902 
"Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks 
By Rev. George B. Gilbert 
Wk Wf-xt. —Yes, we nctnally went. 
As the I*arson looks back u])on it, it 
hardly seems to be true. The next morn¬ 
ing after the last It. X.-Y. letter, if we 
didn’t wake ni) to find it raining! We 
lay there and listened to those raindrops, 
and gave up going for the fourth time. It 
was decided the Parson was to go on by 
train alone, for he had to preach in Ver¬ 
mont that same Sunday. P.ut the Parson 
objected. It seemed too much to go off 
:ind leave Mrs. Parson with tho.se four 
young whoopers on her hands, and hav¬ 
ing been shut up with the baby all Win¬ 
ter. Then it began to lighten up a bit 
and it was finally decided to get off after 
dinner. Moms had declared that if she 
didn’t go this time, after going through 
with getting four young ones ready, and 
herself, she never would try it again. 
A Good Run. —If it didn’t all clear up 
after dinner, with no dust, and so fresh 
and the country so i)erfect. How the old 
car rolled up the valley ! We had ])lenty 
to eat and the children began soon after 
starting. On such a trip one wants to 
eat most of the time. We had a gallon 
can of water right in the car with us. 
What a wonderful thing a car is. How 
we i)assed through town after town, town 
after town. I believe autos h.ave done 
much to make towns chsui up and have a 
community i)ride. INIany beautiful vil¬ 
lages, howev(‘r, still have no sign to tell 
you what town it is. Y'ou have to look 
and look and stand a chance of spying 
some small i)ost office sign. '^Fliat after¬ 
noon we rolled up just 110 miles. 
Pleasant Feflino.— As we got fur¬ 
ther up in old Vermont the towns s(>emed 
to have more public s])irit. They not only 
welcomed you, but bade you farewell. 
“Gome Again,” s.aid one smiling sign 
after another. “Good-by. Gall Again.” 
It was interesting to see the signs about 
speeding and how fast one might go 
through each village. These Auiried from 
a good clip till we got to one little bit of 
a village with one short row of houses 
where we Avei-e promi)tly ordered to go 
“not to exceed five miles an hour.” What 
with getting off, and the long run. we 
were tired when at last we got rooms for 
the night for the six of us and had the 
four children tucked in. We had put the 
baby carriage right in the car. Jind Ghar- 
lesie Boy had slept beautifully on the 
way. but now he was so homesick and 
restless. At last Moms got him quiet. 
But it was hard to sleep. There seemed 
to be a miniature Niagara right under 
our window which roared tf'rribly. The 
trolleys banged and bumped along anrl 
the steam cars kept up a continual racket. 
We must have all at last gotten well off 
to sleep when if there Avasn’t a fearful 
banging on the door. “Johnnie, Johnnie, 
get up, get up.” 
Most Too jMttoii. —It seemed most too 
much to have that crazy lunatic banging 
our door, trying to wake some “Johnnie.” 
“He is booked for room three and must get 
his train,” he persisted as he kept bang¬ 
ing. The Parson hopes he got that train 
and that he is going on it yet—to the 
further end of the earth. But he doubts 
it. That night clerk woke the baby in¬ 
stead, and there was no more sleep for 
its mother. 
The Crops. —What more lovely section 
of the world than this 200 miles up the 
Connecticut Valley! The l*arson was 
much interested in the crops. First, miles 
and miles of tobacco. I suppose this is all 
right, but sometimes the Parson thinks 
that Avith all the poor children that are 
starving in the world the corn and po¬ 
tatoes that this land Avould raise Avould do 
as much good. What an enormous amount 
of real food these miles and miles of rich 
soil would raise ! There is something in- 
s])iring about raising food to keep God’s 
cliildren alive Avith. But just Iioav much 
ins])iration is there in raising tobacco to 
make cigarettes for boys to smoke? Of 
course, there is big money in it. But this 
Avar has put food raising in its rightful 
place, and put it alongside the Red Cross 
and the Y. M. C. A. 
The Onion Belt. —Above the tobacco 
region comes the great onion belt in Mas¬ 
sachusetts. Someone Avrote that the gre.at 
American pie belt, Avhere you had pie 
three times a day and for lunch, ended at 
Greenfield, Mass. The onion belt ends 
about there, too. What backaching Avork. 
Aveeding onions! We could see the Avhole 
family at it. It would be interesting to 
make a study of its effect on the boys and 
girls. Will it make them Avant to stay on 
the farms? That is the great thing the 
I’arson keeps in mind Avith, his boys. 
Boys’ Work. —So many say t,) us, 
“How good your boys are to Avork. They 
seem so willing.” They are good boys. 
But the Parson tries to fit the Avork al¬ 
ways to the boy, and not the boy to the 
AA'oi-k. It is hard for boys to Avork too 
long at the .same thing. They lik ■ con¬ 
stant change ; all children do. So the Par¬ 
son tells them to go up and cultivate so 
many rows, not trying to do the whole 
three-acre piece at once. Then Ave do 
something else for a while. 
