1722 
■/»( RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
1 have had a flood of questions lately, 
many of them somewhat personal in char¬ 
acter. People ask all sorts of things about 
the farm and the family. Some of them 
say frankly that their object is to compare 
our way of living with their own. I ans¬ 
wer them all as best I can. though some 
of them are hardly intended for publica¬ 
tion. Perhaps it is not a bad thing to 
compare notes on some of the simple 
things of life. 
* # * * * 
Do you still raise the Ben Davis apple? 
We have about 50 trees—if you include 
Black Ben. Part of them are being 
worked over to McIntosh and Baldwin. I 
have had many hard things to say about 
the quality of Ben Davis, and I shall not 
plant any more—’but 1 must admit that it 
is a profitable variety. We have just sold 
our season’s crop in bulk for $5 a barrel 
for No. 1. The buyer provided packages 
and took them at the farm. Ben Davis 
is a “rustler” among apples. The scale 
does not seem to attack it as with some 
other varieties, it bears some apples each 
year and comes in bearing early. Ours 
are in sod, with no cultivation and very 
little care except pruning and one dusting. 
I must admit that they pay, but I do not 
want any more. 
* * * * * 
If you were planting 100 apple trees, 
what varieties would you select? 
For this location in Northern New Jer¬ 
sey—and with the outfit I now have—I 
would plant 00 McIntosh, 10 Wolf River, 
10 Twenty Ounce, 10 Baldwin, five North¬ 
western Greening and five Delaware Red 
Winter. That is based on the returns 
from a commercial orchard. We have a 
good many Wealthy now, or I would plant 
that variety. The same is true of Bald¬ 
win, though that is too slow to reach 
hearing age to suit a man of my years. 
But why plant inferior apples like Wolf 
River and Twenty Ounce? They are large 
and coarse-grained, and thus in great de¬ 
mand by bakers and restaurants. These 
want a baked apple that will stand tip in 
the plate. The finer quality apples seem 
to melt up and fall down on baking. 
While this makes a delicious dish, the 
average eater wants “meat,” as he calls 
it—something to use his teeth on. These 
varieties are large and are easy to pick 
and handle. The list here given would be 
my choice as money-makers for this local¬ 
ity. No doubt my neighbors would give 
you another list—perhaps better. 
4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 
Do your children attend the public 
school? 
They do. We send five to the public 
school, and the two little girls are not 
large enough to go yet. Some years ago 
we kept a little private school here, where 
mother taught our children and several 
from the neighbors. We gave that up for 
various reasons. It came to be too much 
of a strain and too confining for the teach¬ 
er, and, for my part, I felt that the chil¬ 
dren were losing something which only a 
good public school can give them. Most 
of us, when we grow up, are thrown into 
contact with plain people of our own 
class, and we have got to learn how to 
handle ourselves as one of the crowd. A 
good public school is but a small democ¬ 
racy where boys and girls learn to hold 
their own with the rest. I think this is 
a necessary training for the child; the 
man rarely gets very far from the social 
habits he picks up as a boy. I must add, 
however*, that the public school is no 
place for the sub-normal child—the child 
with a slow, hazy mind or the sensitive 
little one. They ought to have individual 
care at home. They cannot keep up with 
the rush. 
***** 
But are there not evil influences and 
mean habits to be learned at the public 
school? 
Plenty of them. Every man who ever 
attended a public school knows what they 
are. Unfortunately such things are to be 
found at private schools, even those con¬ 
ducted under strict church influences. 
'My observation of some of the “gradu¬ 
ates” of px-ivate schools makes me think 
that these institutions may, in some 
cases, have a worse influence over the 
child than the public school could ever 
have. Because, if your home is what it 
should be, you can overcome much of this 
outside influence, while if your child is 
away from you your influence is weak¬ 
ened. Our folks make a business of keep¬ 
ing right along with the children ; see that 
they study, make them review their work 
and insist that they have enough tdeep. 
We also try to keep posted on what is 
going on at the school. If conditions are 
not as they should be we do not hesitate 
for a moment to go right to the “authori¬ 
ties” and put the facts up to them. I try 
to keep up with what the pupils do. I 
like to see them play football or baseball. 
We take their school paper and advertise 
in it. I would gladly help support their 
debating societies and other organizations. 
It is fine training. So, when the boys 
come home bruised or torn from football, 
or the girls are late and fox-get things, 
Mother gives them the needed “talking 
to,” while I smile—and remember my 
youth ! 
***** 
How much of a family have you, any¬ 
way? 
Just now there are 13—and we*are not 
afraid of the number. The Hope Farm 
man and his wife and daughter start the 
list. There are four children, all of one 
family, who have been with us since they 
were babies. Mrs. G. came from Sweden 
years ago, but she is now a true American. 
I will tell you about that some day. She 
helps in the house and her boy goes to 
school with our children. Philip is a Nor¬ 
wegian who has been with us here for 15 
years. Thomas, who manages the farm, 
is an old friend of the family. We have 
known him ever since he was a. baby. 
Rose and Rita are two little tots that we 
found in New York. Their mother is sick 
and their father is a longshoreman out of 
work during the great strike. As I fig- 
ure it, little Rita is the nineteenth child 
that we have taken into the home in an 
effort to give them a start in body and 
habits and education. 
***** 
Would you advise me to take a child to 
“bring up”? 
