836 
■Bhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Slaughter. —Shortly after our late 
dinner on Sunday afternoon, I glanced 
out of the window and saw the half- 
grown puppy lying in the road in front 
of the house. Now many an honest, 
hard-working dog will lie down during 
the day for a nap. “Honest and hasd 
working! Was there ever a dog of 
which this can be said?” That is what 
some of the dog haters will say, and I 
answer yes. Our dogs spend the night 
watching about the buildings. If you 
doubt it try to get into the barn or hen¬ 
house, or approach the dwelling, and see 
how you are greeted by the Airedale and 
her son. They will not bite if you be¬ 
have yourself, but you can make no 
silent approach. So our dogs frequently 
lie down in the sun for a nap. It seepied 
strange to see this little one stretched 
out in the road, for she had Airedale 
blood in her veins, and that means A 1 
in brains and judgment. A little later I 
looked again and there was the little dog 
in the same place. Soon her mother came 
trotting along and stopped beside the 
figure for a moment. She glanced at the 
house, and as it seemed to me, shook her 
head, and walked sadly on. It was time 
to investigate, and the children ran out 
to find the little dog dead. An automo¬ 
bile had evidently ran over the'^ puppy— 
ermshing her neck and head and leaving 
her there in the road. 
Power. —We never knew who did it. 
Some passing car sma.shed over the little 
dog and then dashed on out of sight be¬ 
fore the driver could be detected. Per¬ 
haps the little dog had no business out 
in the road. Perhaps she raii barking 
at the wheels and fell under. I do not 
know about that, but the little thing, so 
full of life and affection, was dead. 
Cherry-top dug a grave beside one of 
the peach trees and buried the puppy, 
while the Airedale sat in the barnyard 
with her wise head at one side and 
watched the operation. What a world it 
would be if humans were like animals— 
ready to fight and die for their babies, 
but forgetting all ties of parentage as 
they grow uj). The children sat on the 
lawn to talk it over, while I went walk¬ 
ing over the hills to think about it. 
What will a man do with power when it 
is placed in his hand? That is the big 
(luestion for humanity. For the human 
life, stripped of its clothes and its frills, 
is simply a search for power over human, 
brute or natural force. 
PSE OF Power.— That, I take it. ex- 
jdains why most peoi)le are more or less 
insane to own a car. Of course, they like 
to eat up the miles and dash rapidly from 
place to place. The car is a nece.ssity in 
modern business and pleasure, yet the 
chief thing which gets to the driver is the 
fact that with his hand on the wheel he 
is master of power. When the boy feels 
that by a turn of his hand he can control 
or direct this tremendous force—tremb¬ 
ling in its eagerness to exert itself—he 
must feel a sense of responsibility or 
some great cruel desire to set that force 
at work. I have people tell me that the 
boy will make a sti-onger and more capa¬ 
ble man if he is put to driving a car 
early in life. This idea of directing 
mighty power will give him a more com¬ 
manding place in the world—so these 
folks say. I think there are two sides to 
it, and I think a man betrays his char¬ 
acter in the way he drives his car. That 
is nothing new. It is the old, old story 
of history, for men and nations are groat 
or small, generous or cruel, useful or a 
nuisance, according to the use they make 
of money, physical strength or skill, 
talent or the ability to organize and use 
the power of the people. 
Test of Character. —I think all con¬ 
centration of power, from a car to a 
great ‘political office, is a means of test¬ 
ing the best part of a man. Take the 
man who killc<l the little dog. Power has 
made him arrogant and cruel. He got 
away as quickly as he could. Men have 
been known to do the same thing after 
killing or crippling human beings. I 
know men who after killing the dog 
would have stopped to explain about it 
or settle for it if need be. In our case 
the destroyer dashed away leaving a 
sense of bitterness and injustice in the 
hearts of children. He may not think 
that is worth considering, yet nine 
chances in 10 he is complaining about 
the injustice of people who control a 
mightier power which crushes out Im 
rights. And there you have the great 
trouble of human society as I see it. 
Most men growl and curse at the things 
which oppress them, but forget that they, 
in their turn, do much the same thing to 
the weaker one under their control. It 
is all pretty much a question of what we 
do with power—the gi-eat test of char¬ 
acter. If we are willing to kill the little 
dogs and then nish away from responsi¬ 
bility, how much right have we to blame 
the big fellows who do the same thing to 
us, when we in our turn become the 
little dogs on the road? When I came 
down from the hill I found the puppy’s 
grave nicely finished—with a board at 
the head. I think I could write an in¬ 
scription for that. It would include 
what Shakespeare, the great student of 
human nature, wrote about power: 
“O, it is excellent 
To have a giant's strength; but it is 
tyrannous 
To use it like a giant.” 
