83 
TiiERK 19 <1 movoinpiit on foot to oii- 
coiinisp the study of “Lincoln" in the 
public schools. If the children are to be 
taught to read Virgil or Iloiner or Csesar 
they should also read Tdncoln. A book 
which should be read and studied in 
every school at least once a year iS Ed¬ 
ward Everett Hale’s “The Han With¬ 
out a C’ountry.” Too many of our chil¬ 
dren are growing np with no idea of 
National feeling. 
The big “.spelling bee" announced for 
the New York State Fair last Fall was 
cancelled on account of the scourge of 
infantile paralysis, but prize contests 
were carried through in .“S counties. Silver 
medals have been awarded the winners. 
It is noticeable that 20 out of the .OS 
winners are girls. We should have ex- 
■l)ect<‘d that from our written corres¬ 
pondence. The women and girls are. 
as a rule, more careful than the men 
about .such thing.s. ^Many people do not 
realize how much good spelling stands 
for in business correspondence. It is 
often the deciding thing with many busi¬ 
ness men. 
Wk want to put in our regular .ad¬ 
vice to parents not to let pictures of 
their young children appear in print. 
Sometimes a boy or girl will do some¬ 
thing worthy of praise, or a little out of 
the ordin.ary. Some newspai)ers. seeking 
for sen.sations. will want .a picture of 
this remarkable youngster. iMany chil¬ 
dren like this sort of notoriety, and par¬ 
ents may. at first thought, consider it .a 
fine thing. A little reflection will show 
them that it can do the child no good, 
and may easily lead to damage. It may 
make the child conceited b‘youd her 
years, or may le.ad to d.angeroiis corres¬ 
pondence. If you take our advice you 
will keep such pictures out of print. 
A ci'iiiot'.s law case canu' ui) ri'cently 
in New York, when a woman refused to 
contribute to the sup])ort of her grand¬ 
children. Her daughter-in-law tried to 
compel this woman to i)ay a certain sum 
of money eacii w('ek. but for pei-sonal and 
family la'.asons the woni.an refnsi'd to do 
so. Tin* Judgf' found an (dd l.iw under 
which the griindmother tx'comes respon- 
sil)lp for her son's children and com¬ 
manded the woman to ])ay. She rt'fused. 
and was tluui siuit to jail I She does not 
object to heli)ing the childiani. but as is 
often tin* c-ase. thinks theia* is a family 
l>rinciple at stake, and will not yield. 
T.ater this woman was released. Tier 
chief .argument is that her daughter-in- 
law is lazy .and will not work to support 
the children ! 
* 
."Ma.w a woman starts out brav^ely to 
fight the high cost of living with new 
kinds of food. She has chemistry and 
via’.v expert advice to prove that her new 
dishes make a true balanced ration fully 
capable of suiiporting life. The trouble 
comes when husband or father rebels. 
'The new food may be scientific for all 
they know, but they are used to certain 
dishes, and do not want anything else. 
Habit has fixed certain desires and tastes, 
and habit is, after all, the most impor¬ 
tant part of a balanced ration. That is 
where most of the attempts to feed a fam¬ 
ily scientifically fall down, riieinistry is 
for the stomach, but not for the tongue, 
and when peoi)le have formed a fixed 
habit for c(*rtain foods it is hard to an¬ 
alyze them away from their favorites. 
IVk have a reader who sends the fol¬ 
lowing list of food articles which his 
mother made out of flour last year, ^^'e 
ha\-e no doubt many farm wonn'ii can 
.show an even longer list, and it is a 
good thing for the men folks to spimd 
their time figuring such things out. Tin* 
men folks do a large share of the “eating 
thereof,” and the.v may well understand 
how much work is required to turn out 
this flood of food ! 
, I thought it would interest you and 
your subscribers to learn what a woman 
can do in one year. There are 10 in the 
family every day, and three away. Here 
is the li.st of baking my mother did 
alone: This list of baking does not in¬ 
clude griddle cakes, meat pies, pot pies, 
nor puddings of which we have plent.v. 
besides she does all of the housework. 
Oic RURAL N 
Here is the list and flour used, and 
cost: 
barrels, total cost 72.1 
loaves bread; 020 pies; cookies; 
.“.'.>2 biscuits; 120 cakes; 24 strawberry 
short cakes. euexcii. jr. 
('olumbia Co.. N. Y'. 
.Il’DGE McAdoo of New Y'ork in a re¬ 
cent address made some sensible remarks 
about boys and young men. Among 
other things he said; 
To be successful a young man must 
do something he wants to do. The man 
must love his work. If I had a boy and 
he came to me and said he wanted to be 
a shoemaker I should say, “All right, 
my son, but be a good shoemaker; make 
the best shoes in New Y’ork.” An honest 
shoemaker who makes hone.st shoes is 
worth .100 hnvyers who botch their ca.ses 
or 500 doctors who bury their dead. 
There is a great truth in that though 
it is one of the hardest things for many 
mothers and sisters to understand. They 
cannot, somehow, imagine that their own 
hoy is like other children. He must be 
in a class by himself I Then they pro¬ 
ceed to put him into a inferior class by not 
letting him develop in natural ability. 
