1398 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 8, 1917 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Comfort. —I would like to have you 
here tonight for a little visit. It is the 
Saturday before Thanksgiving, and the 
weather has turned very cold. The north 
wind is roaring down our valley, and 
.Tack Frost has put n bite into it. We 
would not let that trouble us, for the open 
fire is roaring and we icnow that our 12 
humans and SO brutes are all comfortable. 
We will not attempt any conservation of 
fuel on a night like this. There is plenty 
of wood in tlie sh(‘d and any fjuantity of 
it over the hill in the woods, so give that 
fire a little poke and put on that big log. 
'I'ake the big cliair at the right of the 
fire—you will find a nasket of ai)plcs in 
the corner. Help yourself. ^ly advice 
would be to try one of these bright red 
Suttons. However, you can have a Ben 
D.avis if you want one. On a night like 
this you can have just what you want. 
Human TvIFE. —There you are, moving 
your chair away from the fire. I ex¬ 
pected that, for T know the power of that 
old fireplace to shoot out the heat. I am 
glad I did not live in the old days when 
people had no stoves. Seems to mo the 
women and old folks who had to be at the 
fireplace so much must have looked and 
felt much like ham or bacon. They seemed 
to raise good sturdy children in those days, 
yet I am glad our own children have the 
advantage of some modern imi)i’ovements 
at least. Our first brood of children knew 
onlj^ candles and kerosene lami)S and coal 
stoves. In those days all the water we 
had was i)umped, bucket by bucket, out 
of the well. Now, with this second brood, 
we have tapped the spring on the hill, so 
that water flows through the house, heat¬ 
ing and washing as needed. Then we 
have tapped the electric wire, and can 
flood the house with light, or cook or turn 
a wheel. Now, does all this “convenience” 
make this second brood of children su¬ 
perior to the other? Are any of them 
likely to turn out any better than you 
or I because they are having an easier 
and more convenient childhood? 
Youth.— That is too much for me. My 
daughter seems inclined to think that 
these “conveniences” of life are not en¬ 
ervating, but they fit men and women to 
take a better part in the world. Berhaps 
we might accept that as a little hint or 
suggestion about ourselves, but verj likely 
this young woman’s mother could give tes¬ 
timony. AYe cannot call on this good lady 
to answer, for she has gone to the citj to 
preside at some important meeting. She 
will stay in so as to attend church to¬ 
morrow. The childiam inform me that 
mother can make “a fine speech,” and she 
may be trusted to confine her oratory to 
the things she knows about—and that is 
the first foundation principle of effective 
oratory. Hot air never moved anyone 
permanently e-xcept as the heat of that 
fire forces you to move your chair back. 
But why do you sit there idle? Take an¬ 
other apple. 1 will guarantee that North¬ 
ern Spy to suit you. 
Veterans. —This war is stirring us all 
up to new activities. My wife and daugh¬ 
ter are helping to develop what they call 
“the woman power of New Jersey.” Now 
if that is organized and developed by sen¬ 
sible and practical women it will have a 
wonderful influence upon the State. If 
the fad workers and impractical play¬ 
things control it the power will be wasted. 
One thing is sure, we cannot win this war 
■'without help from the women. They 
know their work better than we do, and 
they will do their organizing and become 
veterans. And we have a veteran up¬ 
stairs. The largest boy lies there with a 
broken leg. It is a small bone—not seri¬ 
ous—but he has to lie there while that 
bone imitates the women, and knits! 
It happened in a game of football. Some 
player on the other side tried to make the 
goal, and this boy, like the French at 
A'erdun, said “They shall not pass.” So 
down they went on the ball. I do not 
know what happened to the other boy, but 
this one hobbled home with his broken 
leg. He will soon be all right, and wants 
to get into football again! Foolish, you 
say? And yet, what would we have 
thought of ourselves 40 years ago if we 
had permitted a broken leg to break our 
l)ride of conquest? The other children 
are upstairs with this veteran. They will 
soon be down here before going to bed. 
and I advise you to make sure of several 
of these apples before they come. 
Bedtime Bunch. —Here they are, the 
full quartette of youngsters. The little 
girls will sit with me in my chair to 
munch their apples; the boys get nearer 
to the fire. By rights I ought to tell 
them a story about Squire Coon and Mr. 
Mu.'ikrat, but most likely you can tell a 
better one, so let's hear from you. I owe 
these girls 10 cents apiece for husking 
corn and raking leaves. They knew what 
to save out for seed, too. That boy is a 
trapper. You will see him tramping off at 
daylight to look at his .traps. Out in the 
shed you will find one ’possum and eight 
muskrat skims—the foundation of a good 
fur business. As for eating apples—^I 
told you to get hold of several good ones 
before this troop of apple scouts came on 
the scene. I tell you there is nothing like 
apples to put the “a” strong into patriot¬ 
ism. A man asked me the other day if 
I really tluuight these young fellows who 
are going into the army could ever be 
trained to hold their own with those big 
Germans who have been prei)aring for 40 
years! Yes, sir, these young men will be 
formed into* the finest army this world 
ever saw, and they will come back later 
and put new life and spirit into this 
country. AVJiy, the men and women who 
are to i)ut this war through have come 
up from just such children as these apple 
eater.s. But it’s bedtime, and off they 
go into that happy land where every¬ 
thing seems happy and gay. 