Books. —Right in this connection some¬ 
one has asked me to name the books and 
the line of reading I most prefer. In gen¬ 
eral history, and in particular the his¬ 
tory of Reconstruction in the Southern 
States. I have read everything I could 
find on that subject, and I would like to 
have any of our readers who know of 
books or pamphlets on Reconstruction 
let me know about them. You may say 
this is a strange subject to be interested 
in. It is now a back number—an e.x- 
I)eriment in history long since closed for¬ 
ever. I became interested in it when I 
lived at the South, and had a chance to 
see things at close range. I think the 
attempt to “reconstruct” the Southern 
States, and in doing so to change human 
nature and human habit.s, one of the most 
important and illuminating things ever 
worked out in history. In it we have 
the old story of what men will do with 
arbitrary and artificial power. These 
men tried to do in a few years what 
would require three generations under 
the natural laws of humanity and human 
nature. Of course an uneducated and 
untrained race led by outsiders who 
could not understand the real feelings of 
the natives never could stand alone. I 
think the lealers of the native white 
people made their mistake as well as the 
other side, and many of them realize it 
now, but you may take it from me that 
the lessons of this hot poker of history 
will be branded upon many future efforts 
to make men free—physically or indus¬ 
trially. That is why I have tried to 
master the subject, if possible, and why 
I call for all the information in print. 
It was just a case of misapplied power 
on both sides. 
Home Again. —You remember that last 
Fall I told about the trip which Mr. and 
Mrs. W. A. Olds, of Michigan, were tak¬ 
ing. They started from Mason, Michi¬ 
gan, and drove along Lake Ei-ie to Buf¬ 
falo, along the canal to Albany, then 
down the Hudson and on south as far as 
Tampa, Florida; then on up through In¬ 
diana home. Instead of taking a car 
they drove a horse in a light wagon, 
with a full outfit for cooking and camp¬ 
ing. They drove the horse 3,800 miles, 
and then he wms killed in Tennessee by 
a tree blowing down on him. They went 
in all about 5.000 miles and visited the 
old homes of Garfield, Lincoln and Jeff 
Davis. They camped one night in Daniel 
Boone’s cave. Mr. Olds says the trip 
cost over .$1,000, but it was worth twice 
that to wander on in this way, and see 
just what country people all over the 
land are like. Mr. Olds was in the army 
some years ago. When he and his wife 
got home they applied to the Governor to 
see if he could use them in the army. 
They invested some of their money in 
Liberty Bonds, and have planted a big 
garden to help out the hungry. Thus 
our friends got home better Americans 
than ever befoi’e for their slow and 
homely trip up and down the rural paths 
of this country. ir. w. c. 
Experiences of a Garden Supervisor 
Methods in Community Work 
The Conditions in Massachusetts. 
—Some of our towns and cities here in 
Mas.sachusetts have been awakened to 
the need of raising more and better food; 
others are exactly as apathetic, appar¬ 
ently, as they have been during all the 
years which have led to this inevitable 
climax in our national food situation. 
The time was bound to Come when 
prices would be higher; the golden age 
of prosperity in this country which last¬ 
ed from ISSO to 1!)1() could not be ex- 
])ected to endure forever, at least not in 
the same form. The expenses of the 
western producers have increasd tremen¬ 
dously ; moreover, they have many peo¬ 
ple in their own section of the country 
to feed. This necessarily means that 
many of the abandoned farms in the 
East will no longer be deserted; our 
country sides will once again blossom 
with the fruits of the soil. 
The War’s Effect has merely been 
to hasten the era of higher iirices—they 
were fated to come. There may be a 
drop, but unless it be due to transient 
reactions or temporary, unusual circum¬ 
stances*, the price level will never be as 
low again as that of the period through 
which our parents lived half their lives. 
So all at once we of the East were con¬ 
fronted with a serious food proiiosition. 
As soon as war was declared action was 
necessary. Some communities realizecl 
thi.s in time to do a great amount of 
work. Other places realized it too late 
effectively to increase their tillage land, 
while still others jirobably do not com- 
jirehend the situation at alj. 
A Start in Garden Work. —It was 
to one of the most wideawake towns of 
the first clas.s that I was called the morn¬ 
ing of April 19. I left my position in an 
agricultural college and that night found 
me in the before-mentioned community. 
Seven weeks have passed by, and at the 
present time we pride ourselves on hav¬ 
ing as efficient a form of organization as 
can be found. We have felt our way, 
for the work was new to us as it has 
been new to everyone. Some things 
.Tune 30, 1917. 
have been avoided; we have not spread 
out over all possible fields of endeavor, 
but have concentrated on a few pro¬ 
jects. 
