137 
WOMAN AND HOME 
A bill has been introduced at Albany 
making it a misdemeanor for anyone in 
New York to refuse to rent an apart¬ 
ment to a person or family because of a 
child or children under 14 years of age. 
The child of the city tenant and the farm 
hired man has a hard life as a rule. 
Most landlords and many farmers, it 
must be said, give a very fair imitation 
of the mental attitude of King Herod 
when they see a child headed for the 
apartment or the farm. We never have 
been quite able to understand this feel¬ 
ing, but there is no question about its 
existence, and, in the country, it has 
driven many good workmen away from 
the farm. 
* 
Among the big “reconstruction” ques¬ 
tions coming out of the war is the one 
presented by Barbara, on this page. She 
represents hundreds, yes thousands, of 
young women who found themselves float¬ 
ed into new lines of industry by the war. 
Barbara puts her problem well, and many 
of us can realize exactly how she feels. 
What is the right thing for her to do? 
What would you do? Life can never be 
quite the same to such a girl if she goes 
back to the old plan of simply “helping” 
in the house. The pocket money question 
is a hard one for the farm woman to set¬ 
tle. Whatwould you do? 
ft 
Mr. Haight, on page 126, does not 
seem to think much of the idea of going 
back to the old spinning wheel. The fact 
is that the wheel is coming back—-we 
are not going to it. A short time ago 
someone asked where such a wheel could 
be bought. Already 30 wheels have 
been offered, and there are more to come. 
The fact is that while the manufacturers 
do not seem to realize it, thousands of 
country people have become convinced 
that they are paying too much tribute to 
those who make over and fit the things 
which these country people produce. 
There is a demand for small grinders to 
fit the grain and small machines to knit 
and spin and do many other things. Nor 
is this going to mean so much extra 
work for the farm, for little engines and 
motors are coming to turn these ma¬ 
chines. The fact is that years ago a great 
share of the work of fitting and fixing 
food and fibre for human use was done 
by farm women. Most of it has been 
tfiken from them and put into the hands 
of men—crowded into the great cities. 
We are told that society is far better off 
for this transfer of labor, but we are not 
so sure of it when we see how it has 
affected the farm. At any rate the 
swing has now started back, and we 
think it will go far. 
* 
The question about the crowing hen on 
page 14S reminds us of the wise old “saw” 
which our elders repeated so often in the 
old home town: 
“Whistling girls and crowing hens 
Always come to some bad end.” 
In those days it was rather hard for a 
minister’s son or a deacon’s daughter to 
live down the reputation which the old 
proverb had put into the minds of the 
people. Some of them grew weary of try¬ 
ing to live such a reputation down, so they 
proceeded to live up to it. Surely, if a 
hen feels like crowing, who should object 
so long as she lays eggs? If a girl cares 
to whistle and has a mouth properly 
framed for such music, who has any right 
to object? It is evidence of girl happi¬ 
ness, not of depravity. We are all going 
to find out that the coming woman is 
going to do many things which in the past 
have been denied her through fear of old 
custom or 6ome old “saying.” We shall 
all be the better for entrance into a freer 
behavior. 
* 
We once made a proposition to a great 
city paper about paying more attention to 
the good things which humble people were 
doing. We find these papers well filled 
with the evil and shame which poor hu¬ 
mans help to bring into life, but rarely 
do we read of the 
“Motherless girl whose fingers thin 
Pushed from her feebly want and sin ” 
Our proposition was that for every two 
stories of the evil that people do we 
•Xhe RURAL. N 
would find one instance of good, unselfish 
devotion or kindly charity. We should 
have gone to the humble, unknown peo¬ 
ple who live their quiet, patient lives un¬ 
der the shadow of want and trouble. We 
think the good would have overcome the 
evil even at the proportion of one to 
two. The paper would not consider it. 
The plan was not popular. No one 
seemed to care how good people are or 
how unselfish they may be. That was to 
be accepted as a matter of course. The 
public wants scandal and spice—at least 
that is what they will pay for. That was 
the cynical opinion of this daily paper, 
and the manager proceeded to live up to 
it. We think they are wrong. At least 
the great mass of the people will instinct¬ 
ively put virtue above vice, and devotion 
above dollars. That is true of the read¬ 
ers of Tiie It. N.-Y. at least, and we 
know that this short note will bring to us 
just such stories out of the lives of hum¬ 
ble, devoted people as we wanted that 
daily paper to print. 
