RURAL NCW.YORKER 
1211 
The “TV’eeki.y Press Letter” of the 
Arizona Agricultural College tells of a 
conservation meeting which was to be 
held at a schoolhouse in a secluded 
place in the mountains. 
A heavy storm brohe before the time 
of the meeting, which swelled the moun¬ 
tain streams to almost a torrent, cutting 
off the assembling housewives from the 
scene of the food meeting. The courage 
corns and patriotic women, not to have 
their plans upset, halted on the banks of 
the stream only long enough to remove 
their shoes and stockings and bravely 
waded thrOiigh the ioy_ waters of the 
raging stream to the little schoolhouse 
in time to take part in the discussion 
of ways and means for producing and 
saving our food supplies. The rnen of 
Arizona will have to speed along if they 
are to keep up to the pace set by our 
loyal women-folk. 
There are plenty of men outside of 
Arizona who may well put on speed for 
the same reason. 
^Irs. Stevens, in her recent “Story of 
Tilly,” said they struck their farm with 
*i flat pocketbook. This condition is 
Avell known or understood by most of us, 
but several persons have asked just 
what Mrs. Stevens meant by “flat." So 
she says: 
What I meant by a flat purse was 
that we had less than $00 when we ar¬ 
rived at our hired farm. We did not 
pay rent until the end of the year. We 
bought two cows on time that proved to 
be good ones; each bad a heifer calf and 
we rai.sed them, -selling one for $00 at 
17 months old. We kept no horse the 
first year, as my brother did plowing, 
etc., for us without charge. We let out 
ground for buckwheat, there were 10 
acres of rye on the farm. We paid $10 
to get hay put in bam. Had a big 
garden. / -• 
That was a close call.- and Mi'S. 
The Family Mobilizes for the Outdoor Laundry 
nations are socialistic in everyday prac¬ 
tice. They seem to have no regular 
government: 
With females in the minority, the so¬ 
cialistic scheme has been carried to great 
lengths. A boy of eight knows the girl 
he will marry, and there exists not an 
Eskimo girl who is not marri^b by her 
thirteenth f.year. ' “Swapping of wives” 
is the correct procediire among the 
peoples of the Far North of Greenland 
and adjacent islands. A ,man may have 
a Svife for' a month or. six w.eeks,'’- and 
then trade her to a friend for a like 
period. 
"^iSl-r:- • ]Vtacmillah ‘ says these nations 
“have all the essential virtues”: 
Unusual intelligence exists among 
all the people and although girls are 
married when they can first “chew a 
boot,” they are not lacking in appre¬ 
ciation of finer arts. 
Chewing a boot, the Arctic explorer 
explained, is a process to soften the 
tough hides used for shoes, before a 
needle can be pushed through. ^ The 
saliva moistens and makes them pliable. 
It is the duty of a wife to prepare this 
leather’. For that reason the teeth of the 
Eskimo women soon are worn off to the 
gums. 
Despite the high cost of living the 
people of the Fnited States comsumed 
26,000,000 gallons more of distilled 
spirits in the fiscal -year ending .Tune 
30 last than in the year before. 
They needed for their comfort 879,- 
180,5^ more Cigars and 9;440.000,000 
more cigarettes—the latter increase be¬ 
ing ascribed by the ungallant internal 
revenue bureau to the inci’ease of cigar¬ 
ette smoking among women. We re¬ 
fuse to accept the explanation. 
Chewing and smoking tobacco con¬ 
sumption.. increased^ by 28.5(W.OOO 
poiindc. -where ''it US^d?— 
W '’T 1'p ■< A (V'lO ’juir' ' ■ 
to anj'oue else. A man is known by 
his surroundings. It is a fine community 
spirit which makes farmers strive to see 
which can have the neatest house sur¬ 
roundings. The best farmer should have 
the best yard. 
■ * ■ ■ . 
A Notable Farm Book 
iTiiir most notable book oh farm life ' 
published in recent years is “A^on of 
the Middle Border,” by Hamlin Garland. 
