 
this farm a place of refuge for poor chil¬ 
dren and yet I felt as though I wanted 
a children’s home that should be different 
from the ordinary orphans’ asylum. 
The Bream Realized. —In 1909 my 
dream began to come true, when the re¬ 
ligious association with which I am con¬ 
nected opened a home for destitute chil¬ 
dren. with-myself as superintendent. The 
start was made in a small house owned 
by the association, with practically no 
financial backing My plan for running 
it included four vital points. First, that 
it should be a home indeed, not an insti¬ 
tution merely, in which the children 
should be partners and have a lively 
interest in the success of the work. Sec¬ 
ondly, that the workers in the home 
should be only those who are willing to 
work for love, without salary. Thirdly, 
that the home should in time become self- 
supporting. Fourthly, that our efforts 
toward self-support should be mainly by 
farming. That was six years ago. 
Children and Workers.- —The first 
and second items have been wholly real¬ 
ized. We have 90 children from three 
years old up to 15. every one of whom is 
liappv and contented, and would feel 
that it was an almost unbearable punish¬ 
ment to be sent away. We have eight 
workers who are giving all their time 
to the care of these children and the per¬ 
fecting of improvements and extension of 
work, and all of them are working with¬ 
out pay. We maintain our own school. 
It is about the third and fourth items 
that I wish to speak particularly as 
being of interest to those who are digging 
in the soil for sustenance. The old worn- 
out, sandy, abandoned farm of which I 
spoke at first was selected as the site 
for the permanent location of the home 
which has been built at a cost of $12,000. 
I was told by many that this land was 
too poor to produce white beans. I re¬ 
plied in the language of Booker T. Wash¬ 
ington that this would only give us a 
better opportunity to show what we 
could do. 
Planning the Work. —The first year 
that we cultivated the land, 1911, we 
broke up about five acres and used fertil¬ 
izer on the crops. The soil was light and 
lacking in humus. The crops were light 
also. Wo persisted the next year with 
hotter success, spending much time in 
cultivation. We had some stable manure 
that year. By 1914 we had about 10 
acres under plow and most of it had re¬ 
ceived at least one coat of dressing. We 
had stocked none of it down though as 
we wished to get the land thoroughly 
cultivated and enriched before attempt¬ 
ing to raise grass. Our commercial 
fertilizer bill for 1914 was about $150. 
During this year we found that our hens 
wore a real asset for the farm We pur¬ 
chased some day-old chicks and hatched 
a lot more, choosing White Wyandottes 
as our specialty. These commenced to 
lay in December, 1914, and we com¬ 
menced the present year with about 375 
hens. The following is tin 1 showing they 
have made for the first four months of 
the present year: 
Received for eggs, Jan. 1 to May 
1. 1915 . $527.SG 
Cost of keeping hens, Jan. 1 to 
May 1 . 231.24 
Net profit on 375 hens for 4 
months ..’. $296.62 
Net profit per hen. .79 
There are some things to be taken into 
consideration in addition to this. During 
these four months they have produced 
dressing worth at least $75. No account 
has been made of the eggs used in the 
home. We have set incubators and raised 
over 800 chickens from the eggs of these 
same hens and the cost of keeping these 
chickens up to date is included in the 
figures given above. We have increased 
our stock from one cow to 11. and have 
several calves, with the expenditure of 
very little capital. We have constantly 
improved the quality of our stock until 
we have some of the best grade Holsteins 
in town. Our silage corn last season was 
the best in this vicinity, though grown 
on land that was formerly considered 
worthless. 
Returns from Farm. —This season, 
through the use of our abundant supply 
of stable manure and a mixture of bon 
manure and chemicals, used in the place 
of commercial fertilizer, our fertilizer 
bill will be but little more than one- 
third what it was last year, although 
we have about 15 acres under cultivation 
at the present time. The following is a 
comparative schedule of our farm income 
for the years since 1912 : 
Farm income. 1912.$134.55 
Farm income, 1913. 861.64 
Farm income. 1914. 85^.59 
Farm income first 4 months, 1915 847.69 
These amounts represent the cash sales 
of milk, eggs and vegetables above the 
amount used on the farm for the susten¬ 
ance of nearly 40 people. We raise 
nearly all our vegetables, except a part 
of the potatoes used. 
