594 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks 
Where's the IlA.\rMEK?—The Pas¬ 
toral Parson has been looking for the 
hainuier. There are two hammers and 
two hatchets on the place—somewhei'e. 
lie had planned a little carpentering for 
this forenoon, but no hammer can be 
found. After much searching, he hit his 
head on .something going through the 
henhouse, and looking up found oiie oc 
tlie hatchets stuck into a rafter! So he 
The Parson’s House 
lias come in and settled down at the 
desk, for he cannot work with second- 
haml stiifT without a claw-hammer to 
pull out the nails. Of course he lays it 
to the boys. They have left the ham¬ 
mers somewhere. Nothing so handy as a 
boy on a farm—you can lay everything 
to him. 
I'liE Question, —Shall we have the 
boys let the tools alone or try to teach 
them to use them right and put them 
back where they belong? The fir.st is the 
easiest course—some fathers lock up the 
tools—but the Parson believes it is not 
the best. Hoys always want to be mak¬ 
ing something; how can they ever learn 
in any other Avay? A thing they make 
themselves is worth a dozen you buy. 
The oldest boy is especially given to 
manufacturing! With a fine six-dollar 
cart on the farm, only yesterday he came 
to me for help in making a little cart 
out of some old lawn-mower ■wheels. 
Much time has been spent and many 
pounds of nails used in waking snow 
plows this Winter to pull along the 
walks; there was one for each of the 
four! How much they learn in using 
their hands and eyes and little brains 
this way! When the five-year-old is 
with me, I leave the nails driven part 
way in, so that he can finish them, with 
his little hand way up the hammer han¬ 
dle, ’most touching tlie head. 
Learning Si.owi.y. —We cannot ex¬ 
pect children to learn to put things back 
ill a minute or a day or years. Some of 
us grown-ups have never learned it. The 
boy.s have free access to all the tools, 
even the bits, but we have talk(*d much 
about the effect of hitting nails ivith 
edge tools and they do wonderfully well. 
When I see them with the tools, I gen¬ 
erally speak about it pleasantly, but re¬ 
mind them to remember to put them 
back in their place when through. A 
child naturally drops a thing right 
where he uses it. The youngest on this 
place always does. P>ut patience and 
suggestion will cure the h.abit. The real 
losses are charged up to education—one 
.saw and one hammer permanently gone 
this last Winter. I think the other 
lialchet will .show up with the Spring 
cleaning. 
p.ovs AND Work. —^The Par.son still 
reads in The R. N.-Y. about cases nhere 
it is hard to get boys to work. I sup- 
Itose he has such a soft spot for boys 
that his judgment is badly warped. Rut 
there is one thing we must all remem¬ 
ber. Boys are not a means, they are an 
end. They are not given to do our work 
for us, but as the object of our care 
and affection, to train them up int.> full 
stature. There are fourteen hundred 
children in this State—dependent chil¬ 
dren—put out into homes. Have these 
children been taken for the sake of the 
children themselves or to help work in 
these homes? In the opinion of those 
who study the matter about here, these 
are practically all cases, pure and sim¬ 
ple, of exploiting child labor. Are they 
not t.aken to' help grown-ups, and should 
it not bo just the other way? 
Play or Work. —A child’s life is play 
life—say what you will. Wise ones may 
try to change his make-up, but it is God’s 
own handiwork, and they will have a 
hard time of it. .Tust as the churches 
have tried to fit the boy to their ideas 
of religion and Sunday school—now they 
arc learning, rather late in the day, to 
fit the.se things to him. All boys come 
home fiom sitting in school and the first 
thing is bread and butter and then off 
to pl.'iy. There is much they can do to 
help, but with the excei)tion of getting 
the eggs and throwing out the silage, the 
time is theirs. “Put supper off till just 
about dark." I told mother the other 
day, “so they can have all the time there 
is to play.’’ 
Hkei’Ers.— ^^('hildrcn are helpers. 'I’liey 
are not much on the lone hand, nor 
they do love .solitaire, but they will run 
their little legs off if managed right. The 
little boy of most six years is the Par¬ 
son's hired man. 8uch good times we 
have togetlu'r. “We need the* saw here, 
don't we? IN'i'ant me go get it'/" he will 
say and scamp<-r off. So it is with the 
bigger boys. “Want to help pajia jiick 
up stones tonight after schoor/" .and 
there is an immediate res[)onse. 
