1026 
Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 28, 1919 , 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
You could hardly have crowded another 
human into the great hall. From the 
gowned and decorated dignitaries on the 
stage to the great orchestra in the upper 
gallery every square foot of floor space 
was packed as the president of the great 
woman’s college arose to open the com¬ 
mencement exercises. This followed one 
of the most impressive scenes I have ever 
witnessed. The great audience had been 
waiting long beyond the appointed time 
for starting, when suddenly the orchestra 
started a slow and stately march and we 
all rose. A dignified woman in cap and 
gown, with soft gray hair, marched slowly 
up the aisle, and following her came long 
lines of “sweet girl graduates,” as Ten¬ 
nyson puts it. The woman walked to 
the steps which led to the stage, and 
standing there reviewed the long lines of 
girls as they filed silently in and occupied 
the seats reserved for them. In their 
black gowns and white bands they seemed, 
as they were, like a trained and steadfast 
army. As they seated themselves and 
rose again it seemed like the swelling of a 
great ocean tide. And following them 
came men and women who had gained 
distinction in education or public life. 
Tliev, too. were in cap and gown, with 
bands of red, purple, white, green or 
brown, to designate their college or their 
studies. The bright sunshine flooded in 
at the open windows. Outside the beau¬ 
tiful green college campus stretched away 
in gently rolling mounds and little Valleys. 
I noticed a robin perched on a tree with 
his head on one side, calmly viewing the 
great professor who with the bright, red 
band across his breast was delivering the 
address. Very likely this wise bird was 
saying “You should not be too proud of 
that dash of red on your gown. There 
are others! Your red badge is man made. 
It will not appear on your children, and 
it may even be taken from you. The red 
on my breast is a finger print of Nature, 
and cannot be removed.” 
* * ■* * * 
I know there are those who would call 
this impressive service mere pomp and 
vain parade, yet. to the plain man and 
woman sitting in the front row of the 
balcony, it all seemed a noble part of a 
great proceeding, and a great pride for 
them. Just where the balcony curved 
around like a horseshoe this gravhaired 
couple sat—just like hundreds of other 
men and women who, in other places, 
with strange thought in mind, were 
watching their boys and girls pass out of 
training into the race of life. The Hope 
Farm man is supposed to be a farmer, 
and “as the husband so the wife is.” lie 
worked out as hired man for some years 
and otherwise qualified for the position, 
while Mother probably never saw a work¬ 
ing farm before she was married. Hut at 
any rate there they were—like the hun¬ 
dreds of other plain men and women, 
while down below them the best work of 
their lives was coming to fruition. For 
the daughter was part of that army in 
cap and gown and was about to receive 
her certificate of education ! 
***** 
To me one of the most interesting char¬ 
acters in the universe is “the hen with one 
chicken!” These women with one child 
of their own! Having added just one 
volume to the book of life it is their duty 
and privilege to regard it as a master¬ 
piece. When you come to think of it. 
what a day, what a moment, that must 
have been for a woman like Mother. Here 
was her only child, a girl who. from the 
cradle, had never given her a moment’s 
uneasiness or a single lapse of confidence, 
now standing up big and straight and fine 
to take her college degree. It had been 
the dream of Mother’s girlhood to go 
through this same great college, hut that 
had been denied her. Yet the years had 
swung around in their relentless march 
and here was her daughter, big, trained 
and fine and unspoiled, making noble use 
of the opportunity which failed to knock 
at her mother’s door! Many of you 
women who read this will know that there 
can be no prouder moment in a woman’s 
life. Is it any wonder that there was a 
very suspicious moisture on Mother’s 
glasses as the minister read the 25th 
chapter of St. Mathew? . 
“And I was afraid and went and hid 
thy talent in the earth.” 
Would you not, as she did. have sung 
with all your power when that great au- 
dence rose like a mighty wave to sing 
“The Star Spangled Banner”? The mem¬ 
bers of the orchestra stood up (o play the 
tune. As you know, a group of musicians 
will usually show a large proportion of 
European faces, but all these markings of 
foreign blood faded away as they played, 
and there came upon each countenance 
the light of what we call Americanism. 
***** 
But what about “father” at such a 
time and place? Where does he come in? 