We shall have an extended review of this 
later, but now Ave must speak of one 
character—Garland’s mother, the farm¬ 
er’s wife. The reader Avill find little of 
“faiTOing” in this book. He cannot learn 
from it anything about improved stock 
or gi'owiug crops. It is just a lumiau 
document—a plain, clear-out study of 
human life on the Western prairies. The 
most pathetic character in the book is 
that of Garland’s mother. We see this 
strong, self-reliant hopeful Avoman grad¬ 
ually ground doAvn by the hard uueud- 
ing toil of pioneer life. Garland left 
the farm and after a hard struggle Avon 
success in the city. He goes back to the 
plain, bare Dakota farmhouse to find his 
mother broken and old. and while be is 
there she is stricken The picture of this 
strong man realizing at last that his 
mother has given her very life in order 
that ho may have opportunity is very 
poAverful. It Avill shock the memory of 
many a man AA-ho left the farm, knoAA’lug 
that the burden must fall upon the 
mbther,..;yet not realimng at the time 
what it all meant to her. It has seemed 
s^rar."'' to that in all the flood of 
Russian Woman Soldier 
Breslikovskax a, who is called the Grand¬ 
mother of the Bevolution. 
* 
A Purchaser for Beavers 
I am very anxious to find where I 
can get one or more pairs of beavers. I 
have been unable to find any adA-ertise- 
ments for sale of these animals If you 
can put me in connection Avith such a 
dealer, or Avith anyone Avho might be 
able to furnish them, I would appreciate 
it very much. MRS. A. R. tiiba.siier. 
Norfolk Co., Va. 
Finding live beaA'ers is a little out of 
our line, hut Ave are here to be of serv¬ 
ice. The chances are good that some of 
our readers can find beavers or anything 
else from abaca to a recipe for making 
zythum. We will back them to find 
anything that is worth finding. Now 
who wdll be first to make our word good 
by locating the beavers for Mrs. 
Thrasher? 
The.se figures from the New York Sun 
have not been contradicted. We think 
they are true. They are given a.s an in¬ 
dication of prosperity, but to our think¬ 
ing they shoAV just the reverse. True 
prosperity is not to be measured by ex¬ 
travagance and waste. At any rate, avo 
have come to an end with the distilled 
spirits part of it—during the Avar at 
least. We do not believe the business 
Avill ever come back. The distillers seem 
to regard it as lost, as they are cleaning 
out many of their plants. As for to¬ 
bacco and cigrirettes, the economic loss 
from‘their use is shocking, and not one 
of the food administrators has the cour¬ 
age to denounce Avhat Ave must knoAV is 
the great natural Avaste. 
* 
Do you realize Avhat a difference some 
little things about the hon.se and grounds 
make? It pays better than 3’ou think 
to have a clean yard and a few trees and 
shrubs round the bouse. Thej* Avill not 
cost much, but they add to the selling 
value of the place and the pride and 
comfort of the family. If j'ou had a 
coAV or horse for sale j-ou Avould put 
such an animal in good shape if you 
expected to get your price. You would 
not let them run doAvn thin or get rough 
and dirty. You AA’ould clean them up 
and get them slick because the time and 
money spent doing this Avould pay. The 
same Avith the house and grounds. Per¬ 
haps you do not Avant to sell. Then all 
the more reason for making things neat 
and attractive, for the place is AA-orth 
far more to j'OU than it ever could be 
literature dealing Avith American life so 
few writers haA’e ever tried to do justice 
to the noblest character of all—the 
farm mother Avhose hard life and un¬ 
ending toil have so little to glorify or 
lighten them. Mother is expected to en¬ 
dure privations and practice self-denials. 
Her children do not mean to be selfish or 
ungrateful, but often mother’s silent en¬ 
durance of injustice makes them forget. 
We knoAV at least 100 men Avho ought 
to read Garland’s book and take it to 
heart. 