A Savimming Hole. —Why not haA^e a 
swimming hole on every farm? What 
could do more to make the memory of the 
old place sweet! How a child loves the 
Avater! What memories rushed through 
the IParson’s iniud as he took his oavu 
boys and Avalked up the old brook on the 
obi farm in Vermont and showed them the 
l)laces where he as a boy Avorked nights 
after chores to make a swimming hole. 
After some .35 years hardly a trace could 
be .seen of those old dams. Yet in the 
Parson’s mind he could see those dams as 
of yesterday, and could hear the cry of 
alarm as of old Avhen great leaks Avould 
spring in either side. When any man 
says a Avord to you about his boy not 
liking farming, ask him if he has yet 
helped him to make a swimming hole and 
given him time to enjoy it. 
A Pointer. —Now the I’arson is on this 
matter may he not say a Avord about 
nfaking dams? A minister is supposed, you 
know, to Avander all over creation and 
talk on everything but the matter in 
hand. Father used to tell about a preach¬ 
er who Avent clear round the Avorld every 
Sunday morning in his prayer, touching 
at (‘very i)ort and island. But one R. 
N.-Y’. reader has asked how to make a 
dam. 
The Main Thi.ng.—E xperience is a 
dear teacher, but fools will learn in no 
other way, is an old saying and fits well 
with the history of the Parson’s dams. 
We used to make them Avith a log at the 
bottom, one at top, and then oUl boards 
or i)lanks nailed on these—the lower log, 
of course, being about tAvo feet further 
up stream than the upper one. Ex¬ 
perience has discarded the lower log. IlaA’e 
the upper log stiff, so it Avill not bend 
and make bad cracks for the Avater. Then 
sharpen the boards or planks and drive 
them doAvn in the mud Avith a big sledge, 
slanting up the brook. Work from both 
ends toAAuird the middle, leaving a space 
about a foot or foot and a half here, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the brook. On 
either side of this open middle space 
drive doAvn a good strong piece—the 
boys and the Parson used tAVO discarded 
telephone pole arms Ave picked up on the 
side of the road. 
An Outlet.—T he main thing is to 
have a way to let the Avater out of the 
dam. For this open .space, make a trough 
out of old boards or planks, big enough 
to cai’ry the Avater eA'en during a shoAver. 
Let this be long enough to reach Avell 
above and well beloAV the dam itself. 
Put this in and nail cross boards above 
to the top of the dam. The Avater Avill try 
to Avork under this trough. Pack dirt, 
and, better still, drive doAvn short boards 
around the entrance and pack well Avith 
sods. CoA'er the whole thing Avell Avith 
sods and dirt, digging the hole deeper at 
the same time. I’ut some boards across 
the end of the trough and she Avill fill xip. 
Resist the temptation to keep it full—let 
the Avater out after using. This A^ery in¬ 
stant, as the Parson writes, little Glossie 
has been in Avith eyes like saucers to an¬ 
nounce that there are signs of a leak! 
“(’an he and George put on their bathing 
suits to let the Avater out and fix it?” 
For it is raining hard here (.luly 
Fourth). 
A Raft.—W hat is a pond without a 
raft! The selectmen gaA'e the boys some 
discarded bridge planks, and Avith these 
they have a great raft. It holds thei'n 
up quite Avell and such times as they 
have! The Parson has to go in AA'ith 
them. No peace till ho does. The corn 
barn has been turned into a bath-house 
by means of old sacks, and does very 
Avell. Is it better to have the boys learn¬ 
ing to swim here, or to have them olf 
Avith a gang in some deep pond? 
The Whooping Goi'gh.—B ut the Par¬ 
son was talking of that A'ermont trip. It 
j)rotty lu'arly knocked out the whooping 
cough. Peoi)le told us that a change Avas 
the best thing in the Avorld, and it Avas. 
lIoAV the children picked up. and as for 
Moms, the three Aveeks die'' her a Avorld 
of good. IIoAv much gooc^ 't does every¬ 
body to get oil and go somewhere. IIoav 
different home ' ^ems Avhen you get back. 
You feel just Ir'-e taking hold, and so 
chippered up Avitli something to think and 
talk about. What feelings the Parson 
had as he saAV another George, his OAvn 
George, going down the lane for the coavs, 
in just the same place and just the same 
Avay as he used to go! And there Avas 
the same old Avoodchuck hole, and Ave got 
some traps, and almost bursting AAdth 
pride and joy the boys brought home a 
small baby Avoodchuc-C! 
The Old Ghurch. —We opened up the 
old church and hac. service there. The 
July 20, 1918 
Parson says “opened up,” for it is closed 
now, and no immediate sign of its ever 
being regularly open again. It stands 
there as a terrible Avarning to all churches, 
especially country churches. For years 
it has put the emphasis of its preaching 
and its Avork eA'eryAvhere, except Avhere it 
belonged. Chiefly it has been laid on the 
matter of church furniture and furnish¬ 
ings. It is one kind of Avork to make se¬ 
lection from Tiffany’s array of commun¬ 
ion sets and another to saA^e a gang of 
hoodlums from the reform .school. It is 
beautiful and lovely AA'ork to spend days 
and nights embroiclering costly hangings 
of^ various colors for the altar, but make 
fairly sure that there is going to be some¬ 
one in the church to use them. The Par- 
.son stood and looked at the beautiful, 
specially designed cabinet, replete Avith 
expensive fittings. What silent testimony 
it bore in that empty place. From ju.st 
such a church a Avoman once rushed up to 
tlnit grand old country missionary, Mr. 
