1756 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 29, 1919 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Fathers and Mothers: Will you tell your children that The Rural New- 
Yorker now has a Department each month of special interest to them. 
“A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two 
in the Bush” 
Memory Verse 
November woods are bare and still; 
November days are clear and bright; 
Each noon burns up the morning’s chill; 
The morning’s snow is gone by night, 
Each day my steps grow slow, grow 
light, 
As through the woods I reverent creep, 
Watching all things lie ‘‘down to sleep.” 
—Helen Hunt Jackson. 
Thanksgiving 
It is the season of Thanksgiving, a 
special time when we must stop and think 
of all that we have to be grateful for in 
our lives. To me Thanksgiving is more 
than a day. It is more than a dinner, 
too, although to be sure that is a very 
important part to boys and girls. 
Thanksgiving is a feeling. It is inside 
of us—deep down. And we have much 
to give thanks for, haven’t we? I suspect 
that many of the thkigs we should be 
most thankful for are things that we do 
not think of very often. They are things 
that we have every day, most of us. and 
it is only when we lose one of them that 
we begin to see how much it meant to us, 
and how we should have been thankful 
for it. I want us to learn to be thankful 
while we still have the things. You will 
think of many others, but here are some 
I think of: 
1. Good health: a well body, strong, 
clean, ready to do what we ask of it. 
2. Our five wonderful senses: Eye¬ 
sight. so that we may see the earth, the 
sky. the faces of those we love ; hearing, 
so that we may listen to music, to voices, 
to the night wind ; taste, so that we may 
know pleasure in our food ; smell, so that 
all sweet odors of blossoms may be ours; 
touch, so that we may feel close to one 
another when we clasp friendly hands. 
Every day we should be grateful for these 
great gifts. 
3. Our home: the one place in all the 
world where we belong, where we live 
day by day. where we eat and sleep and 
gather round the fireside. 
4. Father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, 
uncle, cousin—all relatives who love us 
and wish for our happiness and good; 
and all true friends beside. 
5. Something to do, that is ours to do, 
that no one else can do for us. Often we 
may wish we did not have work, but if 
we did not have it we would soon be wish¬ 
ing for it. It is truly something to be 
thankful for. 
G. The good earth, that gives life to all 
of us. that yields so much if we treat it 
right. 
7. Sunshine and rain, starlight and 
moonlight, the wind, the mountains, the 
sea—all big things of the out-of-doors. 
S. The law of our land that protects 
us. and lets us live and work as we will, 
so long as we do not harm others. 
9. Our great country, where men and 
women and boys and girls can feel free, 
where there is no shadow of fear hanging 
over us day by day as in so many other 
lands. How thankful we should be for 
this, and how we should help to keep it 
true always. 
These are some of the great things to 
be thankful for. not only on Thanksgiving 
Day, but all the time. 
The First Letter 
The first letter to come to me from one 
of you was from a girl in Pennsylvania. 
It was written on November 1. It reached 
me on November 3. Since then there 
have been many others. The first letter 
was signed “Jane.” Jane said that she 
is a farm girl, and has always lived on a 
farm. She told how large the farm is, 
what stock they keep, which are her own 
particular animals—a saddle horse, a 
purebred Holstein cow, a few hens and a 
rooster. She said that it is six miles to 
the nearest town, and that her brother 
takes The R. N.-Y. But it was the first 
sentence in Jane’s letter that was the 
best. She said, “I certainly will try my 
best to help make the ‘Boys’ and Girls’ 
Page’ interesting.” That is the spirit we 
all want. You can help by being interested 
in it yourself. You can help by reading 
it carefully every month. You can help 
by trying to carry out some of the things 
we talk about. You can help by writing 
of your own life, of what you are doing, 
of what you hope to be when you grow 
up, of any special thing that' interests 
you, or will interest or help some one 
else. You can help by telling others about 
the “Boys’ and Girls’ Page,” so that they 
can come to share it and take pride in 
it as we do. All this and moi’e you can 
do. 
I want you to feel that when you write 
to me your letters are received, and that 
I am glad. You will understand, I am 
sure, that I cannot answer all of them. 
There is only one of me; there are thou¬ 
sands of you. This page is my answer, 
and more and more it will have in it the 
things you want, the things you ask for. 
Of course I shall answer some letters 
when I can, and when there is a special 
reason. I hope you will not keep from 
writing because you think yoxir letter 
won’t be answered. Every letter will 
help to make the page better. Don’t for¬ 
get that, and be sure to do your share. 
Feeding the Birds 
Winter is coming! Soon the soft, 
white flakes will fall, and the streams and 
ponds will freeze. Most of our bird 
friends have gone South. Do you know 
the real reason why they go? A few 
stay with us. I wonder whether you 
know how many are about your homes 
these days. There is a way that you can 
find out. 
