1424 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 28, lf)is 
Thoughts 
Christmas 
The Christmas Thoughts of a Plain Farm 
Woman 
A Wo.\i)ERrx:r, (’iiuistmas. —Not since 
I was a little girl have I had the feeling 
about Christinas which is mine this year. 
Ever since that wonderful Victory Day 
in November when America went wild 
with thankfulne.ss. I have kept thinking, 
“How can I show how glad and happy 
all tills makes me? What can I do to 
celebrate in the true sense of the word?” 
Probably every thinking woman in Amer¬ 
ica has had these same new, transforming 
thoughts, and it seems as if we couldn't 
do enough to show our gratitude for that 
unconditional surrender. It is not my 
way to make a lot of noise—either for 
gladness or sorrow. Noise to me is noise 
and nothing more. Ujiroar may be .stim¬ 
ulating—it or something certainly was on 
November 11, our Victory Day; but my 
emotions are of the inarticulate kind, and 
when most happy and thankful, there 
seems to be the least to say. Put that 
exhilarating, mighty feeling r)f thankful¬ 
ness had to come out soim- way witli me 
as it did with everyone else—and it is 
still coming. 
A llrsY Tiiaxksgivixc. —At Thanks¬ 
giving time this year we were terribly 
busy on the farm, as my husband's hired 
helper had left lus the first of Novemlier 
to woi-k in a big knitting mill at "war 
wages.'’ So we passed the day busily but 
feastlessly. This time was a sorrowful <ine 
for us, because “Thankful Thursday” 
used to be a gala day in our family—we 
brothers and sisters and our children 
meeting together in the fine old Ameriean 
custom at our vaidous homes. Hut during 
this year my husband’.s oldest brother, a 
young lawyer, and his wife, had both 
died; the younger si.ster is teaching in 
far away Texas, and another brother and 
family are living in the hills of Vermont. 
Our little group will never encircle the 
Thank.sgiving board again, so at the time 
when others were obs(“rving the glad day 
as it has never been observed before, we 
were trying, 1 am afraid, to forget the 
time so far as old memories were con¬ 
cerned. 
The Cot'XTRY Christmas.—T hank.s¬ 
giving is over and Christmas is al¬ 
most here. As I said at first. I feel 
that I can't do enough to express the 
Christmas feeling—a feeling I had felt 
was lost and gone forever. < Hi. what a 
wonderful, wonderful Christmas this 
ought to be in every home in America— 
and in the world ! Before the Avar, Ave 
Avere surfidted with a A’ague indifference 
and skejiticism about many things of the 
spirit. We thought of Christmas mainly 
as meaning a lot of Avork—an awful ex¬ 
pense—and some of us. I fear, found it 
almost a bore. We country Avomen. of 
course, kejit our feelings a bit more fn'sh 
than our city cousins, money in tlu' ma¬ 
jority of our homes not being plenty 
enough to produce the stale attitude of 
unde.sire. And Avith far le.ss outside inter¬ 
ests to engross u.s, w(> entered more into 
the real spirit of the day. and gave and 
received homemade gifts Avith ideasurt* 
and under.standing. Y('t the hearty. 
Avholesome country Christmas of several 
years ago could never hold the fulfillimmt 
for us Avliich this Christmas day Avill In 
every farmhouse in the land Ave must keeii 
the .spirit of Christmas—remembering the 
Christ Child. Santa Claus. Christmas 
trees, stocking, bells and toys. If Ave 
can't feel like giving Christmas its due 
this year, we surely never Avill again in 
all our li\’es. Never again can Ave po.s- 
.sess the spontaneous happines.s. the full 
joy of personal and national achicA’ement. 
Aviiich is the right of (*very good man and 
Avoinan in our country at this season. 
And because we must realize that Ave can 
never observe (piite such a Yuletide again 
Ave should celebrate it Avith heaping meas¬ 
ure and Avithout stint. Because the broth¬ 
ers. husbands and sons of some readers of 
these lines, jicrhajis. Iuia'c fallen in France 
for liberty, those readers now can under¬ 
stand the feelings of Mary, the ^lother of 
.lesus, both when lie Avas born on Christ¬ 
mas morning in the manger, and again 
JIO years later at her Beloved Son's cru¬ 
cifixion. To such a Avtunan. Christmas 
must come, if she Avill let it. in it.s deep¬ 
est, saddest, most exalted sense. Not to 
all of us is it given this holiest kind of 
Christmas Day, and our hearts Avill be 
Avith those other honored AVomen on that 
dav. 