KnoAvles, and asked AA'ith deep anxiety, 
"Do you have hangings doAvn in your 
church?” That good man ansAvered Avith 
great deliberation, “I regret to say, mad¬ 
am, Ave do not. We need three or four 
the Avorst Avay. They Avould be a great 
help to us. I have, however, had the 
privilege of officiating at the funeral of 
three murders by shooting.” 
Hard Sledding.—S peaking of churches 
reminds the Parson of the Country 
Ghurch Conference Ave have just had here. 
I’liere Avas a great discussion about “Hard 
Sleddin’ ” in the ministry. After many 
had told of gravel slipping, one man 
wislied to illustrate the extreme generos¬ 
ity of his parishioners in the matter of 
Avedding fees. A groom Avith the bride 
came to him and AA'ished to be married, 
and insisted Hiat it take place in a cer¬ 
tain church in the far end of the city. 
’Pliey boarded the trolley and started for 
the place. When the conductor came 
along the man seemed to have no idea of 
getting out his money, so the minister 
I)aid out the .30 cents. When the cere¬ 
mony Avas over he made out a certificate 
that cost him two dollars and they came 
out and again took the trolley. The min¬ 
ister had to pay again, this time to relieve 
an embarrassing situation, and Avhen they 
got olf the car the groom spoke in this 
fashion. “Noav I Avant to pay you Avell 
for this expense you’ve been to and for 
the ceremony, but I cannot do a thing 
till I get home, and I live in Penn.syl- 
vania. In fact. I am so short that I 
haA’e .got to get some one to loan me 
money to get home on. It Avill cost five 
dollars; do you suppose you could do it? 
It certainly Avould be appreciated.” The 
good man Avas easy. He handed him a 
Y. and Avaited and Avaited, and is Avaiting 
yet! 
Strange Weather.—T he day we left 
Vermont strange sights greeted us by the 
Avay. Here Avere people haying, and be¬ 
side them in the same lot the potatoes 
were turning black and the corn Avas 
Avilting doAvn. On the 20th of .Tune it 
froze Avater an eighth of an inch thick, 
and it froze worse the next night. Many 
in that section have gone to raising a good 
many beans. The.se Avere utterly killed. 
I doubt if the potatoes ever amount to 
much. The Aunes Avill leaf out again, but 
the tubers Avill be small. The corn will 
come on if the season holds off long 
enough. 
No Apple.s.—I t certainly was terrible 
to see the apple ti-ees up that Avay. The 
bad, cold 'Winter just about ended the 
trees. They look as though a fire had run 
over them. The only trees that seemed 
to stand it Avere the Duchess of Olden¬ 
burg. The native habitat of this A'ariety, 
the Parson’s brother said, Avas in Russia, 
and this accounted for it. It must have 
felt at home last Y^inter. Even the Ben 
Davis trees Avere apparently ruined, and 
this is saying a good deal. The Parson 
used to Avonder if the apple itself had 
enough juice in it to freeze. “’Phe only 
trouble Avith Vermont,” a man once sai(i, 
“Avas that you had to drag around on 
Avheels tAVo or three months in a year.” 
A Plucky AVoaian.—T he Parson Avas 
told of one plucky little Avoman and her 
determination to have some maple syrup 
this Spring. In fact, he saAV her and saAV 
the place Avhere she worked. A man 
said she could tap a roAV of trees beside 
the road, and gave her one dead maple 
tree standing. She borroAved second-hand 
bricks and AA'heeled them in a Avheelbar- 
roAV a long Avay and built an arch right 
out in the open. She had three little 
boys, the oldest one 12. She i)ut tAvo 
Avashboilers on this and a great big milk- 
pan. She and the boys cut up this tree 
themselves, and by night and day gath¬ 
ered and boiled that sap, till she made 11 
gallons of beautiful syrup. Then she 
carried her bricks all back, raked off the 
ashes and chips and .soAved grass .seed 
Poor Potato Crop.—T he potato crop 
about here in Connecticut looks like a 
failure. The blight is abroad and fields 
even when sprayed for it seem to be badly 
affected. IVith the bad crop in the North 
on account of the frost, it looks like feAV 
potatoes another Fall. The Parson has 
ploAved a piece for turnips and if he can 
get a good crop of these they Avill help 
out greatly. Oats look fine here and corn 
looks fair. The hay crop is about an 
average. Eggs bring 00 cents retail, and 
the hens living on old corn and skim-milk 
are the most profitable thing on the farm. 
Mrs. Parson has promised to Avrite the 
bulk of the next letter about little Ghar- 
lesie Boy. and the Parson has agreed to 
have his picture taken to go Avith it. 
The Old IJoinesicad on the Vennont Farm 
The Tneome Taw Will \ot Trovhlc This Oivner 