('HEEREUE Atmosphere. —If you go 
round like .a funeral, afraid to crack a 
smile or make a noi.se. and are forever 
nagging your boy and running him down 
in front of other jieoide. the Parson 
hoi)es be'lll never liel]) yon .a stroke and 
The Parson’s Barn and Silo 
that he will run away from you just 
as soon as he can. If you swear at Iri;' 
and cuff him .and even kick him—well, 
“Judgment is mine, 1 will reii;iy,’’ saith 
the Lord. Picking up slot, 's will be a 
regular outing for us. There will be 
ajiples and bread to munch on the way 
up in to the lot. If the dog sets uj) a 
fearful barking in the woods, we will 
all go and see what is up. The pigeons 
that fly overhead will have to be care¬ 
fully scrutinized. There will be any 
(|uantity of noise—the more the better— 
(How a boy loves a fearful racket!) and 
one, if not more, of the b(>ys will ride 
on the horse's back on the way home. 
Can’t Remkmrer. — The I’aj;.son 
know’S a boy who never felt the same to¬ 
ward his father all his life beciiuse of a 
licking he gave him with a horsewhi]) 
because he forgot to wati-r a calf each 
night on coming home from .school. God 
had told the boy to scamper and run 
and I day, for he h:id sat cramped ui> in 
school all day.'and the farmer told him 
to water calves—and God came out 
ahead. Some one Inis well said, “God 
gave a boy twenty thousand muscles to 
move with and not one to keep him 
still.’’ And they weren’t given to lug 
heavy water with either. If it’s such 
fun, ■why don't the grown-ups take to it 
more? A woman down county thinks 
God took her boy away from her. I 
trust God has him now, but it was saw¬ 
ing and splitting and lugging green wood 
every single night after sclnxd when the 
other boys were off sliding that killed 
him. In the chair beside me is the local 
paper, and in it I have just read of a 
man who is advertising for liolii. He is 
despei’ate for some one. Two of his fine 
big boys liave already run away and I 
heard last Sunday the third was plan¬ 
ning to go this Spring. How terrible 
to think of—the great mulitude of chil¬ 
dren who arc unhappy and whose great¬ 
est heritage—their love and affection— 
has been blighted and frozen till bitter¬ 
ness and despair enter in! 
Those two ITg.s. —Yes, the Parson 
met the little boy dragging a heavy sled 
down toward the swamp woods to draw- 
up some green wood to burn. He heard 
his father’s ax and had a talk with him. 
“Have you sold your pigs?’' asked the 
Pastoral Parson. “Yes. they went yes¬ 
terday.’’ “I hope you got what I heard 
you asked.’' ‘‘No, I didn't.’' said the 
man. “the man who bought them claimed 
they were i-ather stunted and Spring pigs 
would come on just about as well. But 
they were good pigs. The boy brought 
them home last Fall and had taken pains 
with them all Winter. No. I didn't get 
the fifteen dollars 1 asked. But what is 
one going to do when the children are 
crying for fobd?'’ .\nd do you know it 
was true? Down at the school house 
they said. the boy had not come, for he 
had nothing to carry in his pail, and 
this man had beaten him down on those 
two pigs from fifteen dollars to—the 
neiglil ors said—twelve. 
RETUutUTloN. —I know ju.st how that 
boy felt and just how he looked when 
his jiigs were carried off on which he 
had “taken pain.s’’ all Winter. The 
Par.son had a letter from a man out in 
Indiana a while ago. He sent some 
money for the man with the broken leg 
way down on I’eeden Place farm and 
in the letter he said that “Gehenna was 
made hot for such men as the doctor who 
asked that man a hundred and twenty 
ilollars.” How iibout those cow hogs 
and hog sharks who go about taking ad¬ 
vantage of the poor and Avith their putrid 
money buy their A-ery living for le.s.s 
than it is Avorth? 
New Trick.s of the Trade.—T hat 
kind of people are ahvays deA-ising some 
new Avays of cheating the farmer. To be 
forcAvarned is to be forearnu'd.' ’I'licse 
buyers are full of cunning. They know 
that indirect suggestion is much more 
pOAverful than direct. So two of them 
go together—often father and son. They 
look at the coav and then talk to <'ach 
other—just so you can hear. One makes 
an outrageous offer and you refuse it, 
but the other buyer pretends to be your 
friend. Ho off'ers a higher pric(“, really 
ii “gift,” but he Avants you to be satis¬ 
fied. You think this certainly must be a 
big price and take it—still far below its 
value. The I’arson knew of one ca.se 
Avhere both buyers drove off doAvn the 
road without making a trade. Then one 
of them—the father, got out and walked 
hack to tell the seller that he insists on 
being git'cn an honest price, and so of¬ 
f-red you tAvo dollars more—and you 
rake it only to find later that j-ou liaA’C 
been taken in. 
Wor.se Stii.l. —The Parson recently 
heard of the folloAviug case Avhich he has 
every reason to believe to be true. The 
The Parson’s Auto, Stays in the Mud 
beef buyer comes round and you hesitate 
to take his price. But he Avill be stpiare 
Avith you. He Avill come right there and 
kill the beef on your own ground. You can 
Aveigh it on your own .scales, and he will 
giA-e you the market price. This cer¬ 
tainly looks straight. You agree to it. 