The Ciin.DREX Prepare.—M y kiddi(‘s 
have had their stockings hung “with care” 
in front of the fireplace for the last two 
weeks, and ('very morning they ru,sh 
doAvnstairs in their nighties to imiuire if 
Santa Claus has come. If anticipation 
is better than realization, as some sad 
pessimist Avould have us believe, then 
nothing, certainly, can cheat our house of 
this tingling preholiday spirit. Billy 
has brought down (piantities of sweet, 
smelly greems from the AVood lot, and in 
CA'ery spare moment the children and I 
are Aveaving them into wreaths and fes¬ 
toons. Outside on every window we have 
the hemlock wreaths, each with its gay 
red bow of Turkey red calico. On the 
front door is a larger Avreath and pine 
festoon, and at each side Ave put minia¬ 
ture Christmas trees in jars on Avhich the 
children jjlace bits of bread for the birds. 
The house from the road looks very fes¬ 
tive. indeed, and "the night before Christ- 
ma.s” we shall be alight from cellar to 
garret, the municipal lighting Iraa's hold¬ 
ing no terrors for us! And then the big 
tree I Father Avill set that up in the par- 
house rings Avith high laughter and intox¬ 
icating excitement. “Sugar and spice 
and CA-erything nice” is in the air, and lit¬ 
tle Ann declares she has .seen a “hundred” 
.strange bundles appearing and di.sappear- 
ing in the most tantalizing iind suggestive 
manner. I hai'e exiilained for the for¬ 
tieth time that Santa Claus is a Avee, 
tiny fairy Avho has the magic poAver of 
flying up and down chimneys, leaving life- 
size presents beloAv for good boys and 
girls. Three or four times a day the 
children step into the mouth of the big 
fireiilace and peer hopefully upAvard. 
Tlu'y knoAv they have good I'eason for be¬ 
lieving that 01(1 Nick Avill be able to make 
the trip in perfect .safety this year, as 
there is no possible chance of a naughty 
TJ-boat or bad airship intercepting him. 
Sharing the .Toys.^—.\ s at every 
liringinfj Home the Christmas Tree 
lor two days before Chi-istmas and th(( 
docu' Avill be locked, double-locked and 
trii)le-lock('d, I can assure you. The 
young.sters are in a state bordering on 
hystei'ics by this time and in a good way 
to burst Avith mystery and excitement. I 
confess to aiding and abetting them this 
year as I never have before that they may 
neA’er forget the 25th of December,'BUS, 
a.s long as they IIau*. 
Gaiety a.xd F.xi’ectatio.v. —I think 
AA'C should make this a j)atriotie Christ¬ 
mas as Avell as a religious day. But, at all 
costs. Ave should make it merry, happy 
and gay and memorable. The old farm- 
Christmastide. there will be homes Avhere 
the season is not recognized in these Avays. 
To such homes, this year, let us carry 
some of our oAvn clu'er and the comforting 
nu'ssage of thought and good fellowsliip. 
Let the children make .simple gifts for 
everyone and tc'ach them to give tlu'se 
anonymously, thinking only of the joy of 
gi\ ing and nothing of the art of receiving. 
Country children, who are generally shut 
in more or h't^s through the long and 
sometiiiK's trying month of December, can 
k('ep hap))y and content(‘d if they have 
bi'ight Avourl berri('s and ixijtcorn to string 
and frc'sh greens to wrc'atlie. Tlu'si' can 
Our f'orrespoudeut, ./. L. ({raeff, ftends This Pic ture of Xorth icestern Indians. 
Then Hare a Christmas Dinner at Teast. 
be presented to the neighbors it an accu¬ 
mulation threatens, and all Avill get a 
whiff of the holiday spirit thereby. Don't 
forget to sing the Christmas carols, and 
Avith the boy.s and girls repeat the good 
old pieces—“ ’Twas the Night Before 
Christmas.” “God Rest You. Merry Gen¬ 
tlemen.” and Martin Luther’s “Little 
Babe .Tesus.” The opportunity is ours to¬ 
day to make this Christmas a living mem¬ 
ory for our little jieople Avhich AA’ill never 
fade. There is nothing too much to do to 
express our heartfelt thankfulness that 
the last great Avar is over and that the 
Avorld. for the first time in fiv(' long years, 
can rep('at together on Christmas Day in 
the morning, that sweetest of all benedic¬ 
tions. “Peace on Earth. Goo<l Will to 
^Ipu” __ H. .s. K. AV. 
Through a Farm Woman’s Spectacles 
No one Avill doubt or deny that this has 
been a most unusual year. Everyone has 
vivid memories of last Winter, .and most 
of us Avho AA'ere not too busy to remember 
can recall the strenuous Spring and Sum¬ 
mer, and then came an Autumn Avhich 
achievi'd a reputation to parallel the other 
seasons. Potatoes Avere sprouted whe 
dug._ and Dahlias lik(' wise. The I'ose 
acacia set a feiv frail blooms in Octolx'r. 