Increasing Work —At the present 
writing we are branching out along sev¬ 
eral different lines. We have set out 110 
apple, pear, plum and cherry trees. We 
have also set about one-half acre of 
strawberry and quite a large number of 
raspberry plants. Just now we are try¬ 
ing to get started with a good strain of 
registered Holstein stock. We have it in 
mind to purchase a cow. or a couple of 
heifers as a beginning. If we could find 
some one enough interested in the work 
we are doing , to make us a liberal dis¬ 
count on such a purchase it would 
greatly assist us. There is undoubtedly 
more profit in hens and small fruit than 
in anything else, considering the capital 
invested, but we feel that we can not sac¬ 
rifice the benefit which the children will 
receive from an all-round agricultural 
training for the sake of greater income. 
We are. however, intending to increase our 
stock of hens from 375 to 1,000 this Win¬ 
ter and to 2.000 next year I believe that 
my dream of a self-supporting children’s 
home will yet come true, and that with¬ 
in the next five years, but the most im¬ 
portant of all will be the fact that these 
children have been taken from the most 
adverse conditions of life and have 
watched and assisted in the resurrection 
of a waste place to a “garden of herbs,” 
and have caught the spirit of freedom and 
self-reliance which accompanies life on a 
farm. j. elwin wright. 
New Hampshire. 
The Wife Drives the Car. 
“I find it less difficult to drive an auto 
than to drive a horse,” a woman past 
middle age remarked. “I finally got so it 
was hardship for me to ride behind the 
horse. The horse was quite spirited, and 
I became nervous, and I was in fear all 
the time I was in the carriage lest the 
horse should become alarmed and some 
accident might occur. 
“We bought a machine, and I hesitated 
about learning to drive. I enjoyed riding 
beside my husband, and I felt perfectly at 
ease. One evening I ventured to take the 
steering wheel, the road was straight and 
level, and the matter of driving fascinat¬ 
ed me. My husband showed me all about 
the levers and controls, and rode with me 
a number of times before I ventured 
alone. I can start the machine, back it, 
drive it anywhere as easily and with less 
fear than with a horse. One woman told 
me that if she thought it would be possi¬ 
ble for her to learn to drive the machine 
they would have one. Their farm work 
requires so many trips to town and I as¬ 
sured her that there would be little doubt 
as to her being able to learn to drive the 
machine as quickly as her husband. I 
advised a neighbor lady to learn to drive 
the car. and she says that when she 
wishes to go any place it is not necessary 
to wait until evening for her husband to 
drive the car. but she and her daughter 
may go for an afternoon call, may visit 
the country store before dinner or make 
a trip without interfering with the farm 
work. It’s easy, and any sensible farm¬ 
er's wife can learn to drive the machine 
in a few days.” w. J. 
The Woman At Law 
Consent to Mortgage. 
Can a man mortgage his house in Mas¬ 
sachusetts without the consent of his 
wife? E. F. M. 
Vermont. 
He could do it, but the mortgagee 
would hardly take a mortgage in which 
the wife had not joined, inasmuch as if 
the mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage 
the wife’s dower interest would still be 
outstanding and she could claim it on the 
death of her husband. A wife releases 
her dower interest by joining in the mort¬ 
gage, and if she does not join she does 
not release it. 
Annulment of Marriage of Young Girl. 
A girl of 17 and a man of 22 obtain 
a marriage license of the town clerk in 
the town in which the man resides, and 
are married by a minister in the same 
town. They falsely state that the girl is 
18 and a resident of the town in which 
the license was obtained. Is this marriage 
legal and what measures ar a open to the 
girl's parents? J. S. 
New York. 
The marriage is legal unless some 
action is taken to procure the annulment 
thereof. An action to annul the marriage 
on the ground that your daughter had 
not attained the age of legal consent, 
which is 18 years, may be maintained by 
either parent. 
Assessment: Mortgagee’s Claim. 