* 
There can be no iiuestion that the 
women voters in the Western Slates de¬ 
cided the last Presidential election. A 
change of 5.000 votes, properly distrib¬ 
uted. would have defeated President IVil- 
son—so close was the margin in several 
AVestern .States. The women were less 
tied up to party organization than were 
the men. and they evidently did their 
best to select what seined to them plain 
moral issues. It seems to us that each 
E W-YO R K E R 
up. A public reading and gathering 
room is popular and useful if some en¬ 
terprising worker can get it going and 
keep up the interest. The following lit¬ 
tle story tells how one man tried the ex¬ 
periment in a lonely neighborhood.] 
I first got the people together and pro¬ 
duced an entertainment. It was the most 
successful ever held there, and I began to 
be popular. We gave the show a second 
time in another village. A club called 
Crystal Concert Club was formed and 
they elected me president. Then Spring 
and its trials came, and it was late when 
we gave the third entertainment. It 
was my puri)ose to institute the public 
reading-room through this club. I found 
I must furnish nearly all the enthusiasm, 
do most of the work, and educate the peo¬ 
ple to my own conce|)tions. This was a 
difficult task. I began to see I must not 
make any enemies within the club; sev¬ 
eral spats threatened to disrupt it. I 
kept fairl.v clear of.them, and had I had 
two years more I believe I could have 
accomplished something definite. But it 
certainly is .a slow job and full of pit- 
falls. If one only had the cold cash 
to set up public reading-rooms, the peo¬ 
ple would be quick to see their benefits. 
But until they do see their benefits, they 
will be hard to lead. The quicker way 
would be to build the room and furnish it 
lightly. Then offer it to the people on 
condition it be paid for within a stated 
time. The folks of a community would 
soon take pride in it and work hard to 
buy it and improve it aftenvards. This 
would require first the instillation of 
A Nebraska Child and Her Farm Pet 
month sees more and more of the ob¬ 
jection to “votes for women” passing 
away. 'There will always be able men to 
oppo.se it, but they cannot stop it now. 
It may be a question whether many 
farm women could expect to make a suc¬ 
cess at breeding and training high-class 
dogs. AA’e have many que.stions about 
this, but our own exiierii'iice is limited. 
There surc'ly is a good demand for cer¬ 
tain classes of terriers, and prices seem 
to be fair. It is not everyone, however, 
who can hoiie to succei'd as a dog breed¬ 
er I It may be said, as with tin* hen and 
the cow, he or she must be half dog in 
order to succeed ! Thi.s is a compliment 
or the reverse as men look at it. At any 
rate we can hardly think of a more 
useful and sensible article on the subject 
than the one by Hr. Tucker on page 77. 
* 
A wojr.vx in New Y’ork City had 
bright red hair, and foolishly thought 
it an affliction, because a few boys .slioiit- 
ed “Bedd.v” or ‘Tied H(>ad'’ as she passed 
by. So this woman fell a victim to a 
“hair doctor.” who advised the u.se of 
“lieroxide” which Avas to change the red 
to a “golden glow.” The hair under this 
treatment turned white and then dropped 
out! This woman sued for $.”>.000 dam¬ 
ages. and the jury gave her six cents. 
She would have been wise if she liail 
adopted the philo.sophy of the Hope 
Farm children and taken pride in her 
hair—as being unusual. 
Social Life in Farm Communities 
[Hany of our readers are trying to 
improve and brighten the social life in 
their farm community. Winters are 
often dull and the people need .social life 
and pleasant thoughts to brighten them 
some siiirit. but I believe it could be done. 
3Iy vision Avas a comfortable little 
building of one large room. AA-here both 
sexes might enter and mingle freely dur¬ 
ing evenings, reading magazines, neAvs- 
papers and books, Avith comfortable furni¬ 
ture and music to rest them. I can see 
our farmer folks brooding uAvay at their 
homes over their selfish little misfortunes, 
making mountains of moh'hills I can 
see their young sons and daiigiiters. fillvd 
Avith a reckless passion for a change in 
their sodden existence, occasionally “run¬ 
ning the roads." Our drunkards and 
moral jellyfish among us can be remedied 
to a large extent by the crystallizing of a 
pOAverful comnuitiity spirit. One Avay to 
do it is through the public reading-room. 
I’m going to try again some time. I have 
selfishness and timidity to overcome and 
a philosophical stick-to-lt spirit to ac¬ 
quire. V. SI. 
♦ 
Sketches from Life on the Farm 
Some years ago a small boy in a West¬ 
ern State grew a few vegetables to sell. 
He Avalked several miles Avith a dozen 
('urs of SAveet corn, sold six for four cents, 
and told his mother he Avasn't going to 
do any more of that kind of Avork. To¬ 
day he is the agricultural expert of a 
great raiLvay system, trying to induce 
the other fellow to groAV the corn, etc., to 
keep his railroad busy. A brother of his 
is cashier of a bank in the Southwest 
Avhere there are farms by the tens of thou¬ 
sands Avithout a cow on them. This man 
is rustling to get these folk to keep coavs 
and incidentally keep his bank going. 
