1110 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
I^iHTriDAYH.—Thoy «pf'ni to como in 
a tiijiioh at Hopo Farm, and to tbe older 
people the yearn seem to cut tlie corners 
and run across lots. One of the little 
k'Hh came dancing upon us one morning 
last week announcing that she was 10 
years old I Then, two daj's later, along 
came the original riiorry-fop bursting in 
uj)on us to state that lie was a dozen or 
lli years! It does not He<-ni jiossible that 
the children have come to any such age. 
The years have been busy and full, and 
we have not stopped to realize what slow 
silent growth has been doing to these 
children. That is the tinest thing about 
a b''rtbday when there are children 
around. First you know the little one 
stands up in all its few inches and 
jiroudly says, “I am 10 years old I” You 
reineinl)er how you carried the little thing 
around like !i nn re handful of humanity 
and it comes like somefbing of a shock 
to realize that tbe handful is now nearly 
a bushel. Then it suddenly comes upon 
you that these years are cbangiiig you as 
they are the child. Nothing in life can 
stand still. You can see that the child 
has grown larger and stronger, and that 
it has added hope and confidence in tbe 
future. What has the year done to you? 
F.\.\fTr,Y CKI.KHUAT10NS. —The hist 
way to find out is to make sure that the 
little celebratioiiN of family events are 
kept uj). Sometimes these things are 
neglected and finally droj) out of use. One 
day is just like another, and family l‘fe 
becomes dull and weary. That is the 
worst thing that can hajipen to the fam¬ 
ily and through it to tlm community, the 
State and the nation. Home and hope go 
together, and hope is kept alive by paint¬ 
ing the milestones of life, or lighting a lit¬ 
tle fire on the birthday. So, of course, 
there musd; he a cake for the little girl. 
The daughter baked it and after supper 
with the lights out and a little fire in the 
fireplace, in it came, carrying 10 little 
candles. In that way we hung a new 
lighted lanterji on the road of life. It did 
not cost much and tofik hut little time, 
hut it made a pleasant place by the road¬ 
side and we can all go hack at tiim-s and 
ocenjiy it. I would say—by all means 
try to keep up these little family festi¬ 
vals—esi)eclally when you live in the 
country. Birthdays and the wedding day 
are surely times for remembrance. Make 
much of them. Home p«K>iile say that 
family life on the farms is losing its 
character because the old-time pleasant 
rfdations are being destroyed. I hope not, 
hut the surest way to prevent it is to 
keep up the little family festivals. 
Ihu’.SK.NTH.—I find that some people try 
to estimate the importance of such gath¬ 
erings by the value of the “presents'* or 
gifts. It seems to me a huge mistake to 
try to )»\it a money value uimn the things 
W’hich these f.amily festivals should stand 
for. The little girl had some hair rib¬ 
bons, a hook, a new dollar bill and sev¬ 
eral trinkets besides her cake, and the 
spirit in which they were given meant 
far more than a new piano, a car or any 
of the exiieiiK’ve gifts which some js'pole 
seem to think must he offered uj) to 
celebrate a birthday. There is the whole 
thing as I see it—putting a value tlmt 
is worth while into the humbler things 
of life. Unless w<! can do that what is 
there in the future of the family or the 
nation? All the gold in the w'orld will 
never feed a hungry man or fill his heart 
with a real, enduring spirit until it is 
changed into food or true and kindly love. 
ItKAb VAi.tiKS. —Ho Jifter the cake 
had been eaten and well discussed, the 
children came into my room to “settle 
up.” The hoys had been out selling 
produce at retail. They brought back 
.*?10.4f» and we figured out their commis¬ 
sion and paid them. During the week 
these boys liave sold about .$”5 worth of 
goorls. They want to get their money 
into the hank before (X-t. 1 and have it 
draw interest. They may each buy a 
Liberty bond. I rather tliink that will he 
a gorxl investment for a hoy. The lit¬ 
tle girls have been pulling weeds hut 
when we go out to the strawberry field 
they have* to admit that they did not 
w'ork very hard, so they cheerfully cut 
down their hill and dance off with their 
'Che 
coin. The night is cold and damp for 
early Heptember, and so I pile up the 
fire and sit down a moment to think 
things over. There comes into mind a 
question one of the children once asked 
me, "What wan Ihe hont h-rthdajf present, 
you ever hadt" 
Human Rf.lation. —When a fellow 
has had as many birthdays as I have 
it takes some time to figure out the right 
answer, but I think I have it right. 
