1498 
•Pit RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Home Notes 
A Wonderful Old Lady 
Some time ago a Boston newspaper col¬ 
lected items of interest about people 
whose hoary heads were indeed “crowns 
of glory.” The story that interested me 
the most was about Mrs. Mary Spencer 
of Maine, who at 08 is earing for three 
motherless great-grandchildren, doing 
their sewing without the aid of glasses, 
and also keeping house on a small farm. 
“Surely she is worth writing about,” I 
thought, and so I ventured to open a cor¬ 
respondence Avith the lady who sent in 
that story, a married granddaughter of 
my heroine. I wa# also fortunate in 
being trusted with the accompanying pho¬ 
tograph, the only one Mrs. W. owned. 
It was taken long ago, Avhen Mrs. Spen¬ 
cer was only 75, and looked a quarter of 
a century younger. ller face has not 
changed much since, and the picture still 
resembles her. Isn’t she a wonderful old 
lady, though? 
Mrs. XV. could not remember the exact 
date of Mrs. Spencer’s birth, but knew 
the old lady was 08 on her last birthday. 
Mrs. Spencer owns a nice home of her 
own, Avhere she could have modern im¬ 
provements and loving care from her 
married daughter. But she calmly de¬ 
clares her intention of staying where she 
is as long as her health permits. She 
Mrs. Mary Spencer of Maine 
went to Greenbush when the young 
mother died at the birth of her third 
baby. Mrs. Spencer is still there. She 
wti herself the mother of two children, 
the stepmother of two which she brought 
up from childhood, and the udopted 
mother of one child. So she has had 
plenty of experience in the past, and is 
daily adding to it. 
Wesley, Maurice and Gertrude Eld- 
redge, the children she cares for, are all 
old enough to go to school. In the morn¬ 
ing Mrs. Spencer gets them up and ready 
for school. As they go some distance, 
they take their dinner, and “Grannie” 
sees to this. She sews and cooks for 
them, and, as she lives on a small farm, 
ahe gives the stock their dinner, for her 
grandson, Mr. Eldredge, is aw*uy at work 
all day. Last Summer, when Mrs. W. 
motored the 70 miles between her home 
and “Grannie’s," the old lady had just 
completed a dress for the little girl to 
wear to school in the Fall. “You would 
be surprised to see the taste she had, 
writes Mrs. W. to me. 
Mrs. Spencer’s younger life must hava 
been very interesting. Her relatives lovs 
to hove her tell some of her experiences. 
Her husband was a farmer, and bving 
near the lumbering woods, did soma 
trapping. She would have her own gun, 
and she made the rounds of the traps 
with him, and sometimes went with him 
when he sold the skins. At one time sha 
had a wildcat that she stuffed herself. 
She used to be a great berry picker, and 
always had her cellar full of preservea 
and pickles. Rug-making and quilt-mak¬ 
ing Avere her favorite occupations after 
ahe could not get around so easily out of 
doors. 
Mrs. Spencer has not the modern con¬ 
veniences as she might have were her 
present home nearer the city, but she does 
not seem to mind. She is an excellent 
housekeeper, but says she has never seen 
anything like the present prices for 
staples since she paid $18 once for a 
barrel of flour in Civil War days. But 
then conditions were not the same as they 
are now. Busy, helpful and beloved she 
seems to be. The more I know about her. 
the more admirable she seems to me. And 
the crowning wonder of all is that she 
manages to keep up to date. She shows 
this by making little Gertrude’s school 
dress with taste and skill in the modern 
style. A long life, and the love that slit 
deserves, to Mrs. Mary Spencer of Green- 
bush, Maine ! edna s. knapp. 
Fall Relishes 
Spiced Celery Relish.—Chop three 
bunches of celery and add a one-quart can 
of tomatoes, or same amount of fresh, 
peeled and sliced, two chopped green pep¬ 
pers. freed from seeds, one cupful of 
vinegar, one cupful of brown sugar 
or shaved maple sugar, salt and 
paprika to taste, half a teaspoonful 
of mustard and half a teaspoonful each of 
celery seed, ground cloves, allspice and 
cinnamon. Mix the ingediente, boil for 
about one hour and a quarter and seal 
airtight in heated jars. 
