697 
‘The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
j| WOMAN AND HOME 
At a recent banquet in New York a 
number of middle-aged men got together 
and reported the action of their boys in 
the war. 
John W. McDonald remarked that when 
the three citations of his son were pub¬ 
lished his associates in the Municipal 
Building pasted them upon the bulletin 
board with a line above them saying. “A 
chip of the old block.” signing their names. 
One man, however, wrote. "Disapproved,” 
adding, “He gets it from his mother.” 
It is quite true that in all the shouting 
over the war and the soldiers “father" has 
taken something of a back seat. Most of 
the glory has gone to mothers, where it 
undoubtedly belonged. Still, who will be¬ 
grudge father his fair share? 
* 
The Child in the Home 
Mr. C. has been reading aloud the re¬ 
cent description of “Salt" in connection 
with the training of children (page 4S2). 
One of the best books which I have ever 
read on this subject is "The Bent Twig, 
by Dorothy Canfield. I am sure you 
would enjoy reading it. Certainly child 
training is a problem which taxes the best 
there is in us, and I am beginning to real¬ 
ize that it takes a great deal of time. For 
the last two years all of us in America 
have been spending a large part of our 
time outside our homes. Red Cross work 
and Liberty loan campaigns have not been 
carried on without much hard work. This 
war work had to be done, and we have 
cheerfully sacrificed our family life in 
order to carry it on. But I have come to 
realize it has been driven home very for¬ 
cibly how much our children need us. 
“Absent treatment” does not work in 
training them. f. F. C. 
We have read “The Bent Twig.” It is 
a fine study of character and development. 
Such books may well be read by all who 
are interested in training children. We 
shall find that it all comes back to the 
home life of the child and the influences 
which start with him ; the school and col¬ 
lege can do but little with the child who 
has no real background of clean home life. 
It is true that a good many children have 
been somewhat neglected during the days 
of strenuous war work. It seems hard 
now for some mothers to get back into the 
old home life and to realize that after all 
the best service to our country is rendered 
right in the home, with the children. 
* 
The Credit of Soldiers 
The following story is credited to 
Charles M. Schwab. True or not, in all 
details it is a good text: 
One day in mid-ocean, he said, he no¬ 
ticed a big negro looking wistfully at the 
good things to eat in the canteen, lie was 
not buying, so Mr. Schwab went up to 
him. saying: 
“What’s the idea? Are you broke?” 
“ ‘Boss,’ he said, ‘I aint seen no pay in 
five months.’ 
“ ‘Well,’ I said ‘I’m going to loan you 
a dollar. It’s yours and you needn’t 
trouble about getting it back to me.' That 
gave me an idea. I decided to test those 
men just for the fun of the experiment. 
I made it known that I was willing to 
help out any of the men who were broke 
and 154 of them responded. To each I 
said something like this : ‘Now. you need¬ 
n't pay this back if you don't want to. 
You know me and where I am at. Suit 
yourself.’ 
“Do you know what? Up to date 138 
of those boys have sent me the money they 
borrowed. It came out as l expected. 
The boys were sound to the core. That’s 
one of the main reasons I’m not worrying 
about the United States going Bolshevist 
next election.” 
* 
We receive quite a number of letters 
written on very poor soft paper, or on 
the backs of old letters or circulars. We 
have lost several letters in the mail lately 
because they were sent in these second¬ 
hand envelopes. We are always glad to 
hear from our friends, no matter how they 
write or how they send the message, but 
there are a good many business houses that 
judge their correspondents by the char¬ 
acter of the stationery they use. There 
can be no question that a neat and clean 
letter, written on paper with a printed 
letterhead, will always command far more 
attention than the same letter written on 
soft, unmarked paper, or on the back of a 
circular. Thousands of farmers have 
found that to be true, and many of them 
use a typewriter with great skill. Neatness 
in correspondence pays, for many of our 
business friends must judge us by the ap¬ 
pearance of our letters. One of the best 
small investments a farmer cafl make is to 
lay in a line of neat printed stationery, 
giving his name and the name of the farm. 
That helps put him right up in line with 
the practice of other business men, and 
it often pays to go a step further and 
have some boy or girl to carry on the farm 
correspondence. 
* 
We have had a surprising number of 
letters from readers who are interested in 
the recent reveiw of “Salt, or the Educa¬ 
tion of Griffith Adams.” There can be no 
question about the Dold and forcible man¬ 
ner in which this book tears apart' one 
phase of education. There is nothing very 
ladylike or polished about this book, but it 
contains a message that every parent or 
guardian might well study. 
* 
Mr. G. W. Thompson, Orange Co., N. 
Y., is now in his ninety-sixth year and 
reads Tiie R. N.-Y. faithfully every week ; 
in fact, I think he would feel rather lost 
without it. Call the roll of the 05-year- 
olds in The R. N.-Y. family and see how 
many answer present! - F. n. T. 