This present did not come exactly on my 
birthday, but close enough to it to count. 
And then there are various kinds of 
hTthdaj’s. This one was when I sud¬ 
denly woke up to realize the two great 
things which do most to prevent real 
progress and k<!ep human la*ings apart. 
They are: L A failure to understand 
the other fellow’s language, so you can 
give him your true meaning. 2. A fail¬ 
ure to see ourselves as other sec us. Thus 
most of us go on talking to ourselves 
williout letting the other man know what 
we are talking about, and without real¬ 
izing how we must appear to the man 
wlio knows moro about the subject than 
we do. Tliese things nre mostly respon¬ 
sible for what is known as “hot air.” 
IlAiuioAj) Gt'iuk. —Home years ago 
I started for Hcranton, I’a., •ver the 
Lackawanna Railroad. New York is on 
an island, and in order to reach this rail¬ 
road you must cross the rlwr to Hoboken. 
This is mucli like an ocean trip to a 
foreign cmintry. I glanced at .a time 
tal)le and noticed a train leaving Hoboken 
.‘it .■{ a. III. 'I'liere was a star printed 
over this train, hut I never thouglit to 
look below to see what it meant. Ho 
about midnight I stalled over expecting 
to sleep on this train. On the New York 
side stood an old man In uniform who 
asked me wliere I wanted to go. I told 
him, and he explaindl tlmt there w-as 
no such train for me. Now all I knew 
about it was learned from my glance at 
the time table, yet I stood there and 
argued with him, and finally went on, 
fliinking it very strange that this big 
railroad sliould have such a stupid old 
man on duty. Wlien I got to Hoboken I 
found that there was nothing hut a slow 
milk train wlroli went along picking up 
milk cans, and took about two days to 
get anywhere. I lind to go hack to New 
York and I confess that I kept in the 
shadow as I passed my old friend. 
\ Foot.. —Next night I went for tbe 
earlier train and there stiKid the same 
old man by the gate. Homething temjited 
me to stand in the shadow and talk to 
him. He did not recognize me and so I 
said: 
“I suppose you meet some strange 
people in your work?” 
“Yes,” he said, “we have all kinds. 
Home know nothing and others know too 
much. Now last niglit tliere came along a 
fool who argued with me about trains. I 
have seen these trains start day or night 
for 20 years, hut this man knew more 
than I did about it.” 
"What did he do?" 
"As much as told me I didn’t know my 
own business, and then wont across the 
river. I saw him come sneaking hack 
again later—just as I knew he would. 
If I had only been off duty I know what 
I would have said to him.” 
“What?” 
“I’d have called liiin a fool—I think 
I would have made it dumb fool and 
added a few things to it I" 
“TifA.NKH.!”—At that moment a 
iiaggiige tniek came along and I had to 
move out of the sliadow. My face was 
in the light, and the old man saw in au 
September 22, 1917 
instant that he was addressing the 
"dumb foor*—on duty at that. Clos-e by 
us on the wall was a printed card which 
stated: 
"Any }ii-cU>ilitie« on tlio part of em- 
jtloyrrH should bn promptly reported.'' 
I>y tlie ti'-ket oflioe—a few rod.s from 
it stood a man who was, I am sure, a 
higli official of the road! 
'i'lie old man saw it all, hut he wns 
game. He swallowed hard, .straightened 
up and said: 
“May he I should not liave said that 
hut—” 
Iiere was where I got my birthday 
present. What would you have done? 
\Vliat did the Hope Farm man do? I look 
my liat right off and said : 
“Hay it! Hay it again! Add to it, 
for you are right. I am much oiiliged 
to you, for you have mndo mo »eo my netf 
an othern neo meV* 
If I had only had a supply of McIntosh 
apjiles with me the old man would surely 
have “had one on me!” I never forgot 
that, and so far as I know I have 
never again tried to put vi[» superficial 
knowledge as a sure thing against life¬ 
long experience. It was a fine present. 
The nation would he better off if some 
of the wise owls wh<> are doing so much 
advising right now could he presented 
with the same thought. h. xv. u. 
Protecting Fruit 
Your article, page lO.T';, issue Hopl. I, 
1017, headed 'Trotecting Fruit from 
Jtirds" would suggi'st the following: Put 
a cat in a cage in one of the cherry 
trees and keep it there some time. 'J’lie 
birds won’t bother the cherries. .Mso a 
pie<‘e of red cloth of any kind long enough 
to blow around will usually keep the liinls 
away from the fruit. s. 
(’linton, O. 
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iitti 
