1166 
THE RURAL MEW-YORHER 
WOMAN AND HOME 
Hebe is a letter just us it came to a 
probation officer in a Western city from 
one of his “pupils.” This man was ar¬ 
rested for crimes committed while he was 
drunk. The judge let him out on pro¬ 
bation as, except for the drinking, his 
record was good. It is part of his ob¬ 
ligation to report regularly to the pro¬ 
bation officer and this is one of his let¬ 
ters : 
I am well and hope you are the same. 
We are having dandy hay weather now. 
We have got six loads of hay in the barn 
where I work. It won’t be a great while 
before the wheat will be ready to cut and 
then I suppose I will go with the thrash¬ 
ing machine and tend bagger. 
I am well and hope to stay that way. 
There was a fellow offered a drink at a 
dance Friday and I knocked the bottle 
out of his hands and broke it for him, 
gee but he was mad, he jumped into me 
for a fight but he had drinked to and so I 
got the best of him. I told him that I 
would not touch a drop of booze. 
G. M. K. 
That is what you may call “fighting 
booze” in a practical way. It all helps 
toward that coming day when it will be 
just about as fashionable to offer a man 
rum as it would be to offer arsenic. 
* 
The following advertisements from 
The Gardener’s Chronicle of England 
show bow the war is affecting women’s 
work : 
WANTED, in Surrey, a woman foreman, 
chiefly inside; must be thoroughly 
trained. Write to A. P. Hoskyns, Lin- 
holme, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. 
WANTED, two women gardeners to take 
full charge of 2 acres of ground—state 
experience and ages required to II., Box 
27, care “The Gardeners’ Chronicle.” 
WANTED, lady gardener, assist Swiss 
lady gardener; Swiss or Scotch pre¬ 
ferred; under head gardener (man), in 
situation Scotland; 20 to 28 years; thor¬ 
oughly experienced, indoor and outdoor; 
strict teetotaller; state wages expected; 
live in Bothy with other lady gardener; 
send references—G. II., Box 18, 11. Well¬ 
ington Street, Covent Garden, W. C. 
We do not quite understand the dif¬ 
ference between a “woman” and a “lady” 
gardener, but it all shows how the war 
is affecting labor. There are several 
schools for training women in garden 
work in England. Out of 85 advertise¬ 
ments for gardeners 15 state that only 
those ineligible for the army need apply. 
This means men over army age or boys. 
* 
Black Walnuts!—There is a de¬ 
mand for this fine nut as well as for 
others. We are told of a man in Hart¬ 
ford, Conn., who wants 4.000 bushels or 
so this Fall. This is one of the nuts 
which should substitute for meat in the 
future, and thus save human life. All 
through the West they are cutting the 
Black walnuts very fast—using the wood 
for gun stocks. When war strikes the nut 
trees there is a double calamity. 
* 
The R. N.-Y. has developed a great ma¬ 
chine for obtaining information. Give us 
time and we can obtain the facts regard¬ 
ing any sensible proposition which is re¬ 
lated to farming. Giving advice is harder 
than obtaining facts—that is if one feels 
genuine responsibility, as we do, for such 
advice. It would trouble us greatly if 
through our advice any reader met trouble 
or loss. Thus we do our best to be ac¬ 
curate and have succeeded in gathering a 
group of conscientious men and women 
who feel, as we do, the great responsi¬ 
bility involved in such work. Naturally 
we have many strange calls for help, but 
we treat them all seriously and do our 
best to help every reasonable and honest 
trouble. During the year we receive a 
few calls which are not reasonable and 
hardly to be remarked as fair. Last 
year a hotel keeper asked us to obtain 
a liquor license for him; a man asked us 
to help him obtain a divorce from a 
good woman who was the victim of cir¬ 
cumstances. In another case a woman un¬ 
familiar with business had paid a debt, 
but had failed to take back and destroy 
her note or bond. The man who held 
it asked us to help him use this satisfied 
obligation to frighten this woman into 
paying another debt! Strange as it may 
seem to some of you, The R. N.-Y. is 
asked, now and then, to help well-to-do 
men deceive and browbeat uninformed 
women into giving up their property! 
What do we do in such cases? We tell 
such parties, so that they are sure to 
understand it, that never under any cir¬ 
cumstances will the great power of The 
R. N.-Y. be started to help any unfair 
or unworthy cause. There is enough trou¬ 
ble and wrong and injustice in this world 
now and it is saddening sometimes to 
think how little can be done during the 
ordinary human life to help remove it. 