A farm Avoman in New Y'ork thought 
she Avould buy an oilstove with a fireless 
cooker oven. She intended to get her 
dinner going in this and be free to go 
out of doors to Avork in garden or berry 
patch. She found a tAvo-burner oil .stove 
with fireless cooker oven cost .$20.50. On 
a recent trip to toAvn a former customer 
inquired about blackberries. No black¬ 
berries. The farm Avoman had done some 
mental arithmetic. How many hours in 
the berry patch in the hot sun to earn 
that tireless oA'en? She concluded to 
quit AA'ork in the berry patch, except for 
home u.se,'cook simple food oA'cr an old- 
fashioned fire, and dcA’ote the time sa\'ed 
to enjoying life. This AA-omau is not de¬ 
pendent on auto rides, movies, etc., for 
her enjo.vment. Enjoyment is lying 
around loose on the farm Avaiting for her 
to come along. I saw her awhile .ago 
walking leisurely and SAvinging her pail 
like a carefree youngster on her way to 
the patch for berries for dinner. She 
saAV me and sang out: “A time and a 
half for overtime on the farm." “Are 
you crazy?" I called back to her. “No. 
but that other Avoman is going to be per- 
f(‘Ctly crazy to get blackberries for her 
dinner. They are not Avorking overtime 
at the factory on a fireless cooker oven 
for me. and old Croesus ksn’t putting a 
big Avad in his pocket out of my twenty 
dollars and a half.” Here she comes 
back and I ask her Avhat about the ber¬ 
ries that go unpicked. Her answer is a 
smile and "I saAv come Summer yelloAv- 
birds. They didn't charge any admi.ssiou 
—as much as three reels”—her A oice has 
trailed aAA-ay into silence. c. 
♦ 
Gluten Bread 
I am interested in gluten bread as pre¬ 
scribed for the reduction of flesh. Will 
you give recipes for making this bread? 
JIR.S. R. 
(rliiten Bread.—The folloAA’ing recipe 
Avas givi'ii us as a good one, but Ave have 
not tested it our.selves. Pour a pint of 
boiling Avater into a pint of milk; add a 
ti'aspoonfiil of butter and a teas])oonful 
of salt. I.et stand till liiki'warm. then 
add a Avell-boateii egg. a quarter of a 
yeast cake dissolved, and enough gluten 
flour to make a soft batter. CoA’er and 
.stand in a Avarm place to rise then add 
enough gluten flour to make a soft dough 
and kne.-id it Avi'll. Form it into four 
loaves and let risi* again. Bake for one 
hour. (Jliiteu brc'ad rt‘<]uir(‘s less yeast 
and less time to risi- than ordinary bread. 
(Jluten "Lazy’’ Biscuit.—Two measur¬ 
ing cups of gluten Hour. tAVo tablespoon- 
fuls lard, two teaspoonfiils baking pow¬ 
der. a little salt. Hix Avith milk or 
Avater, .stir Avidl. and cook in gem iniiis. 
This makes eight hiscuits. 
The Rural School 
The item entitled “The Rural School 
Question."’ on page 1.550, is deserving of 
more than usual notice. If there ever 
Avas a (|U(>stion that was vital to the in¬ 
terest and AA'elfare of the farmers of New 
Y'ork State it is thi.s so-called “toAvuship 
system for schools.” The men Avlm 
fraiiK'il thi.s bill iieA’cr considered for a 
ininuti' the Avelfare of the farmers' chil¬ 
dren. nor the hardships that it avouM 
bring upon them and their pari'iils. Liv¬ 
ing on a farm, and S(‘uding four children 
to district school. I can realize to some 
extent Avhat it Avould mean if these chil¬ 
dren Avere obliged to bundle up th.-se 
cold mornings and start for a .schot I- 
hou.se miles aAvay, to be hours on the 
road going and coming, with no one to 
see they AA’cre comfortable on this triii. 
This sy.^tem Avould do more to depreciate 
the value of rural farms- than any other 
thing could do. Who Avould Avant to buy 
a farm situat d where their childreii 
Avere obliged to go four or tiA*e miles to 
school. Where Avould there be any gain? 
I have a boy attending high school, and 
I knoAV he doesn’t get any bettor train¬ 
ing or have any better chance to progress 
th:in he did at our district .school so long 
as he was in the grades. This bill is 
aimed wholly at eiiualizing taxation, and 
it sei'uis to me thi're could be some other 
Avay to do that besides depriving rural 
children of their rights and comforts. If 
the farmers Avho are opposed to this bill 
Avill make themselves heard before it i.s 
too late, they can maintain their rights. 
Our Assemblyman told me the Avay to 
oiqiose this bill Avas to get up petitions 
and send to him. and have all our Oranges 
Avrite him. and instruct the State Orange 
that Ave_^ are ojipo.sed to it. I hope The 
R. N.-Y. Avill use its poAver in assisting 
us in this matter, the same as it did in 
the milk strike and many other Avorthy 
oauses. c. w. 
NeAv Y’ork. 