OinsiDE. — Between bites at that apple 
I see you looking out through the window. 
It is cold, but who cares? The corn is all 
in the barn, dry as powder. All over this 
country most of the corn was hauled in 
without husking. The rats may get some 
of it, but we husk on cold and rainy days 
when outside work would be slow. We 
never had better corn than this .season. 
The apples are mostly all sold—a few 
only yet to be delivered. As usual, we 
could have sold twice as many a.s we 
could supply. Prices were good and so 
were the apples. There is only one little 
strip of land left uncovered for AVinter. 
On all the rest of our cultivated land we 
have rye or rye and vetch growing in 
good shape. AA’hat a crop that will mean 
for plowing under next Spring. On the 
hill there is a thick sod, and AIei*rill will 
begin plowing that next week. You don’t 
believe in Fall plowing? AA’'ell, we will 
argue that out a little later—over an¬ 
other apple. That strawberry ground back 
of the house will soon be firm enough for 
the mulch. It ought to go on early. 
Many a man gets pneumonia through fail¬ 
ure to get out his AA’'inter overcoat in 
time. AYhen the ground is crusted firm 
we will cover the plants with a thick coat 
of strong manure and let them alone until 
next year. 
Animals. —As we sit here by this 
warm fire it is good to think all the dumb 
members of the family are singing songs 
of satisfaction. The cat is in a warm 
place at the barn, waiting for a rat to 
appear. The dog lies comfortably in his 
nest, with one eye open for strangers. In 
the barn the horses munch their constalks 
and stamp their feet in applause. Tom 
and Broker have forgotten their hard pull 
at the plow, and stretch their limbs in 
solid comfort. Cranky old Bob forgets 
to turn the crank of his discontent. The 
pigs lie in a warm heap in their clean 
house. Jeremiah .Tersey has wormed him¬ 
self into the most comfortable place in 
the pile, all unmindful that this is his last 
Saturday. If the weather holds, Jere¬ 
miah will be pork before Thanksgiving 
Day, but that is not troubling him to¬ 
night. The Bed hens have .'no fault to 
find. Their representativlesat college 
and contest have not brought renown, but 
a hen has few of the mental evorries of a 
sensitive parent. These hens are shelling 
us with eggs, and a few gay young fel¬ 
lows are ready to provide meat, so why 
worry about them? The new cow has 
come, and the old one will soon pass on 
into beef. AVe shall have to hold a fam¬ 
ily council and name this fine new milk 
lady. She is white, with black spots— 
that names her breed. You, it seems, are 
a Guernsey man. AA^ell, Mollie, the old 
cow, now passing away, is a grade Guern¬ 
sey. 'She is a veteran, and has served us 
faithfully. It’s a fine night, though. The 
stars are out and the air is crisp and 
cold. Come, have another apple. Let me 
put the big apple chunk on the fire. Then 
we will pull up our chairs and argue out 
these questions about Fall plowing and 
the best breed. If that raw apple doesn’t 
suit, I know where there is a dish of 
'baked Bakhvins, and I think I can find the 
cake which our folks have hidden away 
for tomorrow. Come, now, the house is 
still and we old-timers can enjoy life 
talking over old friends and old times. 
Come on back where we used to live. 
n. w. c. 
s ll 
Victrola XVII. $265 
Victrola XVII. electric. $325 
Moho^ny or oak 
:■ 1i: 
'li 
Itiiimitnntt 
Will there be 
aWtrola in your home 
this Christmas? 
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yCet a Victrola this Christmas. There are Victor dealers everywhere, 
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various styles of the Victor and Victrola—$10 to $400. Write to us for the 
handsome illustrated Victor catalogs, and name and address of nearest Victor 
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Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N. J. 
tb« R«Klat«r*d Trmda-tnark of tit* Victor Talklsc Machtoo CompoAy 4aatcn«tlB« 
lha preducta cf thta Company only. Warmn«: tha uaa of tha wor4 Victrola upon or in tha pro- 
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^imm 
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No Misses 
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out' of your 
OLD BAGSn 
You will bo surprised how much money we wil 
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WE PAY THE FREIGHT 
and we mail check as soon as shipment is received. 
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Citizens fiank of Buffalo, Dun or Bradstreet. 
IROQUOIS BAG CO. 
395 Howard St.. Buffalo, N. Y. 
National Fire Proofing Company 
USE NATCO DRAIN TILE 
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