Organization Methods. —The town, 
in common with many others, has a pub¬ 
lic safety committee. Then there is a 
sub-committee of food production and 
conservation. It is this sub-committee 
with which I have been the most in 
touch, as regards the municipal work. 
The chairman of the food committee has 
been a great worker and a keen judge of 
men and business matters. He does not 
brings forth numberless unprecedented 
and ill-judged propositions, but is will¬ 
ing to try a very few things which are 
new, on an experimental scale. He is 
extremely xinwilliug that anyone should 
“put anything over” on the committee. 
In this he is right. This is a time when 
unscrupulous persons are at work with 
might and main, and any movement of 
this kind gives them a chance to get in 
some of their activities. For instance, 
in dealing with one or two foreigners 
who were trying to get more land by 
cheating another foreigner, and at the 
same time bluffing the committee, he 
called a_ halt immediately. Our policy Is 
not to interfere in ^ny differences they 
may have among themselves, unless they 
come to us, or unless their quarrel in¬ 
volves us. This committee is composed 
of men, for the most part, with e.xcellent 
judgment. A couple have city business 
besides owning a farm in the town. Two 
or three others are business or profe.s- 
sional men, but men who have some in¬ 
sight into the agricultural needs. Two 
or three of the committee have largely 
taken charge of the plotting and allot¬ 
ting of plots_ on the tracts in their dis¬ 
tricts. While the supervisor .should 
know every tract and endeavor to know 
most of the “tenaiit.s,” nevertheless, to 
have a man familiar with local condi¬ 
tions and ready to take a large share of 
the responsibility is a distinct advan¬ 
tage. 
Allotting The Land. —All persons 
who wished land were asked to pass in 
their names. This gave us an idea of 
the demand for land, and was a guide to 
the amount to be turned over. Then we 
had “Identification cards” printed.* Ow¬ 
ing to our foreign population, these cards 
\\^erc printed in both Italian and Eng¬ 
lish. They were made in a four by five 
inch size—a reproduction of the card, 
with the exception of the Italian, fol¬ 
lows. The Italian equivalent followed 
on the succeeding line to each English 
caption. 
identification card 
.....(. • • «• 
Address... 
Applies for.Lots (%-acre’each) 
Location desired.. 
Crop to be grown.* 
(Do not fill out this part of card) 
Has been allotted Plot number.on 
Piece number. 
This card must le ready to show at 
any time, so that misunderstandings 
may not arise. 
Food vSupply Committee. 
Another year we would very likely 
change the card to a four by six and put 
the English and Italian in parallel col¬ 
umns thus: 
Identification Card Foglio Di Identi- 
etc. ficazione, etc. 
This would do away with some of the 
confusion which has resulted from the 
present method. 
Great Interest. —Then, one night we 
had a session ; we sent cards to all who 
had applied and asked them to come and 
receive their lots. 8o they came! and 
more, and more! Before any of the 
committee came and I looked up and 
saw that crowd, it looked as though I 
might be busy. But others came in to 
help and at 9 o’clock we had them 
cleared up and neaidy all went away 
with at least one plot on paper. Dupli¬ 
cate identification cards were made out; 
one was given to the applicant and one 
retained. 
Handling The Details. — ^^I found 
that to number each “Piece” would have 
been artificial and awkward. 'So they 
^yere named after the owner, or in some 
like manner. Thus, if Tom .Tones pas.sed 
in a field of five acres, that would be 
known as the Jones “Piece.” As a mat¬ 
ter of fact, we have used the word “Lot” 
to designate a piece of land and another 
year we would change “Applies for. 
Lots” to “Applies for.Plots.” This 
would correspond to the “Plot number” 
lower down on the card and leave the 
word “Lot” to replace “Piece.” Then 
the line would read, “Has been allotted 
Plot number.on.Lot.” In 
reality we have had a number to con-es- 
pond to the “.Tones,” etc. For instance, 
one lot begins with plot TOl, another 
with 201, and so on, a different hun¬ 
dred number for each separate lot. 
These seem like small matters, but they 
certainly help to .standardize things and 
prevent confusion. The heading “Crop 
to be grown” could be omitted, but it is 
of aid to the applicant as it makes him 
decide what he is to put in. We did 
the plowing and the harrowing on all the 
lots. The charge was nominal, ranging 
from about $1.50 to $2.50 a plot. It is 
a good idea to charge somethinf;. To a 
large extent, they paid for the plots 
(Concluded on page 843), 
Please Remember that this is NOT The Hope Farm Man but a Good Old Farmer whose School 
Teaching Daughter Wanted to do Her “ Bit.” The old Man is not Holding the Scythe 
Down on the Stone too hard 1 