At a woman’s college he stays out he is 
a mere incident, and properly so. If he 
is wise he will accept the situation For 
this big girl, marching in line has his 
shoulders and head ; she walks as lie does, 
and people are kind enough to remark 
“I low much your daughter looks like 
you!” Now this is no fly in the oint¬ 
ment of Mother’s pride and joy, unless 
you refer to it too much. Far better 
take a back seat and let the good lady 
take full pride in her daughter. I confess 
that when those 200 girls sat together at 
the front of the room, all in cap and gown, 
and most of them with their hair arranged 
alike, I could not be sure of my own girl 
until her name was called! My mind was 
hack in the years busy with many mem¬ 
ories. More than a full generation ago 
at an agricultural college I walked up to 
receive my “certificate.” I remember that 
1 had on some clothes which had been 
discarded by two other men. I played 
the part of tailor to clean and press them 
into service. There were no he-gowned 
and decorated dignitaries on the platform 
—just a few farmers, several of them 
right out of the harvest field. I remem¬ 
ber how two of these tired men fell asleep 
through our class “orations.” I had in 
my pocket just about enough money to 
get me to a farm where I had agreed to 
cut corn. And this proud and happy lady 
beside me! At just about the same time 
she was graduating from a Normal col¬ 
lege at the South. She was then a mere 
slip of a pretty girl, not out of her ’teens, 
with a plain white dress and a bright rib¬ 
bon, and no “graduation present” but the 
bare price of a ticket home. And within 
a few weeks she was off, giving the acid 
test to her certificate of education by 
teaching school in Texas! What a world 
it all is anyway ! The years had ironed 
out the rather poor scientific farmer and 
the smart girl teacher into the parents of 
this young woman who, as we fondly 
hope, has adopted the good qualities of 
both sides of the house and cast out the 
poor ones. A great world, certainly a 
good world, and probably a wise one! 
***** 
The orator of the day made an impres¬ 
sive speech. He made a powerful com¬ 
parison between Croesus, the rich Persian 
king, and Leonidas, the Greek hero. Then 
he compared the life of the Emperor 
Tiberius with that of Jesus. It was a 
powerful plea for a life of service—for 
making full use of training and culture. 
I saw my old friend the robin on his 
perch outside regarding the orator crit¬ 
ically. I take him to he one of these ex¬ 
ponents of a “practical” education. Very 
likely he was saying: 
"Very fine! Very fine! But if I had 
a daughter I would want more of house¬ 
keeping and practical homemaking in her 
education. With all your culture and 
literature you cannot build a house as 
my daughter can. You cannot tell when 
it is time to go South, as we can. nor can 
you defend yourself against enemies as we 
are able to do. All very fine, no doubt, 
for human beings, hut if birds were edu¬ 
cated with any such ideas the race would 
be extinct in three generations. Reading, 
writing and housekeeping are the only 
things that women need to know.” 
1 have heard human robins talk in just 
exactly that way. and for many years the 
world listened to them and believed what 
they said. Their talk was about like the 
song of the robin, only not-10 per cent as 
musical. They were opposed to the “edu¬ 
cated” woman, and most of all to the 
woman’s college. There are still some of 
these pessimists left. I thought of one 
in particular as one by one those girls 
stood up to receive their diplomas—and 
the robin flew away in disgust. Woman 
can never again be set aside as a slave 
or underling or inferior partner of man. 
She has a right to the best there is in 
life. Some of those who read this will 
say “What will become of farming if our 
country women get the idea that they are 
entitled to education and culture, as oth¬ 
ers are?” Farming will be better off 
than ever before, because when our wom¬ 
en get this idea firmly in mind we shall 
all proceed to demand the things which 
will enable us to give opportunity to 
every country girl. 
Of all the wonderful changes in the 
past 25 years, few have been so remark¬ 
able as the growth of opportunity for 
women. The full ballot is now to be 
given them, and the war opened many a 
door of industry. Those doors cannot he 
shut. They have lost their hinges. A new 
element is coming into business and polit¬ 
ical life. I do not think we need a new 
element of science or mechanical skill 
half as much as we need vision, poetry 
and the finer imagination. It must he 
said that while man alone has done won¬ 
ders in developing material power lie has 
failed to combine spiritual power with it. 
That is what we need today more than 
anything else, and I think the finely edu¬ 
cated women are to bring it. I was 
thinking about this all through that great 
day. Suppose my daughter and the 200 
other graduates had all been trained as 
lawyers, doctors, business women, etc.; 
would they really benefit the world more 
than they will now do with broad, strong 
culture and minds stored with the best 
that literature can give them? I doubt 
it. No matter what they may do here¬ 
after, their lives and their influence will 
be stronger for this sort of training. I 
can hardly think of any better missionary 
to go into a country neighborhood to live 
than one of these hopeful, trained and 
useful young women. Mother selected 
the college for her daughter before that 
young person was out of her cradle. T 
thought some more practical training 
would lie better, but I never had a chance 
to argue. I now conclude that Mother 
was right. She knew what she was do¬ 
ing. and evidently sized up the spirit of 
her own flesh and blood. If you ask me 
what I think is the finest thing about a 
college education I can quickly tell you. 