* 
Here we are again with an old plan 
for offering prizes for apple pies—made 
while you wait. For years we have 
urged the managers of fruit shows to 
offer prizes of $25 or even $50 for the 
E W-YO RKER 
women had figured on the financial or 
“efficient” side of their woi*k entirely they 
would not have accomplished half of what 
they did. There was a spirit and senti¬ 
ment about this knitting which did more 
for the cause even than the vast sums of 
money that were raised. The time spent 
in knitting was not wasted or thrown 
away. It was for the most part what 
would otherwise have been idle time. 
, True, some machine in a big factory 
might have done this knitting cheaper, 
but this war was not won by cheapness 
or by material things alone. The ma¬ 
chine could not put love and prayer and 
sympathy into the wool as it made up the 
garment. The nimble fingers of these Red 
Cross workers could and did put these 
finer things in with the wool, and the sol¬ 
diers at the front knew it. We cannot 
measure these things by the single stan¬ 
dard of cheapness or saving of money. A 
world conducted entirely on that principle 
would fall apart, for it would lack the 
binding support of sentiment. We think 
the knitting was fully justified, and that 
it was one of the things which made the 
Red Cross so wonderfully successful. 
* 
We have heard some criticism of the 
way soldiers have been treated in the hos¬ 
A Clean Job for a Cold Day 
best apple pies made right at the exhi¬ 
bition. We would limit the contest to 
young women and girls, and fit up a few 
gas ranges or stoves in one corner of the 
hall. Then give each girl a basket of 
apples and free access to flour, sugar, 
salt, butter and spice. Then let the girls 
alone—keep the crowd at a respectful 
distance—and let each one make two or 
more pies—from paring the apples to 
baking the finished pie. The older women 
are to keep away from the stove, being 
supposed to coach their daughters at 
home. For judges we suggest one scien¬ 
tist, one good housekeeper, a hungry 
business man, a farmer and an editor. 
These people should all be good con¬ 
sumers—equal to the task of eating at 
least six pieces of pie. We believe this 
suggestion has merit, and that it would 
•oiitshiue all other attractions at the 
show. The writer is willing to contri¬ 
bute to a fund for paying cash prizes— 
and would also willingly serve on such 
a pie-eating committee of judges. We 
have advocated this yearly for a long 
time, but no one seems to respond. We 
shall keep right at it until someone 
starts. Apparently no society cares to 
act as pioneer. 
# 
When Mr. Haight, on page 126, 
speaks of the Red Cross knitters he does 
not consider one vital part of it. If these 
pitals, but we are glad to print the fol¬ 
lowing. This comes from a farmer who 
says: “This is our only boy, on whom 
our hopes were centered”: 
Our son in the Navy paid the price at 
Charleston, S. C., Naval Hospital last 
Monday morning. My wife and I were 
there. He was taken with pneumonia on 
board the Kittery, New York to Charles¬ 
ton. On arrival at latter place he was 
taken to hospital. We were with him 
nearly three weeks, and wish you to know, 
that you may convey to your readers who 
may have sons there, that they are doing 
everything for the boys that skill in medi¬ 
cine, surgery and nursing care can do. 
Commander Wm. M. Garton, in charge, 
is a wonderful organizer and magnetic 
personality. We were treated with the 
greatest courtesy and consideration by 
everyone at the institution. It is a great 
comfort to us to know that our son had 
such care and attention, and we desire 
that all parents be made acquainted with 
the conditions there, as it must comfort 
them if they are unable to be there in 
person should their own be unfortunate 
enough to be sick there. 
One Hundred Fruit Trees on Every 
Farm 
I cannot tell you how gratified I am 
that you have seriously taken up that 
fruit tree idea. No one who has not ex¬ 
perienced it can realize what it means to 
be deprived of these small comforts of 
living. This is true of any family, but 
especially true of a family of children, 
for after milk, in my estimation, comes 
fruit in a child’s diet. Your offer of help 
in selecting varieties is even better. It 
is so discouraging to buy high-priced trees 
and -wait years, only to find that they 
are so unsuited to soil and climate that 
they will never yield. For instance, we 
have about a dozen fine, big, thrifty plum 
trees, set out 10 years ago. Last year, 
for the first time, we had plums —four 
from the 10 trees! A little advice at 
planting time might have saved us that 
disappointment. It takes so little time 
and space to have those things, and it 
looks so foolish for men with hundreds 
of acres to deprive their families of them, 
especially if, as is often the case, some 
of these many acres are going to waste. 
