‘Ihc RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
1745 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks 
By Rev, George B. Gilbert 
Thanksgiving — Somebody has said 
that Christmas is not a season but a state 
of mind, and if that is so. why is not 
Thanksgiving the same? Long before 
this the farmer has picked out a likely 
bird to grace the table, and a plump and 
worthy squash to make the pies, and the 
housewife knows just where she can lay 
her hand on the choicest jar of peaches, 
but have we been approaching more and 
more a Thanksgiving state of mind? What 
a small part of Thanksgiving a dinner 
really is, and what a large part of it a 
thankful spirit! The Parson does not 
read that the early Pilgrims set aside a 
day for a big feed, but a day for Thanks¬ 
giving. 
The Test. —With more than half their 
number dead on that bleak and hostile 
shore, their hearts were filled with grati- 
Tame Pigs on a Greene Go., AT. 1*. Farm 
tude for what God had done for them. 
How hard they had worked for what they 
had. and what worry and trouble and 
dangers had been their lot! And yet 
they looked not at these things nor seemed 
to think about them, but rather looked at 
the bins full of good things in tin cellar 
and the cribs full of grain in the yard. 
More than Ever. —More than ever has 
the Parson kept thinking of how much we 
have to be thankful for. He has been 
reading about the state of Europe after 
the struggle—the number of the orphans 
and the homeless and the dead. It seems 
far beyond comprehension. And then he 
goes over to the barn and there the geese 
are swimming and playing in the water 
and the ducks are calling down in the 
weeds by the brook, and the big roosters 
are sitting round in the sun waiting to 
be eaten, and the fat white pig is rooting 
in the bank, and the fat heifer, promise 
of morning beefsteak, is grazing in the 
pasture, and it seems almost wicked to 
have all these to draw upon when so 
many have nothing at all. 
The Best Pay. —The best reward the 
Parson gets for his various wanderings 
and sojourning through the land is that, 
here and there, he unearths a family that 
is in real need of help and then he has the 
farm to draw on and a bag of produce or 
two to spare. How many odds and ends 
there are on a farm that can do so muth 
good in the right place! How many little 
potatoes are fed out to stock that would 
be a godsend to a mother of a family 
whose husband died of the “flu”? Who 
wili gather the rhubarb and give it away 
lie inti ring the lloust 
in town rather than let it die down and 
waste? Who will throw a few bags of 
turnips on this side porch where so many 
children scramble for what they have to 
eat? 
Why Work? —The apostle said it was 
well to work so that we would have some¬ 
thing to give away to those that needed. 
IIow many of us have that in mind as 
we sow the seed and light the weeds and 
tug the heavy bushels—"I shall have some 
to give away”? The Parson does not 
want to be preachy in this letter, but he 
does feel grieved to see how many people 
miss the real joy of life when it lies so 
within their grasp. There may be some 
happiness in the movies and some pleas¬ 
ure in going to a show, but to sit iu a 
poor hut far down on the Lonely Road 
and have the children gathered about you, 
begging you not to go and asking when 
can you come again, is a taste of real 
heaven that so many could share if they 
would, and so few do, when they could. 
A great man once suggested that when 
we make a dinner we ask those who were 
hungry—not so senseless an idea after all. 
That State of Mind. —So the Tarson 
returns to the matter of a thankful state 
of mind. It.would appear to him to be 
a tremendous asset on the farm. When 
half the potatoes rot you have your choice 
to be blue and miserable and make every¬ 
body miserable over it, or to be tickled 
to death because they didn't all rot and 
you had a good half crop. IIow easy it is 
to get into this depressing state of look¬ 
ing on the dark side of everything, and 
stir the women folks up all the time when 
we work so hard and get so tired. IIow 
wrong it is to work so hard, and how 
hard it is not to ! And have the silo that 
cost so much and the stalls, concrete man¬ 
ger and all, on which he worked so hard, 
stand there empty ! It is hard to give up 
work so, but often it has to be done. 
The Children. —The worst of it is, 
that it tends to make us cross with the 
children when we are so crowded and 
cramped up with work. We get that 
way before we know it and it will never 
do. How happy and care-free they are 
and ought to be, and how bad of us to 
cast a pall of gloom over their joy! Any¬ 
thing but children where it is doleful and 
mournful all the while. Sometimes I see 
people working on the farm as though it 
was slave labor. Never a joke or a laugh 
or even a smile, hurry and rush and rush 
and hurry, for there is going to be rain 
or there’s going to be a drought, or there’s 
going to be a frost or there’s going to be 
a terrible blow—and drive away all the 
worth of living at all so far away it may 
never come back. 
Frowning or Smiling. —How easy it 
is to get into the habit of frowning on the 
play of the children and be forever calling 
them off to work. We are so interested 
in getting the work along, and we think 
they ought to be, and they are not. and 
so it irritates us. Still more is this so 
when they get big and overgrown and it 
looks so silly to us to see them playing 
and fooling with some little kid thing. 
But it is their play time of life, and there 
are many long years of work and anxiety 
ahead, and we will not begrudge them 
what play they get now. 
Last Year —Last year at this time we 
were all sick with the “flu.” and little 
George lay between life and death with 
the diphtheria and now. as he rides along 
down country on the seat beside me. th 
Parson feels a deeper Thanksgiving than 
lie ever knew before. May our thankful 
minds this year be as ripened as the 
oveued bird is browned, and our cheer¬ 
fulness at the table be as lasting as the 
memory of the good tmngs we tasted 
there. 
Wonderful Country —What a won¬ 
derful country we live in. so varied in 
climate and production ! The potato 
crop was almost a failure here in Connec¬ 
ticut from blight and every other disease, 
but farther North there was an abundant 
crop, and potatoes have been selling 
cheaper here than last Fall. The Parson 
had a carload come down from his old 
home in Vermont, where they raised about 
000 bushels. 
Saving Cartage. The Parson adver¬ 
tised these potatoes so much at the car 
and a quarter more a bushel if delivered. 
People came in their autos, some great 
nice cars, and took them home them¬ 
selves. They would take eight. 10 and 
even 12 bushels in a car. Most of them 
would have a blanket ro throw over the 
back seat. All the potatoes came sacked, 
but of all weights and sizes, so we 
weighed each sack at the car. With plat¬ 
form scales this could be done very 
quickly, and the people for the most part 
took them by the bag whether they 
weighed more or less than the number of 
bushels they had in mind. Everyone was 
pleased with the potatoes and generally 
earne back for more or for some for a 
neighbor. A truck was hired to deliver 
the big hotel lots, and the whole car o' 1 
<>50 bushels was cleaned out in two days 
The saving to the family that came from 
having some one to sell them and look 
after them at this end instead of sending 
to a commission house seemed to be about 
$150. 
A Pork Roast —While poultry will 
probably be high around Thanksgiving 
time, a nice roast of pork ought to be 
reasonable. The farmers are barely get¬ 
ting 18c for dressed pork now and it 
can be bought for 15c in some places. 
Yet even at that yesterday a dealer 
wanted 40c per lb. for pork chops. Every¬ 
one around here feels that the prices are 
forced down always around Fall killing 
time, so as to discourage the farmers 
from raising pork. It would be most in¬ 
teresting to know if there was reallx 
anything to this. Certain it is. that those 
who have been buying grain all Summer 
at the price it has been will not get rich 
selling fine pork at from 15 to IS cents. 
No Winter Hogs —Just because pig- 
fContinued on page 175S1 
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