I do not know. I do not know you or 
the child. In eight cases out of 10 I 
should hesitate to advise. It seems such 
an easy thing to take a little one and feed 
it and dress it and care for it. Yet. I have 
come to think that hardly one person in 
five is really qualified to take such a re¬ 
sponsibility. What do you want the child 
for? I have asked many men and women 
that question, and when they are honest 
about it they give me the reason. Most 
of them want a child to Avoi-k, and I 
know all too well what that means! 
Many childless women want a pretty lit¬ 
tle girl to serve as a human doll, to be 
dressed and petted and paraded before 
the public. Others actually want a child 
to serve as advertisement of their great 
benevolence! They all want a “super 
child”—one that will outrank anyone at 
school, never to be a trouble or annoy¬ 
ance, with the face of an angel and the 
wisdom of a Solomon, Jr. And they 
wouldn’t object, either, if the child proved 
to be the heir of, .say $50,000! I think I 
know all these motives by heart, but I 
have no comment to make. What we may 
call the acid test in taking a child to 
bring up is love. Suppose you found 
some unattractive little one—perhaps a 
little dull and dirty through neglect—per¬ 
haps slow or a little mean tlu*ough its 
bringing up—perhaps sick or of poor de¬ 
velopment. You know it will he some¬ 
thing of a burden and a nuisance—it will 
tie you down and tax your strength and 
patience. Yet you reason that these very 
undesirable qualities make the needs of 
that child greater. You take him into 
your home and match your love and pa¬ 
tience and faith and prayer against his 
undesirable qualities. It is not for his 
work or his beauty or his “smartness.” 
but in the belief that you can work out 
the great miracle of love with him. That 
is the spirit in which one should “take a 
child.” By doing it you may gain the 
greatest joy of life—and also expiate 
some of the things which may hang to you 
like black shadows through the years. 
***** 
What kind of food- does the Hope Farm 
family eat? 
That surely is a personal question. 
Preparing food for a family of 13 will not 
give much time for fancy cooking. We 
have all been brought up on plain food. 
We usually have meat once a day. Just 
now the old hens and inferior cockei’els 
are giving the children bones to gnaw. 
We buy more mutton than beef. It is 
cheaper and we like it. A good thick 
stew with a variety of vegetables i« popu¬ 
lar. For breakfast we have a cereal, and 
in cool weather frequently pancakes. 
When the hens are laying well there are 
always eggs boiled or fried, and fried po¬ 
tatoes. Breakfast is the best meal for 
serving hash. On Sundxiy moniing we 
always have fishballs—a tribute to the 
New England blood which most of us in- 
November 22, 191!) 
herit. The same inherited trait compels 
US to have baked beans evex*y Saturday 
night. Many a night in cold weather we 
have a supper of thick soup followed by 
cornmeal mush and milk. Two dishes al¬ 
ways on the table are cottage cheese and 
baked apples. Some nights there will be a 
dish of escalloped potatoes or cheese and 
macaroni or some sort of fish worked into 
a dish with bread crumbs and tomato. We 
have an abundant supply of milk, and the 
younger children practically live on wheat 
or bread and milk and fruit. The garden 
enables us to have at least three vege¬ 
tables when meat is served, and most of 
us are fond of rice. We rarely have pies 
or cakes. It requires more time than the 
average woman could spare to bake pies 
for 13 people, so we just eat the fruit 
“without the crust.” Now and then my 
daughter makes a great stack of dough¬ 
nuts, but they disappear at a rate to dis- 
couragc her. Plain, simple food and 
plenty of it”—that is all you can say. I 
think it contains both balance and vita- 
mines. 
sk 4* 4* 4* 4c 
How is your food served? 
Why, the women folk put it on the 
table in the dining room, ring the big bell, 
we all sit down, thank the good Lord for 
his mercies, and pi*oceed to eat the food. 
Should thei*e be any need of “waiting” or 
carrying, one of the smaller girls can do 
that. I think any one of us who is over 
10 years could cook and serve some sort 
of a meal. Mother might deny the state¬ 
ment as applied to me, but we will let 
that pass. I have eaten meals with a 
crowd of lumberjacks in the pine woods, 
standing around a fire to thaw out fx-ozen 
bread. I have also had my hour among 
the rich and great, with a solemn owl of a 
butler behind the chair to do almost 
everything except chew the food. You 
have not asked my opinion, but I volun¬ 
teer it, and say I prefer the extreme of 
28,000,000 Pounds 
100,000 Miles 
3 Years! 
r | A HREE years ago Fred Weaver, who lives at 
Creston, Iowa, bought a Model “F” i-ton 
International Motor Truck. Mr. Weaver, like other 
men who have a large volume of heavy hauling— 
in fact, “hauling” is his particular business—was 
in some doubt as to advisability of buying a motor 
truck. But—read what he says today: 
“I have hauled about 4,680 tons (9,360,000 
pounds) per year and have averaged about 100 
miles per day. I have done all kinds of heavy 
hauling, both short and long hauls, over the worst 
kind of country roads. After using my truck at 
this heavy work for three years, I am satisfied that 
the International is the best truck that I have 
ever seen when it comes to doing hard work 
year after year. I have had good service from 
the truck and the Harvester Company and am 
well pleased.” 
Mr. Weaver states further that he has covered between 
90,000 and 100,000 miles with his truck during the three 
years he has had it and has hauled approximately 28,- 
000,000 pounds. How many years would it take you to 
haul 14,000 tons of. farm produce and travel 100,000 
miles — almost four times around the globe — with your 
team and wagon ? 
Whether you have a short or long haul, an Interna¬ 
tional Motor Truck will save you much valuable time. 
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