>): 
Russian Woman Soldiers 
The “Woman Citizen” prints a picture 
of Madame Vera Botebkarova, a Kussian 
AA’oniau AA'bo commands the ‘‘P.attalion of 
Grandmother of Russian Revolution 
I)ealh.” This is a regiment or organ¬ 
ization of Itussiaii AA’omen Avho are fight¬ 
ing for free Ilussia against the Ger¬ 
mans. Mine. Botchkareva’s husband, a 
Russian soldier, Avas killed in battle, and 
she has taken his place. Her picture 
is given here. Last year avc had some 
discussion about Avomeu Avho served as 
soldiers in our Civil Wav. and mention 
was made of several cases. In Russia the 
Avomeii have taken a great part both in 
the Avar and in the recent revolution. 
The “Woman Citizen” prints a picture 
(see this page) of ^Madame Catherine 
Vassar College at Poughkeepsie, N. 
Y,, is a woman’s college. There is a 
farm connected with it, and recently 
great stories haA’e been floating through 
the papers regarding the work of 12 
“farmerettes” or girl students Avho raised 
big farm crops during the Summer. 
NcAvspaper stories, like snowballs, usually 
get larger the farther they run, and by 
the time these tales reached the big 
cities the 12 farmerettes bad any 23 
hired men badly beaten. The gii'ls did 
Avork, boAvever, and accomplished great 
things, for the superintendent of the col¬ 
lege Avrites us: 
The statements as given in the 
Poughkeepsie papers are substantially 
correct Avitb the exception that the 
students did not do all of the AA’ork. In 
many cases thev assisted our regular 
farm employes. ‘ but they did eultivate 
entirel.v 16 acres of corn (field) ; 10 
acres silage corn, five acres of beans, 
five acres of potatoes: raked bay and 
pitched bay: carried sheafs of rye and 
Avheat to the shocks and shocked them; 
and tAvo of the girls milked seven coavs 
each at each milking time. In the garden 
thev laid out a straAA’berry bed of 2,000 
plants, did all kinds of hoeing and Aveed- 
ing and helped to plant many of the 
vegetables. 
We may Avell call that “fine Avork.” 
The college has a full supply of vege¬ 
tables and the cattle have a supply of 
silage and hay. The college is to have a 
flock of 1,000 chickens—Avith students as 
hen women. 
Stevens says she did very little “house¬ 
keeping” until they got ahead They 
must liaA-e AA’orked hard and liA’i'd 
simply. You may be sure that anyone 
Avho makes good as a back-to-the-lander 
must pay the pi’ice. There is no free 
ticket. 
* 
Donald B. Macmillan, just back from 
Arctic lands, tells some neAV stories of 
domestic life among the Eskimos. The 
The Tale of The Clock 
Tick ! Tick ! Tick ! Tick ! says the good old clcibk in the corner, 
.speaking Ioav. 
I have marked your time for a goodly Avhile, as fast the min¬ 
utes go. 
Y'on gray-haired man Avas a child in arms when my fir.st “tick! 
tick !” was heard. 
Yet the babe asleep in his crib upstairs, for years shall hear my 
Avord. 
Tick ! Tick ! Tick! Tick 1 says the bravo old clock ; keeping step 
with Time’s sIoav pace. 
Alike through sickness and joy and grief, liave the hours passed 
o’er my face. 
The Aveary hours that have crawled like snails at the close of 
life’s long day, 
And joyous hours that have seemed so short to the younger hearts at play. 
Tick! Tick! For my hands have marked them all as over my face they flew, 
Yet never a Avrinkle the old clock shows—its face is smooth and true. 
Tick! Tick t Tick! Tick t says the hopeful clock—I have seen strange things up here ; 
I have seen death touch with his blighting hand all things the world holds dear. 
I have seen the hoy who left at morn, with his face agloAv Avith pride. 
At eve come back like a broken man, to the faith he once denied. 
Tick ! Tick ! Tick! Tick 1 I have seen the hopes and the Avork of man decay. 
But ueA’er have known God’s word to fail—Tick ! Tick!—and He liA’es to-day. 
