ZTAe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
703 
WOMAN AND HOME 
The (Ipmand for suitable teachers for 
rural schools is heavy this year. Some of 
the rural boards have trouble in finding 
the men or women needed. At the same 
time, we hear from teachers who have 
not been able to place themselves. Why 
should not a good teacher advertise for a 
position, the .same as a manager or liired 
man? Or why should not the trustee who 
needs a teacher adverti.se? That would 
give, at light cost, a much wider chance 
for selection than could be obtained in 
any other Avay, and it ought to be a good 
thing for both teacher and school. 
Kc ? 
I.v one family where Tine R. N.-Y. is 
read there is a very practical and old- 
fashioned colored man. Through long 
years of faithful and patient service he 
lias become a true member of the family, 
lie is not much of a reader, but a good 
listener, in a family where, happily, one 
member is deaf. Thus this member is 
elected reader, and through the Winter 
nights he reads books or jiapers while the 
other li.sten. On one occasion the family 
orator was reading Tin; R. N.-Y. He 
came to an article in which the writer 
said “a farmer must vse his jiidf/menf 
ahout The old man snorted at 
that, and when a.sked why. he said : 
‘•Hat’s what I call fool advice. Hey is a 
heap of folks in dis world what ain't got 
no judgment. IIow dey goin’ to make 
use what the Lord ain’t never give them?” 
It was voted in that family that the old 
man was right, and that The R. N.-Y.’,s 
. statement should be qualified. 
It has been stated on rea.sonable au- 
tliority that at least lO.tlOO tractors will, 
this year, be operated by women. During 
the jiast AVinter varimi.s tractor schools 
have been held and wommi have attended 
as students. So far as skill and me¬ 
chanical knowledge go, many women are 
w(dl qualified to run machinery, but some 
of them are not strong enough to stand 
the strain of rough driving. Wi* have 
known girls to be seriou.sly and piu-ma- 
nently injured by riding a lior.se-rake or 
harrow. Hn gmieral jiriiiciples, this rough 
and jolting work is not suited to a woman 
and we should be very careful about the 
wife or daughter who has the spirit to 
hel]) at such work. 
< >E late tlii're have Ix'en many calls for 
some practical method of canning milk. 
Many families keep only one cow. When 
she is fresh there is* a surplus of milk, but 
later there will not be enough for the 
family. Why not put the surplus into 
cans to he used when needed? liver 
since the days of .Toseiih (and before) this 
idea of laying aside in the fat years for 
insurance against the lean years has been 
I)opular. It has been well worked out 
with fruit, vegetables and meat and but- 
t<‘r. AVhy not with milk? The que.stion 
is easy, but the jirocess is hard, and we 
cannot give much encouragement. The 
following from Prof. Judkins tells the 
story : 
The canning of milk in the home is not 
practical. It could only be done after 
milk has been sterilized by heating in a 
jiressure sterilizer at 10 pounds iiressure 
for 10 to 15 minutes, or by boiling for 
10 or 15 minutes on three consecutive 
days. This would give the milk such a 
cooked taste it could only be used after 
mixing with fresh milk, and then jirobably 
for cooking only. The fact that the milk 
would have to be put up in sealed jars 
makes the method all the more imprac¬ 
tical, since a row of jars a considerable 
distance in length would be required. The 
only practical way of making it po.s.slble 
to use the suridus milk in times of short¬ 
age is on the large scale by the use of con¬ 
densers or driers. 
IIow this war is shaking up the world. 
The explosions are not all in Europe, 
either. In the great Liberty Loan pa¬ 
rade in New York the place of hpnor was 
given two women, each of whom had 
sent six sons to the war. Were their 
names among the ‘■immortal list’’ of those 
who landed on Plymouth Itock? Hardly; 
they were IMrs. AVilliam Quinn of Long 
Island, and Mrs. Louis Rosenberg of New 
•Tersey. There is nothing closely asso¬ 
ciated with Plymouth Rock, .Tamestowu or 
early New Y'ork about these names. A'ery 
few of the ‘‘old families” could boast of 
six sons. Most of them are limited to 
one or two children. The fact that these 
women were honored in this way indicates 
a social explosion which will have as 
much to do with the future of the world 
as the military blow-up. now in operation 
on the AVestern front. 