Very well, the roll is called. Let us 
see how many besides Mr. Thompson will 
respond. One of the finest things about 
the business of making and distributing 
The R. N.-Y'. is the fact that so many of 
our readers remain with us to the end. 
We have thousands of them who began 
reading the paper in their youth. It then 
inspired them. In their prime it gave 
them strength and confidence. Now. in 
the evening of life, it gives them comfort 
and companionship. Many of the friends 
of youth have passed on, but The It. 
N.-Y. remains, let us hope, the same 
friend and helper. It is one of the most 
beautiful things connected with this busi¬ 
ness to have these fine old friends say they 
cannot find life just the same without the 
old paper. 
* 
We are slowly learning in this country 
that it does not pay to make bread at 
home in small lots. The French have 
known this for a century or so. They 
have also known that it does not pay to 
have a dozen little fires carried at meat 
roasting temperature in order to roast 12 
little pieces of meat, when one slightly 
larger will roast one or two pieces equal 
in bulk to the dozen, and do the job far 
better. So each little town in France has 
a baking shop and a roasting shop, and 
the stuff is good. Of course the scarcity, 
of fuel, and the habit, from days of old. 
of living in villages and going out to 
farms, has played its part in this, but 1 
figure tiiat. in the large, it has paid us to 
send that army abroad just to show the 
boys that the French can beat us keeping 
house. f. n. c. 
We have been told how a former Presi¬ 
dent of the French Republic went home 
for a vacation, and. as part of it. mixed 
and baked the week's supply of bread 1 
Many of our American housewives are 
now depending largely on bakers’ bread, 
though they do not buy it in the most 
economical way. We think most of the 
country boys home from the war will pre¬ 
fer mother’s bread to anything they had 
in France. One of our boys was engaged 
in frying doughnuts for the soldiers The 
co-operative bakeshop is sure to come in 
time—first in the villages, then in coun¬ 
try neighborhoods. 
* 
A New Scheme for a Farm 
Your comments on W. L. IT., who 
wishes to purchase a farm with $100 
down and $100 a year, have prompted me 
to question you as to the practicability of 
a plan I have been considering. 
I am a New York City employee with 
an assured income of $200 a month, with 
$100 a month from another source. I 
have given a great deal of time to the 
study of fruit raising and am anxious to 
secure a farm where I can plant about 
500 trees each Spring for the next three 
years. However, realizing how long it 
takes for an orchard to come into bearing. 
I intend to keep my city position for two 
or three years, using my salary in keeping 
up my orchard. In the meantime I would 
spend about three months each year on 
the farm, doing all I could in that time to 
improve the place. My position allows 
that much vacation with pay. 
It would therefore be desirable for me 
to find some farmer who would welcome a 
chance to cut down a bit on his work, 
owing to age or failing health. The terms 
I could buy on are somewhat better than 
those of W. L. II. I would pay $100 
down and $100 a month, the seller retain¬ 
ing possession of his home and farm for 
two or three years. All I would ask from 
him would be that he plowed my orchard 
in the Spring and cultivated it every two 
or three weeks. It would also be neces¬ 
sary for him to board, at reasonable rates, 
my wife and myself when we spent our 
time at the farm. As we are both fully 
conversant with farm life, we would be in 
no way troublesome—not at all the fin¬ 
icky. fussy Summer boarder type. We 
would be there to work. 
I may add that the seller would be 
free to crop his land during the two years 
he retained tenancy, with the exception 
of the land I would require for trees— 
about six acres the first year and six 
more the second. Even this land he could 
intercrop if he used a suitable crop. You 
can readily see how well this plan would 
suit certain farmers who, as I said, are 
anxious to cut down on work and yet not 
give up farming entirely. Then, too, 
there are farmers so placed that they can 
look ahead and plan selling two or three 
years from now, though they are not yet 
ready to quit. This scheme would fit 
them perfectly—they would have a steady 
monthly income, they would be selling 
their farm, they would have their home 
for two or three years, they could work 
as much or as little as they wished. J. P. 
We have not had anything quite like 
this before, as "J. P.” has greater finan¬ 
cial resources than most back-to-the-land- 
ers. We think, also, that he has a clearer 
idea of what he wants than most of them. 
The plan is possible, but he must make 
no mistake in starting. He must get a 
good location and make sure of his soil 
and market. He is what many real estate 
agents will regard as "a good thing." and 
there will be many attempts to unload a 
farm on him. He will be obliged to use 
great judgment and cool-headed reserve 
in order to avoid being drawn into some 
bargain which will not fit into his pur¬ 
pose. 11 is plan is good if he can locate 
right. 
Homemade Labor-savers 
A short time ago I listened to a lecture 
on “Labor-saving Devices in the Home.” 