Birds are our good friends. All but a 
very few kinds help us more than we 
know, catching all sorts of bugs and 
worms, and eating countless weed seeds. 
The Winter is a hard time for them. 
They often need help. 
I am sure that some of you have al¬ 
ready learned to help the birds. I know 
that more of you will do it this Winter. 
It is time to begin now. Do not wait 
any longer. 
What fun it is for us! Perhaps the 
day may even come when we will have 
a wild bird sit on our hand and eat, as 
in the picture you see on this page. I 
think we would have little thrills within 
us if this happened. It has never hap¬ 
pened to me yet, but I am still hoping, 
and I am feeding the birds here near my 
home. You must do it. too. 
There are some things to remember. I 
am giving them as clearly and as briefly 
as I can: 
1. What food to use: For seed-eating 
birds, like the tree sparrow and junco. use 
cracked corn, buckwheat, hemp, millet, 
sunflower seed, a mixed chicken feed, or 
hay seed that you sweep up in the barn. 
For birds that eat insects, such as the 
woodpeckers, chickadee and nuthatch, use 
beef suet, sunflower seed or crumbs of 
raw peanuts. 
2. Where to put the food: The birds 
will not come right to the house at first. 
They will be shy. You must first make 
them feel that you are their friends. Start 
by putting the food near where the birds 
are. After they find it. put it each time 
nearer and nearer the house, until finally 
you have the birds coming to a regular 
place where you can watch them. 
3. The feeding places: Try to put the 
food in sheltered places, near to trees and 
shrubs whenever you can. The birds fear 
to come long distances in the open. Try 
Use an old log or a stump, or, if you can, 
bring them to a window feeding shelf, like 
the one at which the tree sparrow sits in 
the picture. Use a south window if possi¬ 
ble, or one that is most sheltered. Make 
the shelf about eight to 12 inches wide. 
Have a little rim around it to keep the 
food from blowing off. If you can. fasten 
a small evergreen branch to the side of the 
window frame, so that it shelters part of 
the shelf. There are many ways of doing 
this. You will find the best for your 
place. The main thing is to do it. 
4. Be faithful and regular. This is the 
most important point. Do not neglect the 
birds after awhile or forget them. They 
will learn to depend on your food in the 
stormy weather. You must be sure that 
they will find it when they seek it. 
After all, what a lot of pleasure we 
can have for a very little work. And we 
shall be doing much good, too, especially 
those of us who live on farms. For how 
many, many insects and weed seeds these 
birds will eat next Spring and Summer, 
if they live through the Winter. Nor 
will they be idle this Winter, either. You 
watch and see. 
I want to hear that many of you are 
feeding the birds. 
Mike 
Mike is often called “Mickey.” His 
home is in the barn. A few minutes ago 
when I went out to give the horses their 
goodnight drink, and to see that the cows 
were all right, I saw Mike. He was 
curled up fast asleep on some hay—a fat 
little ball of fur. But in the daytime 
Mike does not sleep very much. He 
plays and plays the whole day long. He 
plays with everything, and each day he 
learns some new tricks. The last thing 
he has learned is to go up and down 
stairs, and he does it again and again. 
Mike is very fond of his mother. For 
many weeks she gave him all he ate— 
his milk. Even now, though Mike is 
quite large and should know better, he 
sometimes thinks his mother should feed 
him. But he knows, too, that he can find 
rich, warm milk in a saucer twice each 
day. IIis mother brings him things to 
play with—things that run, that squeak, 
that smell good, and Mike has found that 
they taste good, too. At first he paid no 
attention. His mother played with the 
plaything and Mike played with his own 
tail. But now he knows and seizes it, 
and growls, and plays awhile, and eats. 
And then his stomach is very fat and 
round. 
Mike does not know how many new 
friends he is making, as I write. He is 
sleeping quietly. Tomorrow he will play 
again. But I thought you would like to 
know him. No doubt you have a 
“Mickey,” too, only with some other 
name. Perhaps I will tell you more about 
him sometime, and it may be he will have 
his picture taken. 
Today’s Job 
All this afternoon I have been hauling 
manure from the barnyard to a field soon 
to be sown to rye. Next Spring the rye 
will be plowed under and corn will be 
planted. By that time most of the manure 
will have become part of the soil. 
It is one of the hard, dirty jobs—haul¬ 
ing manure. There are many such jobs 
for us all to do if we take our places in 
the world—if we do not lean on others— 
if we stand on our own feet. Boys and 
girls have hard jobs. too. Perhaps you 
have one waiting to be done today. 