Here is a new one, taken from the 
paper published by the school for young 
colored people at Fort A^alloy, Ha.: 
To those who liRe griddle cakes and 
yet do_ not want to u.se fats for greasing 
the griddle iron, here is a fine substitute: 
I’lace several tablesiioonsful of .salt in a 
soft cloth and tie it up like a bag (the 
bag will remind you of the old time baby 
l)acifier). AA'ith this little bag of .salt 
“grease” your griddle. Y'our cakes will 
have a fine brown color and can be easily- 
turned ovei-. Try this and you Avill never 
use grease again, or have a smoky kitchen 
Avhen you cook griddle cakes. 
A REMARKAI5LE legal Case was recently 
called in New York City in Avhich the 
magi.strate was asked to settle the parent¬ 
age of two infants Avhich had been mixeel 
at a maternity hospital. These two ba¬ 
bies were separated from their mothers, 
and Avhen finally returned one of the 
mothers felt .sure that she had the wrong 
bab.v, while the other was not quite sure 
about it. The case came into court for 
settlement, and after a long discussion 
in which the mothers took a lively part, 
the judge called on the spectators and 
court officers to vote on the babies They 
agreed unanimously after a careful ex¬ 
amination that the babies had been 
mixed, and the two mothers finally ex¬ 
changed infants as a settlement. It seems 
that the fatlier of one of these babies was 
a peculiar-looking man. He came in 
court, and one of the children lookial so 
much like him that the si)ectators based 
their opinion on his appearance. It is 
not known that the two mothers were 
entirely .satisfied with the discussion, and 
very likely one or both of them will go 
through life a little troubled over this 
matter. The officers of these hospitals 
ought to have .some definite system of 
identification in order to avoid such diffi¬ 
culties. 
♦ 
AA’eek after week we receive letters’ 
from people who are ready to make the 
most positive statements on the strength 
of what someone has t(dd them. A'ery 
likely it is some new law or regulation 
under which people are to receive money 
or help from the Government. Some¬ 
times people have heard that this dim 
and rather vague thing we call the 
government wants to hire a lot of farms 
and jiay big rent for them. Someone 
started the rei)ort at the beginning, and 
it has gone rolling on, gathering size like 
a big snowball. People believe it because 
they want to believe sometbing of the 
sort, and on it goes. The following ver.se 
now appearing in the papers is very ap- 
l)ropriate and it might pay us to commit 
it to memory : 
Absolute knowledge I have none. 
Rut my aunt’s washerwoman’s sister’s 
son 
Heard a policeman on his beat 
Sa.v to a laborer on the strc'et 
Th.’it he had a letter just last week, 
AA'ritten in the finest Greek, 
From a Hhinese coolie in Timbuctoo, 
AA'ho said a peon in Mexico knew 
Of a colored man in a Texas town, 
AA’ho got it straight from a circus clown. 
That a man in the Klondike heard a Turk 
Tell a fellow going to work 
About somebody in Romeo 
AA’ho knew a man who claimed to know 
Of a New York man named .lake 
AA’hose inother-in-laAV will undertake 
To prove that her seveiith husband’s .sis¬ 
ter’s niece 
Has stated in a jirinted piece 
That she has a son who has a friend 
AA’ho knows Avhen the war is going to end. 
In these times it pays to kill many of 
the.se stories as they come to us. They 
are like endless chain letters and lead no¬ 
where. They .simply take the mind from 
more important and nece.ssary things. 
AA'e .should all try to conserve thought as 
well as food. 
Not passing on bouquets for fun. but 
every issue of your iiublication is really 
worth dollars for the man who will ‘‘read 
as he runs” this time of the year. I 
manage to read it on the train or any¬ 
where I hav(‘ to wait, or, if necessary, 
after hours at night, for I can take a 
short path across, following the guide 
Iiosts, .saving lots of worry and time. 
New Jersey. l. h. x. 
I.v these days a farm paper must keep 
up with the procession. AA'hen iieople are 
out to ‘’win the Avar” they cannot stop 
for long storie.s or elaborate explanations. 
They must have Avords that live and carry 
meaning and compel thought. The man 
who must ‘‘read on the run” is the man 
who arrives. w 
The Dress for the Farmerette 
AA'hether we dub it overall dress of 
wornanalls, the garment itself is a blessing 
to the Avoman who does housework and to 
the Avomau gardener and the farmerette. 