The speaker most interestingly told us 
what devices we ought to have in our 
homes. Well, I knew that I ought to have 
all that she mentioned, and some that she 
did not, but how to procure ihem is the 
question. Then I put my brains and hands 
to work and evolved several useful contri¬ 
vances that save me much time and labor 
at almost no expense, enabling me to take 
the money I should have paid for them 
and add it to the price of something else. 
I wanted a yard to keep my baby in; 
she was just beginning to creep, and I 
knew from former experience the endless 
watching it would save me, to say nothing 
of the worriment when I must leave her 
alone for a few minutes. The price of 
these articles at the stores seemed high 
for the length of time they are useful, so 
I made baby a little pen 4%x3 feet from 
three-inch boards, v : three-inch space 
between. It has no floor—just a rug on 
the floor of the room, or maybe two when 
it is cold. And there she plays as con¬ 
tented as can be, while I can go to the 
cellar or attic and know' that baby is 
safe. 
I wanted a fireless cooker also, but the 
prices on these seemed exorbitant; so I 
made one from a cheese box (one that had 
held two), padding the bottom and sides 
three inches deep with newspapers, and 
making a close-fitting cover of the same 
material and thickness. This gives good 
service. I have also made a dust mop 
and dustless dust cloth from old gauze 
underwear soaked with kerosene and al¬ 
lowed to evaporate till just a little moist; 
that gives as good service as any boiighten 
one I ever used. 
The secret of homemade contrivances 
being satisfactory is to make them well, 
not just a little bit rickety, because they 
ai*e “just homemade anyway.” 
Ohio. MRS. E. J. HAIGHT. 
* 
A New “Hold-up” Game 
I would like our readers to have the 
benefit of my experience with a “fraud.” 
if you consider this worth printing. I 
advertised my farm for sale and next day 
received a courteous letter, written upon 
the stationery of one of the finest hotels 
in New York City. There was no postage 
stamp on the letter, so I had to pay the 
postage. The writer stated that he was 
pleased to learn of a farm such as I de¬ 
scribed in my advertisement, and that he 
would call in person that evening to ob¬ 
tain further details from me. 
About sundown a very well-dressed man 
of about 2S or 30 approached me and in¬ 
troduced himself as the person who wrote 
the letter. He seemed to have very pleas¬ 
ing manners and was a fine, educated talk¬ 
er. He appeared well pleased with our 
meeting and arose to go. saying he would 
leave me his card and address, so I could 
communicate with him. When he felt his 
pocket for his card, his face assumed a 
very worried expression, and he stam¬ 
mered to me, saying that his pocket had 
been picked, probably in a crowded trol¬ 
ley car, and his cards stolen, including his 
card case and about $20 cash, also his re¬ 
turn ticket to Long Branch. N. J.. where 
he was stopping. I felt so grieved for 
him. to think that so fine a gentleman 
should be placed in such an embarrassing 
position, that I immediately offered to lend 
him $10. which he almost reluctantly ac¬ 
cepted, but I urged it upon him. feeling so 
sorry, and he accepted only on condition 
that I would accept a little gift from him, 
which he promised to send me next day, 
with a check for the $10 loaned him. 
Of course you can guess the rest. I 
never heard from this “polished geut” 
again. No doubt he bragged among his 
kind that he got $10 of me without even 
spending the price of a postage stamp. 
Is it a wonder that farmers are suspicious 
of strangers? c. R. 
New Jersey. 
* 
Mending Rubber Boots 
As I have received many useful hiuts 
from The II. N.-Y*. I think it only fair 
that I should share any helpful thing that 
I find with its readers. Last Fall I found 
cracks developing in my rubber boots, and 
I was getting wet feet. I tried patches, 
but could not make them stick. One day 
I tried coating the cracks with liquid 
glue. It succeeded, and I have gone dry- 
shod through the Winter. I do not know 
that there is anything new in this, but I 
have never heard of anyoue trying it. 
New York. S. B. s. 
* 
Farmers Wanted 
Can you use your influence and send 
some farmers to this community? There 
are twenty-odd idle properties, caused 
mostly by death in the past few years. 
Our most promising young progressive 
farmer was taken away with influenza, 
leaving us without anyone to supply milk, 
butter, eggs and vegetable to the Summer 
people. The need is great: no better 
opening could be had for a number of en¬ 
ergetic men. Laura hoove x h ass ax. 
New Hampshire. 
R. N.-Y.—Unfortunately, farmers can¬ 
not be supplied to order, like machines or 
trees. There are hundreds like yourself 
wha are in need of just such help, and do 
not know where to find it. 
The dairymaid! This picture is sent by T. A. Bacon of Greene Co., A. 1. It 
shows his little girl laying the foundation of a dairy education! 
