RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1325 
WOMAN AND HOME 
In 1827—00 years ago—this marriage 
notice was printed in a ^Massachusetts 
paper: 
In Seneca County, New York, on the 
l.'^th ult., after a long and tedious court¬ 
ship of about 25 years, Mr, (Gilbert Hon¬ 
eywell, of Locke, to Miss I*olly Ewer, of 
Scipio. 
Gilbert woo’d I’olly for many a year. 
At length he obtained his own dearest 
dear. 
It was not for his cows, his sheep or his 
money. 
That Polly loved Gilbert—no, she always 
lov’d Honey. 
A handsomer couple perhaps you ha’nt 
seen 
She’.s handsome and spritely as gnds at 
eighteen ; 
Why such long delay I surely can’t tell; 
She'd always lov’d Honey—she lov’d 
Honeywell. 
Yet in the .article on honey (page 13.36) 
we are asked if any woman would like to 
have her husband call her syrup! The 
writer was brought up by a lady who ad¬ 
dressed her husband as Sir. “Syiup”? 
We have often heard this lady start out 
with, “Sir, upon my word!” 
I^N'DER the excise laws of New York 
“hard” cider will now be classed as a 
liquor, and people who sell it in small 
quantities must have .a liquor license. We 
know of many country women who will 
welcome this, for hard cider has in the 
past meant fear and misery to them. 
I’y analysis and by action as well, many 
samples of hard cider are worse than 
beer and about equal to whisky as a 
dangerous companion. Such companions 
are always worse for the women and chil¬ 
dren. 
* 
Ix England ne.arly 100,000 girls and 
women have substituted for farm hands 
who have entered the army. Many of 
these girls have given good service at 
lighter farm work. Of course, the en¬ 
trance of these women into the ditch 
while the men are in the trenches has 
started a brand new line of jokes. Here 
is one: 
Farmer: “Look, ’ere, Miss, that field 
you itlowed yesterday’s all wrong.” 
lyady lyand-worker (art student) : “Oh. 
really! Well, I’ll rub it out and do it 
again.” 
Well, at any rate, the girl was ready 
to make it right. Would all hired men 
try it over? 
* 
On page 022, E. I). W. asked for a 
pliice on a farm where he could work 
during his vacation. If anything has been 
said as a result I have missed it. Ho be¬ 
ing a minister would be expected to give 
a truthful account of his experiences. 
Can’t we have an article from him? 
G. F. K. 
Several farmers wrote offering the min¬ 
ister a place cm the farm, but he had to 
arrange for his vacation before he heard 
from them. Ye.s, indeed, we would like 
to have some lively clergyman with a 
good bump of human nature disguise him¬ 
self as a hired man, go out and work a 
month at farm labor. Then we would 
have both minister and farmer tell their 
sides of the story I 
* 
Several cases are reported to us lately 
where, on marriage, the man took the 
woman’s name. This can he done legally 
in most States. Usually this was done 
because the wife had the better or more 
.American name. In some cases the wife 
was very proud of her family, and made 
it a condition of marriage that her name 
should not be changed. There have been 
cases where a iman has developed a prop¬ 
erty or a businc'ss which he wants re¬ 
tained in the family name. He has no 
sons and so upon their marriage the 
daughters retain their name and the hus¬ 
band assumes it. Thus their children 
will carry their grandfather’s name on 
with them! 
* 
Y'our agent deceived me. He told me 
to send in at once and I might be a 
writer at once, for poetry was hard to get. 
I believe you are very partial, and I took 
your paper for the remainder of the year 
entirely from being confident that your 
agent told the truth. Refund my 25 cents 
at once, and rcist assured that I shall 
never take it again. MRS. G. M. r. 
That comes from a woman who con¬ 
siders herself a poet, and is greatly dis¬ 
appointed because we told her politely 
that we could not use her poetry. No 
agent is authorized to contract for poetry, 
and we do not believe any of our agents 
ever promised this lady she “might be a 
writer at once.” So we refunded the 25 
cents due this poet and expressed no 
opinion regarding her poetry. It is true, 
however, that poetry is very plentiful and 
very cheap. We have no use for it as 
usually written, and no one can say that 
we have ever solicited the poets to send 
us their verse. Having had some experi¬ 
ence at verse making, we know better! 