Winter Cucumber Rickies.—This is a 
method of preparing, in Winter, cucum¬ 
bers salted down in Summer: The in¬ 
gredients required are one dozen salt 
pickles (large size), one-quarter of a 
pound of large seeded raisins, about one 
pint of cider vinegar, one pound of light 
brown sugar (or maple sugar), and a 
6pice bag containing 12 whole cloves, one 
tablespoonful of whole allspice, two 
broken sticks of cinnamon, one teaspoon¬ 
ful of celery seed and a blade of mace. 
Cut the pickles in slices one inch thick 
and place the pickles, raisins and sugar 
in a stone crock over night. In the 
morning drain off a little of the watery 
liquid (not the sugar), turn into a pre¬ 
serving kettle and cover Avith the vinegar. 
Add the spices tied in cheesecloth and 
boil for 15 minutes. Take out the pickles 
and cook down the syrup with the raisins 
until it is as thick as honey. Return the 
pickles to the syrup, let all boil up once 
and seal in self-sealing heated jars. 
Sour Cabbage Pickle.—Remo\'e the 
outer leaves from small, hard heads of 
red cabbage, cut in quarters and take out 
the hard centers. Lay the quarters of 
cabbage in a stoneware jar in layers and 
sprinkle each layer with salt. Let stand 
24 hours. Drain off the brine, cover with 
cold water and let stand for 12 hours. 
Again drain the water and measure it. 
Pack the cabbage in a clean, dry jar, 
sprinkling in whole cloves, blades of mace, 
white mustard and celery seed, chili pep¬ 
pers and coriander seed. Scald as much 
vinegar as the water poured off; pour 
this over the cabbage, cover and store in 
a cold place. White cabbage may be pre¬ 
pared in the same way. 
Sour Cucumber Pickles.—This simple 
recipe, first given us several years ago, 
has always been very popular: Dissolve 
one pint of salt in one gallon of vinegar; 
Avash the cucumbers and pour over them 
some boiling water, let stand five or 10 
minutes, then pack closely in cans, pour 
over the salted vinegar and seal. 
Some Home Economies 
Many a time in the case of accident or 
sudden illness at home or in the imme¬ 
diate neighborhood have I had occasion 
to bless that New England conscience of 
mine, inherited doubtlc s from some Pur¬ 
itan ancestress, Avhich will not allow me 
to throw away even a scrap of old clean 
linen or flannel. No; they must be 
Avashed, pressed and laid away in a 
drawer with rolls of bandages torn from 
the thin edges of sheets when they are 
turned. The sheets are a little nar¬ 
rower, but plenty Avide enough for the 
half beds, and in that way I never have 
to buy new sheets for them. 
Living in a small house in a country 
A-illage, and having four boarders in the 
family beside my husband, myself and a 
12-year-old boy, I have to be very eco¬ 
nomical of space. Having “a place for 
everything and everything in its place” 
hell* a great deal. Then I have a wood¬ 
en bar across each closet, and use coat 
hangers for all my garments, thus more 
than doubling my closet space. Then, too, 
I never allow discarded garments, old 
pieces, papers or magazines to accumu¬ 
late. If they can be utilized, T use them 
or get them in shape to be used, and then 
give them away, or if worthless T destroy 
them. In that Avav I do not waste my 
time and strength in handling them over 
year after year, for, more than all things 
else, I try to be economical of time and 
strength. T don’t mean that I work all 
the time, but I plan my Avork so that I 
can take the time to rest, to read and to 
visit with my friends, and that means 
quite a good deal when one pair of hands 
does the work for seven people. If I am 
going upstairs or doAvn cellar, or even 
from one room to another. I plan to carry 
something both ways, and thus save my¬ 
self a trip later. If I have a pan of ap¬ 
ples to prepare for pies I sit down in a 
good comfortable chair while doing it, 
rather than by standing to tire myself un¬ 
necessarily. 
These trifling “economies’’ may seem 
petty to some people, but it is just these 
trifles that make all the difference in a 
housekeeper’s life. They make all the 
difference betAveen a fretful, nervous, 
overworked housekeeper, always in a hur¬ 
ry, yet never accomplishing, and a calm, 
self-poised home-keeper, who by careful 
planning gets her work done on time, and, 
sure of herself, keeps well, keen and alert 
in mind and,body. 