I have found that it helps if we can 
learn to look ahead—if we can keep from 
thinking always how hard the job is—if 
we can picture what our work will mean 
when it is over. So today I have tried to 
think of that waiting field, tried to think 
of it as in need of food to make it stronger 
and richer for its own work. Because I 
have put manure on it there will be a 
better crop of corn next year. That is 
good. But there is more than that. The 
field will always be better than if I had 
not put the manure on it. That field 
will be there years and years and years. 
After I am through with it some one else 
will use it. I have made it better for 
him, too. 
You boys and girls, most of you, have 
one main job. It is to go to school. If 
you just think about how hard the work 
is, and wish you were doing something 
else instead, you will not be very happy, 
and I fear you will not get what the 
school has to give you. Try to think 
ahead as I did with my field. Try to see 
what you are doing at school. Try to 
make the most of all the chances. In 
school you should be growing stronger 
and richer for your own work. Because 
you go to school and do your best there 
you will be better men and women. That 
is good. The world needs .vou to be just 
as big and fine as you can make your¬ 
selves. But there is more than that. The 
world will always be better because 
you go to school. Some day most of you 
will have homes of your own, and boys 
and girls of your own. They will be bet¬ 
ter because you go to school now. So 
you are doing something when you go to 
school that will last years and years and 
years. Do your very best today—and 
every day. 
Have I made the picture clear? Do 
you see what I mean? I believe you do 
—you older ones, anyway—you who will 
soon be men and women. What a lot it 
all is to have come from my hauling 
manure this afternoon ! 
One Real Job 
I had just written about “Today’s Job” 
when the following letter came: 
“I am a girl 13 years of age, am through 
the grammar school, and have my certi¬ 
ficate from the eighth grade. I started 
high school, and have to walk two miles 
every morning and two miles every night. 
My mother is almost always sick because 
she has all the work to do, and as we live 
on a farm and my father has to work out, 
I wanted to stop high school and stay 
Tree Sparrow at Window Feeding Shelf 
home and help my mother, but the prin¬ 
cipal and my eighth grade teacher said 
that I have to go to high school until I 
am 14 years old, and said that if I did 
not go my parents would be fined .$50 or 
30 days’ imprisonment. Is it really 
necessary for me to go to high school if 
I have my certificate from the eighth 
grade?” E. P. 
New Jersey. 
This is indeed one of the hard jobs. 
What about it? I have thought a good 
deal. You will, too. The things I see are 
these: It is the law that E. P. must go 
to school until she is 14. (I wish I knew 
what the “E” stands for; it would be 
easier to say Elizabeth, or Elsie, or Eve¬ 
lyn. Let’s say Elsie, anyway). Law is 
made, Elsie, to help and protect all of us. 
Sometimes it seems hard In a special case 
like yours, but can you think what would 
happen if there were no law that boys 
and girls must go to school until they 
are 14? 
Now, since you must go to school, how 
are you going to take it? Are you going 
to “buck it” and grumble and fret and say 
hard things, or are you going to meet it 
bravely and cheerfully and do your best? 
I am sorry your mother is sick. I am 
sorry for all mothers who have to work 
so. and not feel well. I know how it 
hurts you to have to see her, and how you 
want to stay home and help. But if you 
can’t, you can’t, and the thing to do is 
to face it squarely. 
It will mean double work for you for 
awhile. You will do all you can each 
morning, then hurry the two miles to 
school. In the afternoon you will hurry 
home to help again. It is hard work, but 
will you believe me when I say that one 
of these days you will be glad of this 
test, and glad if you make good? It is 
the people who have the hardest things 
to meet, and who meet them best, that 
are the big people. 
If you could not go to school you would 
wish to very much. As you grow older 
you will be glad of every minute you 
spent in school. Once you stop, probably 
you will never begin again. Read over 
again what I said about school in “To¬ 
day’s job.” 
I shall think of you meeting your job, 
Elsie. Many boys and girls who read 
this will think of you, too. Some of them 
have jobs as hard as yours, some have 
harder jobs. Don’t let your job lick you. 
Stick to it, smile, and you will win. 
Till Next Month 
I hope you will like our page this time. 
There are many things to think about. I 
believe you will think about them with 
me. But I want you to have good play 
times, too, nowadays, when the air is so 
cool and frosty that you just feel like 
running and jumping and laughing and 
calling. When the snow comes, what fun ! 
It will be here when I write next time. 
So goodbye till then. 
When you write address me in care of 
Tiie Rural New-Yorker, 333 West 30th 
Street, New York City. 
// 
The Fa. in Soldier Presents Arms 
Balcony Seats at Dinner Time 