* 
Ox page 1211 a woman in Virginia 
wanted to know where she could buy 
several pairs of beavers, evidently for 
the purpose of stocking some wild lands 
with these animals. We have never been 
able yet to stump our readers on propo¬ 
sitions of this sort. They have always 
been able to obtain information or ma¬ 
terial whenever called for, and so, through 
one of our readers in New Jersey, we 
learn of a naturalist in Buck County, Pa., 
who offers for sale wild and domestic ani¬ 
mals. This man offers beavers for .$50. 
He will also sell an Indian elephant, five 
feet high, for .$1,300, or an African ele¬ 
phant for ,$2,()(K). You can buy a camel 
for .$,300, a yak. if anyone has a desire 
for such an animal, at .$200: a kangaroo 
for $1.")0, or a Bengal tiger, full grown, 
for .$1,0(X>. Thoi'c may be those who 
would like a hyena as a pet, and in such 
case this man offers a good specimen for 
$80, although we would not advise a 
sheep-owner to buy one. A Russian bear 
will cost $80, a wolf $25, a good-sized 
monkey all the Avay from $15 to $500. 
There are numerous other wild animals 
offered for sale at this place. It simply 
goes to show not only that this country 
is producing just about everything in 
the way of life, but that our readers are 
so widely distributed that they can tell 
us about all these things. 
* 
Amoxg the so-called jokes floating 
through the papers we find the following: 
She: “Why do you never call me 
‘dear’ any more?” 
He : “Do you want Hoover to tell me 
T must give you up. and offer me a sub¬ 
stitute?” 
Some of the ideas about Mr. Hoover’s 
powers and intentions are very remark¬ 
able. About all he or anyone else can 
do to most of us is to suggest that we 
organize and try to save food by buying 
and serving economically. Practically all 
the saving effected in this way must be 
done as volunteer work. People cannot 
be driven or forced into any permanent 
saving except through financial failure. 
While some town and city women are 
making a fad of this “conservation,” the 
sensible housewives will help in any wor¬ 
thy enterprise. People speak of “the gos¬ 
pel of the clean plate” as if it were some 
new thing. This has been the rule in 
country homes for years, and our city 
women are just beginning to realize how 
much they can learn from country house¬ 
keepers. The most amusing and provok¬ 
ing thing about it all is to see young city 
women who would be utterly lost in try¬ 
ing to cook a farmer’s meal trying to tell 
farm women how to economize. 
* 
Two Household Helps 
Yeast. —Not all housekeepers can ob¬ 
tain compressed yeast. I find a soft 
“starter” yeast, made as follows, very 
satisfactory and also economical. In 
making it the first time I use two yeast 
cakes (not compressed), putting them in 
a quart or two-quart can, with one-half 
cup sugar, and filling up the can nearly 
fuH with potato water, lukewarm. There 
should be only enough potato to color the 
water. The yeast, when first made, 
should be set in a basin of warm water 
and kept warm all day; afterward, when 
making, it need not be .started before .3 
1’. M., though it may be made at noon 
and used at night or next morning. Leave 
a depth of 2 Mj inches in the can. for a 
“starter,” each time. Always atM one- 
half cup sugar and potato water, as at 
first. AViheu mixing bread, use salt, 
mashed potato if desired, and as.much 
lukewarm water as necessary. Never put 
salt in the can. Once or twice a month, 
a half yeast cake should be added to the 
starter. 
CoxvExiE.xcES. —I once saw in The 
R. N.-Y'. .a suggestion in regard to keep¬ 
ing a pile of newspaper leaves on the 
kitchen table, and after finding it helpful, 
improved upon it by hanging the sepa¬ 
rated leaves on a nail at the end of said 
table. I would not now be without this 
convenience. Another help which I prize 
is a market basket lined with old cari)et 
or strong cloth, in which to carry wood, 
chips, and the like. It W'ill last for 
months, while a basket not so strength¬ 
ened would wear out in a week. It is 
much less tiring to carry wood in this 
way than in one’s arms, as country wom¬ 
en still do at times, when the men are 
not at hand to fill the box. <;. a . t. 
♦ 
A Farm Woman Talks 
I read with great pleasure last week 
the farmer’s wife’s complaint on this 
eternal talk of thrift and ctmservation. 