Grapevines planted along a fence will 
yield bushels of luscious fruit, and a 
clump of raspberries will fill the cans 
for next M inter’s pies and sauces very 
rapidly. Having known the hardship of 
going without, I most earnestly hope that 
the idea will “take,” and that every far¬ 
mer in the country will proceed to set 
outran orchard this coming Spring. 
New York. Harriet e. wood. 
A Burning Question for Women 
Perhaps The R. N.-Y. will think my 
problem too small and personal to bother 
with, but I want advice, and I feel that 
it will come better from outside. 
I am a farm girl, living on a good farm, 
clear of debt, with all the usual farm com¬ 
forts. We have an automobile, and are 
not lonesome, though several miles from a 
store. But, like most farm girls, I never 
have any money ; what mother gets from 
the hens pays the store bill, and it is only 
once in a while that I make a little on 
side jines. The war gave me my first 
chance to make real money. Most of the 
young men in the village enlisted, or were 
drafted, and I got a job at the laundry as 
driver of a delivery wagon. It wasn't 
hard work for a farm girl, driving a pa¬ 
tient old horse, and most of the people I 
met on my route were real nice. I was a 
good collector, too, and the laundryman 
said he never lost so little through bad 
debts. My mother missed me, but my 
younger sisters helped out. My oldest 
brother was drafted, but another staved 
with my father, and the farm work <rot 
along pretty well. Now, I want some 
advice about my own future. 
First of all, there were lots of things I 
always wanted, but I never had anv 
money for them. I am 24 years old. anil 
\ lov e music, but I never heard a bi^ or¬ 
chestra or concert by real professional 
musicians until I bought myself a vic- 
trola out of my laundry-wagon wages 
I- ather is very kind, but he thought it all 
foolishness, when we have a parlor organ 
of our own. Mother always wanted a 
real nice set of dishes, but never had anv 
so I bought that, and we don’t feel so 
much ashamed of the table when we 
have nice company to meals. I don’t care 
for expensive clothes, but I never had a 
real good umbrella or hand-bag, or lr'ce 
shoes before. Now that the war is over 
everyone thinks I shall give up my job 
and just work around home for my board 
and clothes. All the writers about woman 
war workers tell us to go back home and 
do the housework, but none of them tells 
us how we shall be paid for it. I have 
two younger sisters growing up. Are we 
all three to stay home and just hang on? 
My oldest brother has got a good job with 
a construction company that he can step 
into as soon as he is mustered out. Why 
must I leave my job, or the chance of an¬ 
other, and go back to unpaid labor, so 
that some young man may do work that I 
can do just as well? I like housework, 
but if I never marry I shall be an old 
maid, who isn’t really needed, living 
around among my relations. If I keep on 
working for wages I can save money, and 
feel independent. What do you ‘ think 
about it ? If I work on the farm for 
board and clothes, isn’t my labor really 
contributed to the middleman? 
BARBARA. 
Canning Meat 
For spare ribs, I use two-quart cans, 
cut the ribs both ways, trimming the back¬ 
bone to enter can. Pack big end down, 
placing in the thin ribs for filling. Put 
in a level teaspoon of salt. Place on top 
and rubber, partly seal, and boil from 2% 
to three hours. Remove, seal, turn up~ 
side down. Keep all meats free from 
water, using same method for pork and 
lamb or beef, but I cook beef four hours, 
and fowls or chickens 2*4 to three hours. 
In preparing chickens I scrub and clean 
the outside thoroughly, wipe dry, cut into 
the usual pieces, cut off the lower end of 
drumstick and biggest eiul bone of thigh, 
allowing the marrow to escape, clip off 
tip of wings. Little choice bits from back 
can be put in the cans. If any pieces are 
wet, wipe off the water. Use less than a 
teaspoon of salt to quart can. Cook, seal, 
turn upside down. Cook feet and bones 
for broth, ■which place in cans and ster¬ 
ilize 20 minutes. 
The meat in the cans will not be cov¬ 
ered with the juice, but that will make no 
difference; it keeps perfectly, and will 
not have a warmed-over taste. Don’t put 
any water in the cans. 
Yes. I stei-ilize milk and cream, too, in 
the cans, having what I need for ice 
cream, biscuit, table use, etc., while the 
Jersey is resting for two months. a. 