We do what we can to help lighten the 
burden and make the world brighter and 
better for those who must work and en¬ 
dure. Our entire big machine is always 
at the service of those who are in trouble 
and try honestly to get on higher ground. 
Not one cog of it will ever move to help 
put more trouble or suffering upon our 
people or to take advantage of their in¬ 
firmities. 
* 
Country girls are sometimes induced 
to spend their money on a so-called “busi¬ 
ness” education. The New York State 
Bureau of Employment says among other 
things; 
It has been found there are many 
young people just out of high school who 
have been tempted by the advertisements 
of commercial schools to take a short 
course in stenography or business. Many 
of these schools advertise that after the 
pupils have taken a short course of this 
kind they will be fitted for positions 
which pay from .$15 to $20 a week. 
This is a fake scheme which girls 
should avoid. Such schools give a mere 
smattering of “business” or stenography 
—not enough to be of any use to a girl 
who seeks a profitable position. They 
may obtain a trial, but after a few days 
it becomes plainly evident that they are 
not competent to do good work. These 
so-called “schools” are fakes in the ma¬ 
jority of eases. 
* 
As a person grows older it seems a 
great misfortune to have one’s world too 
limited. I pity the person who cares noth¬ 
ing for reading or sewing or out of doors. 
It is too bad when one cares for noth¬ 
ing but people—most of whom are dead 
— and wants to know all the private 
affairs which the living wish to keep to 
themselves, when one knows how to do 
nothing but work, and from sheer lack 
of resources spreads the work over as 
much time as possible, then goes to bed. 
It doesn’t make life worth living. Some¬ 
thing must be wrong with the person 
who can think only of her own affairs; 
at least the point of view must be wrong, 
perhaps such persons are more to be pitied 
than blamed. We of the younger gener¬ 
ation find it hard to be patient with them. 
I suppose we ought to remember that 
they may not have the advantages that 
are spread so freely before us — better 
schools, libraries and books that make 
knowledge of nature so popular among 
many others things. Perhaps these un¬ 
happy elders serve to point a moral for 
us to have at least one hobby for our 
leisure time, and learn how to play. The 
older generation can often teach us how 
to stick to work, which some of us need 
to learn. Are they to teach us to work 
and we to teach some of them to play? 
Let’s be alive to everything good that is 
going around us and not get “queer.” 
E. K. 
* 
We received at this office in one day 
(18 notes in reply to little advertisements 
in the Subscribers’ Exchange. Among 
these were a special delivery letter and 
a telegram. We wish we could get our 
people to understand fully the possibili¬ 
ties of this department for exchanging 
goods, supplying what is needed and find¬ 
ing a market. The service is given at 
a rate which leaves no profit to The R. 
N.-Y., but we keep it up, feeling that 
sooner or later our people will realize 
the opportunities which it offers. 
* 
I see you print my letter on page 10(52 
(for which thanks), and in comment 
thereon question the statement about the 
woman bossing the man. Is not “A Coun¬ 
try Woman’s” letter, same number, which 
you praise, a case in point? Suppose it 
had been the other way about. (I am not 
defending the agent.) Suppose the wife, 
being weak of judgment and not owning 
the farm, had ordered the goods. Suppose 
the husband had countermanded the order, 
refused to receive the trees, flung them 
out to die and explained his wife’s folly 
in desiring such things. Would you praise 
him? If not , why not? c. E. D. P. 
It is not a parallel case. For ages 
society has held that the man should be 
the boss and the woman endure. When 
the woman is the stronger and more effi¬ 
cient of the two and compelled to take 
final responsibilities, she ought to assert 
her rights as in the case mentioned, and 
we have great respect for the one who did 
so. We should also have respect 
for the man who asserted himself 
to prevent his wife from making 
foolish bargains or extravagant pur¬ 
chases. Many a man has been ruined in 
business and prospects by his failure or 
inability to stop his wife from making 
ridiculous bargains or wasting time and 
money on trivial things. Considering the 
business training they have had, we think 
women are just as economical as men. 