I know, because I Avore it last season 
while doing my bit for my country by 
Avorking in a vegetable garden, taking care 
of a beautiful coav, raising a pig and do¬ 
ing my own housework. I bought two 
overall dresses in the Spring of 1017, 
readymade, of khaki cloth, Avith three- 
quarter sleeves and small .sailor collar. I 
got them several sizes larger than my 
actual bust measure, for—and here is a 
point I Avant to emphasize—a garment of 
this kind should always be very loose 
fitting. I got boy.s’ high, tan-colored can¬ 
vas shoes to wear Avith them. I like high 
shoes for general out-of-door Avork. My 
overall dre.sses Avill last tAvo seasons. I 
find them easy to Avash and iron, and I 
think it pays to iron thorn Avell. first 
dampening thoroughly. I iron mine over 
a sleeve-board and find it a short job. A 
brother of mine, living in New York City, 
A'isited me last Hummer. “AA^ell,” he said, 
I never expected to see Louise wearing 
trousers!” Rut, jesting aside, he ap¬ 
proved of the dress for the Avork I was 
doing. 
I tell my friends that my overall dress 
has never been treated Avith disrespect but 
once, and then I Avas driving Rlossom, the 
COAV, across a field to her pasture, and tAvo 
young fellows passing in an automobile 
AA histled and called, “Hello, boy !” For 
it Avas Avith no disrespect, but just to sat¬ 
isfy his inquiring mind, that a five-year- 
old neighbor queried, “AA'hat kind of pants 
are them?” 
I confess that for a week or tAVO after 
adopting my new garb I Avas very con¬ 
scious of it, and felt like getting behind a 
tree Avhenever I saw anybody coming my 
Avay, but I soon found that it Avas not 
creating such a .semsation after all. This 
year the OA-erall dress Avill be no novelty 
and it Avon’t require any special courage 
to Avear it. But, oh, Avhat a comfort! 
When the coav gets into the SAveet corn 
and cabbages, in tbe good old Summer 
time, hoAV easily I can skip after her! 
Whereas I used to stumble up the cellar 
stairs, .stepping on my skirts and risking 
my neck, noAv, Avith my overall dress on, 
I can a.scend safely and comfortably Avith 
a pan of milk in each hand. And Avhen I 
scrub the kitchen floor or climb a stej)- 
ladder to clean the top shelf of the pantry, 
or to Avash a AvindoAV or t(A hang a ])icture, 
Avhat a boon this suit of mine! 
I consider it by all odds the jieatest, 
mo.st comfortable and most modt’st dress 
that a AA’oman who does m;inual l:ibor, 
either indoors or out, can possibly Avear. 
And let me Avhisiier that one almost 
dreads changing to the fettering draj)eries 
she feels constrained to Avear after the 
strenuous duties of the day are over. 
LOUISE PRIXC'E FUEKMAX. 
. » 
Another Scythe in the Tree 
Further romance has been addinl to the 
famous “Hcythe Tree,” see page 702, on 
the farm of Clarence Schaeffer, near 
Waterloo, N. Y'., by the placing of an¬ 
other scythe in the crotch of the tree—• 
this time by the farmer’s sou, Raymond 
Hchaefl'er, who enlisted recently and is 
now at Camp Heveus, Ayer, Mass. A 
service flag Avas placed on the tree akso 
by members of the Carpenters’ Union of 
Geneva, 
The tree, Avhich is a large Balm of 
Gilead, came into national prominence 
through the act of James Wyburn .Tohn- 
son in ISOI, Avhen he left the harvest field 
when I’resident Lincoln made his call for 
volunteers, saying to his people, then liv¬ 
ing on the farm, ‘'Let the scythe rest in 
the tree until I return.” 
He never returned, having died on the 
battlefield in North Carolina and Avas 
buried there. Long ago the snath of the 
scythe dropped off, but the blade still ri'sts 
as placed by young JA)huson. The tree 
Avas then a six-inch sapling. Noav it is a 
very large tr^e, and all but a few inches 
of the blade is imbedded in the trunk. 
After the death of .Tohnson Avas ascer¬ 
tained an American Flag Avas hung from 
the tl’ee, and this has been rencAved from 
time to time, so that a flag is ahvays dis¬ 
played from the tree. Each Memorial 
Hay patriotic exercises are held here by 
the local G. A. R. Posts and Woman’s 
Relief Corps. 
Young Schaeffer requests that the 
scythe be left until he has had his fling 
at the Huns and returns safely home. He 
laughs at the idea of the tree harboring 
tAAo scythes permanently, and says he AAill 
take it down Avith his oavu hands. 
A. H. p. 