It seems as though there were very few 
farmers’ wives heard from, few of them 
who dare complain, anyway, and we are 
the class of people who are supposed 
to do all the saving, I have a card of 
Hoover’s in my wdndow to have one meat¬ 
less meal and one wheatless meal a 
week. I shall do it, of course, but 
I just wuint to show a little inconsist¬ 
ency first. In our country school here 
they have just installed a sanitary drink¬ 
ing fountain, and sanitary toilets for the 
boys and girls; we have had to build on 
an addition to hold them. They also have 
a physical training teacher at a salary of 
a thousand a year. There are about 16 
scholars in school and as soon as our good 
road through here is completed many of 
them will go to town. Our country trus¬ 
tees have been done away with, and we 
are paying village taxes (without having 
anything to say about it). Now they 
are forcing all this other expense on us 
that is not necessary. There are none of 
the children’s families with indoor toilets, 
and thi.s little school house has seen gen¬ 
erations of children pas.s through its 
doors, and none of them have been any 
the worse for the lack of these luxuries. 
If the children lived in a city or town 
where there was no noisy noon hour to 
play in, to say nothing of two big recesses 
morning and afternoon, I should say they 
need physical training, but where all 
their time is spent outdoors running and 
jumping it does not secun necessary. These 
things certainly could have waited a little 
longer as long as we are expected to deny 
ourselves to buy Liberty Bonds and help 
the Red Cro.ss, and indeed it’s a privih'ge 
to do so, but it does seem as though farm 
women were obliged to do all the pinch¬ 
ing and saving, as the men do not dream 
of cutting down their luxuries yet. 
51RS. . 1 . WAI.TER XKISON. 
Niagara Cu.. N. Y. 
* 
Trouble with a Neighbor 
About 10 years ago we bought a piece 
of pi'(q)erty fenced in, and when we want¬ 
ed to put up a new fence on the roadway 
we j)ut up the fence in the .same line. 
Now there is a neighbor living near iis 
and she has a habit of drinking. Once, 
while “influenced,” she came across with 
her a.x and began to chop our fence 
down, and when I told her to stop, .she 
threatened to use the ax on me, besides 
calling me everything she could think of. 
Would I he doing a wise thing in having 
her brought to court and fined, also bound 
over to keep the peace? MRS, a. g. 
Such annoying things sometimes occur ; 
in fact, we know of people who have be¬ 
come thoroughly discouraged at the con¬ 
duct of such neighbors, so that they have 
been obliged to leave the neighborhood. 
It is never very satisfactory in trying to 
deal with them, as oftentimes they do 
not appreciate good treatment, and the 
only way to do is to have them bound 
over to keep the peace. This can be done 
by a justice of the peace, and in your 
case it is probably the best thing you 
can do, as it will probably result in bet¬ 
ter conduct on the part of this neighbor. 
* 
The New York School Law 
Do you like the working of the new 
school law? Our township consists of 
20 districts, less than one-tliird of which 
are on the eastern side of a river running 
through the town. That end of the town¬ 
ship has an incorporated village which 
boasts of a small high school. The west¬ 
ern end of the townshii* contains a city 
of 15,000 inhabitants, and has one of the 
best high schools in this part of New 
York State. All the young people of the 
larger part of the town.ship and many 
from the smaller part attend the city high 
school, receiving tuition free. If the tax¬ 
payers could support the high school that 
their children attend, it would not seem 
so unfiiir. but the whole township must 
support the little high school which so 
few patronize. Taxes have doubled, and 
we have no improvements in our country 
schools. Indeed, there are many disad¬ 
vantages. for no one can take the place 
of the old trustee to look after the de¬ 
tails that are always coming up. The 
clerk, district superintendent and three 
of the board of education live in or near 
the village, so that if a broom or a box 
of chalk is needed, the district school 
must wait until the new machinery gets 
in motion to buy it. 
In a nearby town.ship a school has been 
closed and the children drawn to the vil¬ 
lage high .school. I am told that there 
are very objectionable features about it. 
One father said : “I don’t mind .so much 
about my boy going to school in that way 
—he’s old enough to look out for himself 
—^but I do hate to let this little girl of 
mine go.” The time to repeal the Mac- 
bold law is before the towns take pos¬ 
session of the district property, which 
will be between now and next May. 
A. G. n. 
Here are two “ back lot ” gardeners comparing products over the line fence. But She wouldn’t swap 
the Baby for the Plymouth Rock Rooster! 