All this Avill Aveaken the shrubs, and 
many of them Avill die during the Winter. 
I.ast \\ inti'r took lieaA’.A' toll of shrubs and 
fruit trees. Many farmers lost entiri' 
young orchards and are di.scouraged about 
replanting. 
Last year the poultry men adopted a 
slogan, “One hundred hens on every 
farm.” Noav .some bright, enterprising 
Iiaper should .start another. “One hundred 
fruit trees on every farm.” and then Avork 
it overtime. There are farmers Avith hun¬ 
dreds of acres avIio lun^e neither apples, 
pears, plums nor cherries groAving on their 
oAvn land ; no small fruit of any kind, and 
too often a miserly little patch of ground 
for a garden, totally inadequate to the 
needs of the family. We farmers drive 
live. 10 or even more miles to tOAVii and 
purchase at the grocery store the fruits 
and vegetables Avhich in simple justice 
.should be left for city people avIio cannot 
groAV them. AcknoAvledging freely that 
all tho.se things require labor, Avhich is at 
jue.sent at least a minus quantity, Ave 
must .still admit that there is .something 
Avrong Avith such a system, and that vig¬ 
orous efforts should be made to remedy it. 
I have heard farmers say that becau.se of 
the trouble of moAving they Avould not 
ihave an orchard on the farm. Those 
men might put a flock of sheep in the 
orchard, and if young trees are properly 
protected that orchard Avill yield treble 
instead of double, and Avill rival a Avell- 
kept liiAvn in appearance. 
.\nother slogan Avhich might Avell be 
adoptf'd Avould be “A babv beef for every 
farm family.” Last year the Fuel Ad¬ 
ministration threatened "no coal to farm¬ 
ers Avith wood lots.” Noav the Food Ad¬ 
ministrator may just as Avell declare “no 
beef to^ dairy farmers.” and Ave Avould be 
taught a good lesson. In the Spring 
Avhen milk is cheap, a baby calf Avhich is 
Avorth .$2 at birth would bring .$25 in four 
AA'eeks, and that’s generally as long as he 
stays Avith u.s! By butchering time he 
Avould be prime beef. Even though the 
cost of production came perilously close 
to the value at killing time, it would still 
appeal to my notions of thrift, since it 
would kee]) fertility on the farm. Avhere 
it belongs and is need(*d. and by utilizing 
our OAvn products \ve are getting close to 
the true idea of indeiiendence. Old-time 
farmers ahvays “put doAvn” a year’s sup¬ 
ply of meat. We can imjiroA’e upon the 
old salt methods by packing fresh meat 
in .lars. .sterilizing by heat, and AA’e hav(* 
fresh meat the year round. When the 
chickens are ready for market the home 
.supply may be put up the same Avay, and 
the others marketed at once. There is 
lots of money Avasted every year by keep¬ 
ing a^ lot of greedy .voung roosters jiast 
the tune Avhen Ave could profitably dis¬ 
pense Avith their company. 
When some philanthropic rich” man 
leaves me his millions I shall fir.s't of all 
.attend to every rural school that I knoAv 
HI thus Avise: Buy five acres of land and 
build a beautiful .school Avith jilenty of 
rooms, the best heating outfit obtain'able. 
a big hall overhead Avhere neighborhood 
gatherings may be held, and a hasement 
Avith so thoroughly (Kpiippi'd a tool bench 
that every finger in .school niav be proji- 
erly mutilati'd; lay out the gimunds Avitli 
baseball diamond, tennis court, croiiuet 
ground, pretty Avalks and flower borders 
with fruit trees for shade; install sAvings! 
bars, slides, strides, teeters, etc., and give 
the dei'd to the district. (Noav if that 
millionaire doesn’t sIioav up after that I 
surely don’t know Avhat’ll fetch him ) 
Speaking seriously, our rural schools are 
too small, too cold, too dark, unventilat¬ 
ed, poorly equipped, and, in general, no 
fit place for children to spend nine months 
of the year in. 
IIoAv good it seems to .see the cattle 
back in the barn ! It is a relief to turn 
them out in Spring, but a greater one to 
shut them comfortably in Avhen the cold 
nights come. I’ve ahvays felt sure I 
Avould have been an excellent stable boy, 
for I like to curry coavs and tend hordes. 
Instead, I must scrub floors and black 
stoves, and I especially abhor that last. 
We are taught that to do cheerfully the 
things Ave do not like endoAvs us with 
character. I’ve ahvays taken that with a 
grain of salt. I think if it Avere literally 
true a large percentage of the population 
Avould have such an overload of moral 
excellence they’d stagger. 
lIAJtlUET L. WOOD. 
Herkimer Co., N. Y. 