It is having.a son or daughter go through 
a great, college with credit and come out 
wholly unspoiled by the process. It seems 
to me that most people use the college as 
a trading place in life. They bring away 
from it knowledge and culture, hut they 
leave behind too much of youth, too much 
of the plain home life, too much of the 
simple, homely, kindly things which the 
world needs and longs for. So that we 
may all pardon Mother her pride and sat¬ 
isfaction as she looks down upon this big 
girl in cap and gown and knows that her 
daughter has mastered the course at a 
great college and'still remains her daugh¬ 
ter , with a sane and fine understanding of 
her relations to the home and to society. 
Ideals are what count. One of the 
most, beautiful ceremonies of this com¬ 
mencement was the placing of the laurel 
chain. The senior class, dressed in white, 
marched to the grave where lies the 
founder of the college carrying a great 
chain or wreath of laurel. While the 
students sang, these seniors draped the 
laurel around the little fence which en¬ 
closed the grave. It was as if the young¬ 
est daughter of the college had come to 
pay reverence to the founder. A beauti¬ 
ful ceremony, and after it was over I 
went back and copied the inscription on 
one side of the little monument. I have 
seen nothing fi ner as a message to edu¬ 
cated 
The Apple Rust Disease 
During the year we have many ques¬ 
tions about, apple rust, its life history 
and methods of fighting it. All who are 
interested in this subject, should, if pos¬ 
sible, obtain Bulletin 170 from the West 
Virginia Experiment Station at Morgan¬ 
town. This is what is known as a "tech¬ 
nical bulletin.” It discusses the disease 
in a scientific manner, and well exhausts 
the subject. Every apple grower who has 
been troubled with the common rust of 
apples may well make a study of this 
disease. As is well known, this disease 
passes a part of its life on the red cedar. 
There it appears in the form of corky 
galls, which are commonly known as cedar 
apples. The spores are formed by this 
growth and spread to the apple trees. 
They are deposited on the foliage, and 
there make another growth, so that the 
important fact about this disease is the 
knowledge that the red cedars are neces¬ 
sary in order to carry on its full life. 
Therefore, the most important method of 
fighting this disease is to destroy the red 
cedars anywhere within two miles of the 
orchard. Cleaning out the cedars imme¬ 
diately around the orchard would help, 
but evidently the disease will not be wiped 
out clean so long as there is a living 
cedar tree within two miles of the growing 
fruit. The cedar trees close around the 
houses, where they are used as an orna¬ 
ment. are sometimes sprayed, or if the 
trees are small the rust galls are picked 
off. but the sure thing about the disease 
is to destroy the cedars anywhere within 
two miles of the orchard. This bulletin is 
well worth the study of every apple 
grower. 
Does Your Dealer 
Know About 
Tamarack? 
Has your dealer been able to 
give you reliable information 
about Tamarack ? 
Has he read our book, "Inform¬ 
ation Regarding the Durability of 
Tamarack?” 
Has he a copy of this book to give 
you ? 
Has he Tamarack in stock ? 
You should find these things out. 
When you buy fence posts again 
you should consider Tamarack and 
our book will explain why. 
Those who have used Tamarack 
have been eager to give us inform¬ 
ation about its durability. Some 
users would not be satisfied with any 
other timber. 
If you had experienced the use of 
Tamarack you would be enthusiastic 
about it. 
If your dealer has not Tamarack 
in stock, if he cannot supply you with 
the book mentioned above, write us, 
giving your dealers name. We will 
send you our book by return mail 
free. Address:— Union Cedar Com¬ 
pany, Second National Bank Build¬ 
ing, Toledo, Ohio. 
Practical 
Live Stock Books :• 
FOR SALE BY RURAL NEW-YORKER .• 
FEEDS AND FEEDING—Henri/ . $2.50 
g MANUAL OF MILK PRODUCTS- 
• # Stocking .2.00 
« DISEASES OF ANIMALS—Mayo . 1.75 
l* PRODUCTIVE SWINE HUSBANDRY 
Day .1.75 
•2 BREEDING OF FARM ANIMALS— 
Harper .. 1.50 
% CHEESE MAKING—Van Slyke . 1.75 
V* BUTTER MAKING —Publow . . .60 
% MILK TESTING— Publow and Troy .60 
• > 
Economy to Both 
Health and Purse 
follow a change from 
coffee to the American 
table drink — 
POSTUM CEREAL 
A rich, full-bodied 
beverage — boiled full 
fifteen minutes after 
boiling begins. Pure 
and free from the 
nerve impairing drug, 
caffeine. 
Two sizes, usually sold at 15c and 25c. 
At Grocers Everywhere! 
1 