Women as a general thing are spend¬ 
thrifts as to their OAvn health and 
strength, no matter how careful they 
may be of dollars and cents. How often 
Ave do tAvo days’ work in one, and then 
are laid up a week to pay for it! ( IIow 
often do Ave hear our 6isters say, “Well, 
I am going to finish my housecleaning 
t his Aveek, even if it does use. me all up.” 
A near neighbor of mine is not very 
strong, but thinks she cannot afford to 
hire her washing done. Her family phy¬ 
sician gravely remarked to her the. other 
day in my hearing: “This last illness 
could easily have been avoided, and you 
could have" hired eight Avashings done for 
Avhat you have paid me for only tAvo 
visits.” Pretty poor economy, I call that, 
and even if our physical strength holds 
out, what of our nerves? What of our 
dispositions? How much are we able to 
do toAvard making the home happy for 
those whom Ave love? 
God gave these bodies of ours just so 
much physical strength, just so much 
nervous poAver. Let us use it wisely :.not 
Avaste it idly or fritter it away on things 
Avhich are of no real Avorth, and which 
bring no real happiness into our lives, or 
the lives of those around us. Believe me, 
there is no place in life Avhere economy 
will so Avell repay us as in time, strength 
and health. . KATHERINE C. header. 
New Hampshire. 
Which Car Driver Is Responsible? 
A and B drive their autos in the same 
direction, B in the Tear going faster than 
A. C comes from the opposite direction 
at an unknown speed, B passes A. think¬ 
ing he can do so and make the side clear 
for C, but instead meets him side of A, 
and a smash-up occurs. Who is to blame 
for it? Was B on the wrong side of the 
road at the time? J. s. 
My OAvn interpretation of the rules of 
the road for Noav York is that each of 
tAvo cars going in opposite directions and 
about to pass possesses the right of way 
in so doing, and a car following either 
one should wait until there is free Avay 
betAveen those traveling in opposite direc¬ 
tions. With this vicAV B is violating the 
rules of the road. If in so doing he gets 
gAvay AA’ith it he should attribute his suc¬ 
cess" to luck, but if, as in this instance, 
he collides, he can only attribute it to 
poor judgment as to distance and make 
the best settlement for the damages as 
far as this can be done. He should in 
my opinion be prosecuted by the State in 
addition for violation of the rules of the 
road. There is altogether too much of 
this same thing being done, especially on 
the boulevards and liighAvays leading to 
the larger cities, and the greatest of these 
offenders are the speed maniacs Avho come 
out from them and try to burn up the 
road. The boulevard leading from Buf¬ 
falo to Niagara Falls furnishes innumer¬ 
able disastrous results from situations as 
the above. Tbe writer has counted eight 
machines in the ditch on this thorough¬ 
fare on a one-Avay trip along this road; 
fortunately the ditched cars were those 
of the offenders. f. e. g, 
B Avas on the Avrong side of the road 
at the time of the accident. If there Avns 
any doubt as to his ability to pass A and 
get back to his proper side of the road 
before meeting O he should have fallen 
in behind A until C passed. This little 
observance of the rules of the road would 
have delayed him but little and saved all 
of the trouble and expense. The state¬ 
ment made that G was coming at an un¬ 
known rate of speed does not excuse B. 
While of course no motoriet, A, B or C 
should abuse his privileges and endanger 
others by an excessive rate of speed, still 
C had every reason to expect that the 
right of the road would be open to him 
and was on his proper side of the road 
Avhen the cars struck. This very condi¬ 
tion makes it an unsafe practice to pass 
a car from the rear Avhen nearing the top 
of a hill, you may SAving out as B did, 
directly in the path of a car that is 
approaching from the opposite direction 
and has been hidden by tbe crest of the 
hill until too late to aA’oid an accident. 
A little care in these matters would do 
much to avoid the numerous motor acci¬ 
dents in which tbe innocent suffer with 
the guilty. There are, I suppose, many 
things that would modify the above, such 
as a wide, unobstructed road, giving 
planty of room for three cars to pass 
abreast that might relieve B of blame, 
but if the conditions are as usual on 
country road driving I Avould expect B 
to be liable for the damages caused, al¬ 
though. as said at the start, is is only 
my opinion. B. xi. S. 