1. Many years ago my husband’s 
father owned a residence on Long Island 
and the administrator sold it. I under¬ 
stand that it is mortgaged for $2,000, 
which the mortgagee has recently fore¬ 
closed. Could you tell me where to write 
to find the assessed value of the property 
at present time and the name and ad¬ 
dress of the mortgagee? 2. Does the 
mortgagee have any claim on the estate 
when sold, above the $2,000. or can he 
foreclose and take the property, which 
used to be the law in Massachusetts 
years ago? 3. What is the right of 
dower for the widow in New York State, 
if she refused to sign the deed? 
Massachusetts. g. a. t. 
1. If you send the street address of 
the property, together with its lot and 
block number to the Department of Taxes 
and Assessments. Municipal Building, 
with your inquiry, they will probably 
forward you the information. The mort¬ 
gagee’s name (and address, if mortgage 
made within last few years) can only be 
obtained from an inspection of the mort¬ 
gage in the Register's office in the County 
of Kings. 
2. The mortgagee has no claim above 
the amount of his mortgage, interest and 
costs of the foreclosure proceedings. Any¬ 
thing above this goes to the mortgagor, 
or other creditors. 
3. If the widow has not released her 
dower rights, it consists of a life inter¬ 
est in one-third of her husband's real 
property. 
Distribution of Property. 
If I should die leaving a farm valued 
at $8,000. and $5,000 in personalty, with¬ 
out any will, leaving a wife and five 
children all of age. what per cent, would 
the State take and what share would 
the wife and children each get? G. M. 
New York. 
The State Transfer Tax amounts to 
one per cent, on the value of all real and 
personal property above $5,000. which 
passes by death to a wife or child. Each 
person is entitled to that exemption, i. e., 
$5,000. The real property would be dis¬ 
tributed. the dower interest of her life 
estate in one-third of the real property 
to the wife and the balance equally 
among the children. The personal pro¬ 
perty goes, after payment of debts, one- 
third to the wife and the balance equally 
among the children. 
Payment by Note. 
I have a mortgage on a farm against 
parties who are inclined to wait when 
interest is due until some more conven¬ 
ient time; the property is good for twice 
what I have against it. If I take their 
note for interest that is due me and 
state in the note that it is given for inter¬ 
est and receipt it on the bond, would I 
lose my interest in case they took the 
Bankruptcy Law or any other gouge 
game? In case I can hold them for inter¬ 
est. will you send me the form of a note 
that I should have them give me and 
also the form of a receipt that I should 
give them? s. B. T. 
New York. 
In the absence of an agreement be¬ 
tween the parties that it is to be received 
as payment the general rule is that a 
note of the debtor is not a payment or 
an extinguishment of the original in¬ 
debtedness. So if the note is not paid, 
and he goes into bankruptcy you may 
foreclose and include interest. Practi¬ 
cally any sort of a note will do. and to 
make doubly sure that you will protect 
your rights under the mortgage, you 
give a receipt substantially in the form 
following: 
“Received of A his note for $. 
payable.months from . 
which note when paid will be in settle¬ 
ment of interest amounting to . 
due.on mortgage of $. from 
A to B on premises at . It is 
understood that by accepting this note I 
am not waiving any of my rights under 
the mortgage.” 
Divorce. 
After 10 years of desertion in this 
State, my husband went to Kansas and 
obtained a decree of divorce and paid his 
wife a sum of money to release all her 
claims upon him. He returned and we 
were married in this State. We have 
grown sons and daughters and they have 
all helped to accumulate quite a farm 
property. I would like to know if this 
law or any law passed in past 30 years 
will affect the validity of our marriage 
certificate or my children’s right to their 
share of their father’s property. j. 
New York. 
The courts of New York have repeat¬ 
edly held that a divorce obtained in an¬ 
other State, without a personal service 
of process on the defendant within this 
State or her or his voluntary appearance, 
is void, as affecting New York residents. 
This is contrary to the rule of most of 
the States, which is that a divorce ob¬ 
tained in accordance with the laws of the 
State where instituted is valid and bind¬ 
ing everywhere. 
If your husband’s former wife was per¬ 
sonally served with process or appeared 
by attorneys in his action for divorce the 
decree is binding upon her and his mar¬ 
riage to you is valid. In any event she 
probably has no claim against your hus¬ 
band because of the payment and release. 
It will hardly be worth while to again 
go through the marriage ceremony in an¬ 
other State unless the wife was not 
served nor appeared. 
t 