The beef is killed. But your buyer be¬ 
gins to make careful examinations of 
the lungs. He sees bunches or thinks 
he does—he tells you he does. He looks 
around cautiously and Avhispers to you 
that it is tubercular. You must look 
our for the authorities. He Avill take 
the meat and hurry to town and do the 
best he can for you, but you must not 
exiiect too much. This man got for the 
whole thing just two dollars and the 
hide alone Avas iirobably AVorth eight. 
Do you think the buyer threAv that meat 
away? 
Tho.se Pigs Again.—B ut the Parson 
can't get those two pigs and that boy 
out of his mind, lie feels a good deal to 
blame for it. To be sure, that house is 
out of his territory, off his regular beat, 
even out of his county, but “Who is my 
neighbor?'’ AA-as asked long ago, and the 
ansAA-er still is .sounding. “He who has 
fallen among thieves.” Did he not pass 
by this house Avithout stopping last 
Winter? To be sure, it Avas bittc-r cold, 
and he had A-ery far to go, but then had- 
April 21, 1917, 
he not been told that there Avas a house 
full of children here, and boys at that, 
Avay doAvn in this lonely SAvamp? He 
ought to haA-e called at the house and 
he ought to haAo called at the barn, as 
he generally does, as well. He could 
have saved the day and saved the bacon, 
too. But then he will make up for it 
all. What :i find .such a family really 
is! What a real chance where there is 
actual need and hunger! As the I’ar.«on 
Avrites, a terrible storm is raging out in 
the night, but he knoAvs there is cheer 
in that far-off house on that I.onely 
Road tonight, and with the next coming 
of the postman there will be still more 
to follOAV. 
The Par.son’s IIou.se.—A t the back 
of the Par.son’s house, which you see in 
the picture, is the double porch aa'o built 
on, after buying the place. Such a com¬ 
fort as this porch is, and a double porch 
costs little more than a single one. for 
the same roof docs for both. The I’ar.son 
and his boys .sleep on thi.s porch. At 
first both porches were Quite open, but 
noAv we haA'e closed in both—largely 
with windoAvs Avhich come out in Hum¬ 
mer. This house Avas yelloAv, but we 
think there is no color like Avhite for 
the country home. 
TifE Barn and Hix.o.—A nother ]»ic- 
ture shows the barn and silo. AVe 
painted all the buildings Avhite, and a 
nice-looking barn adds much to a place. 
The silo is brick, tis Ave live near a 
brickyard, and the so-c;illed burnt brick 
is cheap and really stronger than the 
othei’S. AVe .shall try to start some vines 
to run over this. Mo.st of the I’ar.son's 
“play” comes in fixing up and carpen¬ 
tering about the barn on rainy days. 
Hometimes he Avonders if he Avill CA-er get 
the.se jobs all done, and other times he 
hop(-s he never Avill. :is it is Avhat Ave 
have done ourselves on a place that 
make it a real home. 
Fart in the AIud. —Another picture 
shows the Parson’s auto stuck f.-ist in the 
mud. AVe Avere pulled out aa ith ropes 
tAvice la.st >Sunday and Avoiind up by 
leaving the car in the road all night as 
you see it. AA'e had four services, and 
traA'eled some 00 miles. . AA'e ate dinner 
in a schoolhouse and supper at 11 
o’clock at night at home, and if the old 
car Avas as wejir.v as Ave Avere, it had a 
right to ;i good rest in the road. 
The Hens are I.aving. —One of the 
boy.s—the hen boy—has just come in 
Avith the hens’ eggs. He has 47 for to¬ 
day, and-had the same number yester¬ 
day from a possible 57, The I’arson is 
still sticking to Avheat br.-in and skim- 
milk. fed in a stiff mash. Avith corn at 
night, and the hens certainly do great 
work. 
Pearls from Oysters 
t )ne of our readers sends us the fol- 
loAving clipping: 
John N. Roach of I’otighkeepsic has 
been informed by Tiffany & Co. of New 
York that a pearl discovered in oysters 
is worth -itsOO Avith his teeth marks on 
it and at least .Hl.OOO if polished. 
This thing of picking ui> .$800 pearls 
looks easy, and our fri<-nd writes to ask 
how true the story is. Ho Ave Avrote Tif¬ 
fany A- Co.. alKiut it. and receive this 
reply: 
There is no foundation fm- the state¬ 
ment as it appears in the clipping. Mu.s- 
sels found in the rivers in the Middle 
AVest contain gem pearls, and excep- 
The Robin’s Nest 
tionally fine ones may be Avorth several 
hundred dollars, but such are very rare. 
Eatable ovstt-rs never contain pearls of 
value. * tiffany & co. 
There Avill be more money this year 
digging potatoes than in picking up 
pearls. Think for a moment, and you 
Avill see that if pearls Avere so easily 
found they could not be “of great price.” 