* 
We probably have all known cases of 
men and women making great sacrifices 
in order that their children may receive 
an education. A typical case comes from 
an Eastern State. The farmer is afflicted 
with rheumatism so badly that he can 
hardly move about, and is quite disabled 
for farm work. The mother has been 
an invalid for years, but is able to help 
as best she can, milking a small herd, 
climbing up the haymow and doing 
chores. These people work in this way 
and economize as best they can, in order 
that their only child may obtain a college 
education. When we see such sacrifices 
we often wonder whether the child who 
is benefited by it can possibly realize 
and appreciate what his parents are do¬ 
ing for him. It gives opportunity for 
thoughtful consideration, when we see 
such things worked out in plain every¬ 
day life. Upon referring this matter to 
a wise man, who has seen much of human 
September 25, 1915. 
life, we obtained the following reply, 
which is probably as fair a statement of 
the average case as we are likely to ob¬ 
tain ; but is it not possible that these 
young men and women who owe their 
future almost entirely to these painstak¬ 
ing sacrifices on the part of their par¬ 
ents can realize more fully what has 
been done for them? 
“You ask my opinion as to the bov’s 
probable appreciation of the sacrifices his 
parents are making for him Some boys 
would; the majority I think, would not. 
How can they? Their minds and unde¬ 
veloped hearts are filled with their own 
ambitions and plans. They haven’t room 
for much more. They realize in a way 
that their parents are sacrificing for them, 
but who knows the meaning of sacrifice 
until he has made it? Of course, there 
are boys and boys; I sincerely hope that 
this one can grasp the idea of what his 
education means to others. But he is 
evidently the only son of a doting mother. 
He will probably realize some day, if be 
lives, but the mother is likely to be under 
the sod first. It would seem as if a boy 
who would let a crippled father and a sick 
mother pay his college bills lacked per¬ 
ception somewhere. Colleges, particular¬ 
ly agricultural colleges, can be got through 
without putting a sick mother into the 
barn and a crippled father on the rack.” 
- * 
Tying the Family Cat. 
In a recent issue Mrs. II. C. II. tells of 
keeping the family cat tied like a watch 
dog. I would like to know more about 
this. J. T. 
We keep our cat tied to prevent her 
catching birds. We wish to keep her to 
catch mice around the barn ; would rather 
have a cat to catch mice than a black- 
snake. Also wish to keep the birds, so 
we tie our cat in the Spring and keep 
her tied until the nesting season is over. 
The first day we untied her she went off 
and caught a chipmunk. She does not 
act any different when untied from cats 
which are not tied. She comes to the 
house at meal times and follows us any¬ 
where we go. The cat is tied to a tree 
with a box for a bed. Often when she 
is untied she will go and sit on the top 
of the box or inside. It seems she would 
just as soon be tied as not. My husband 
says he will kill any snake he sees, for he 
has no use for them. He can catch any 
rats with traps, and the cat can attend 
to the mice. MRS. H. it. c. 
Virginia. 
* 
Selling Goods Through Advertisements. 
Francis W. Peifer of Fisher’s Ferry, 
Pa., had a crop of peaches to dispose of. 
This is a hard year to sell peaches in the 
large markets. The crop is heavy and 
distribution poor, so that many smaller 
towns are not well supplied. The man 
with a comparatively small crop has a 
poor chance this year in the big markets. 
So Mr. Peifer went after new markets 
by advertising in our Subscribers’ Ex¬ 
change. This is what he says of the re¬ 
sult : 
I am well pleased. I think The R. N.- 
Y. is the best advertising paper, a am 
shipping peaches to Indiana, Vermont, 
New York, etc., through advertisement. 
FRANCIS W. PEIFER. 
Correspondence with readers has con¬ 
vinced us that it would be possible for 
many farmers to develop a fine trade in 
products which are often slow of sale in 
their home neighborhood. Among the 
half million readers of The R. N.-Y. are 
people who want what you have to sell 
if you can only make them believe you 
offer a bargain. 
* 
We have several readers who shudder 
whenever we print what they call “dog¬ 
gerel” or trash. Of course we can ap¬ 
preciate their feelings regarding such 
stuff, but who has given young women 
sounder, practical advice than the fol¬ 
lowing by “Walt Mason?” 
Man goes forth and weds a maiden, 
and he thinks he's cornered bliss; all 
the world becomes an Aiden, and this 
life just one big kiss. When the honey¬ 
moon is ended, and his appetite returns, 
life to him seems much less splendid— 
for his boarding house he yearns. For 
his bride, with all her talents, never 
learned to broil a steak, which destroys 
his mental balance—and the coffee sin 1 
can make! He who always loved goo 1 
feeding now must gnaw the concrete 
bread, and the gallant heart is bleeding 
that was glad when he was wed. 
The Story Hour. 