Assuming that the accident occurred 
because the road was too narrow for three 
cars to pass, B Avould be clearly liable. A 
motorist passing another car going in the 
#<ame direction takes his chances upon be¬ 
October 11, 1919 
ing able to get clear of him before meet¬ 
ing another car coming in the opposite di¬ 
rection. In attempting to pass a car' 
going in the same direction, if a motorist 
has pulled out until he has a view of the 
road ahead of him and sees a car coming 
in the opposite direction Avhich is likely to 
meet him before he is able to pass the 
other ear, he should reduce his speed and 
wait until the other car has passed be¬ 
fore attempting to get ahead of the car 
going in the same direction. Assuming, 
however, that there Avas plenty of room 
for three cars to pass at the given point 
and the accident occurred because C failed 
to keep far enough to the right, in other 
Avords croAvded his car in toward the cen¬ 
ter of the street, in that case he would be 
liable. If tbe accident occurred because 
A failed to heed a timely AA'arning from 
B and did not give him a sufficient 
amount of the road, he might be liable to 
B if he or his car were injured by C’s car, 
but even in that case that would not re¬ 
lieve B from liability to C, for he is 
chargeable with knoAvledge that in at¬ 
tempting to pass A he might meet a car 
'coming in the opposite direction, and if A 
did not give him as much of the road as 
he should have done, that would require 
all the more care from B in attempting to 
pass him (A). Assuming that the cars 
of A or O'were damaged by B. he Avould 
be liable to either one of them unless it 
clearly appeared that they themselves 
were guilty of negligence which caused or 
contributed to the accident. F. G. D. 
It is my opinion that B Avas to blame. 
A and C surely had the right of Avay over 
B, and B should have adapted his speed 
to A’s until (’ had passed. What I should 
judge happened is this: B thought he 
could pass A and get in the clear in time 
for C to pass; 0, being as poor a calcu¬ 
lator as B, thought B could do it, and did 
not slow down until it was too late to 
avoid the smash-up. What right had B to 
depend on C’s judgment to avoid an acci¬ 
dent, when his (B’s) judgment was clear- 
A Farmer in the Making 
ly at fault? I have heard it said, and I 
think it is right, that anyone who takes 
the wrong or left side of the road for any 
reason is responsible for any damage that 
may be caused by him while doing so. I 
should think this Avould hold good, unless 
the accident Avas caused by reckless driv¬ 
ing- w. c. F. 
Rockland Co., N. Y. 
B was to blame. He shoAved very poor 
judgment in “taking a chance” Avhen, as 
it appears. C Avas approaching so close as 
to make it impossible for B to pass A 
and get to hie own side of the road in 
time to avoid an accident, or force C into 
the ditch. B Avas on tbe wrong side of 
the road when the collison occurred—he 
had no business on that side, except for 
the purpose of passing a vehicle going in 
the same direction when the road Avas 
clear on that side. As it Avas, C had the 
right of way. People take the chances 
every day, and many accidents happen as 
the result. It is difficult to gauge dis¬ 
tance accurately, and the speed of the 
approaching car, and the fact that the 
car you are trying to pass is moving in 
the same direction, and for all you know 
may increase its speed at that particular 
moment, adds to the uncertainty. Don’t 
take a chance—don’t be in such a hurry. 
s. J. T. BUSH. 
Although AA’e have never had a smash- 
up from causes mentioned in the question, 
Ave have had some mighty close squeaks. 
But to answer the question concisely, it 
is my opinion that B is to blame, for C 
has the right of way. Eliminating A 
altogether, B is on the Avrong side of the 
road in passing C. Cars passing from 
the rear must be reasonably sure of a 
clear road, as they pass at their own 
risk. k. T. 
“IIoav did you get so many wounds?” 
I asked the corporal in the bath house, 
seeing his body covered with scarfl. “Acci¬ 
dental discharge of duties?” “Naw, you 
see it was this way: I was standin’ on the 
edge of our trench leaning up against 
Our barrage, when they lifted the bar¬ 
rage and I fell into the trench.”—Every¬ 
body’s Magazine. 
