3»» RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1877 
u . -- - - — 
Story of a Summer’s Work 
By a Vermont Farmer’s Wife 
An Introduction. —Doubtless many 
farm women will finish reading this and 
say. truthfully : “Huh ! She has nothing 
to brag about. I have accomplished just 
as much as she has this Summer.” To 
all such women I say. “If everyone was 
as willing as you and I and our husbands 
to work long, hard hours for small re¬ 
turns. we would hear little complaint 
about the II. C. of L. I am of English 
descent, with a very little Scotch blood 
in my veins, and my ancestors have been 
American-born for a great many genera¬ 
tions. I am 20 years of age, 5 ft. 3 in. 
tall, with an average weight of 100 lbs., 
and the mother of three plump, rosy- 
cheeked. apple-faced children—like Dick¬ 
ens’ Toodles family. Mary was four 
years old in August, “Baby Sissa” was 
two in August, and “Baby Buzza” will 
be one in December. This Summer I did 
all my own housework, which means all 
our washing, ironing, mending, cooking, 
canning, keeping the house in order and 
cleaning. The *buly baker’s goods I 
bought all Summer were a loaf of bread 
and a few pounds of cookies in haying 
time, and crackers for soups. I didn’t 
keep my house spotless and dustless, but 
it was at least tidy, and surely no one 
ever caught me out of doors at work with 
dirty dishes waiting to be washed. The 
children got very dirty at play, but as 
long as the weather permitted them to 
go barefooted, I gave them a bath every 
night. 
Tfte Henyabd. —My first out-of-door 
work began March 31. when I began set¬ 
ting hens, and from then until May 1 set 
about 300 eggs under hens, but as they 
had to be in the henhouse with the other 
hens, so they had to be kept covered up, 
they broke a good many eggs, which made 
the others hatch poorly, and I only 
hatched about 80 chickens, but from these 
I raised 72. and when I sold the cockerels 
in October one of them weighed eight 
pounds. They are White Wyandottes. I 
took practically all the care of the hens 
and chickens, shelling corn for one feed 
a day for the hens. 
Outdoor Work. —In the Spring I 
helped husband put our year’s supply of 
wood into the shed and pile it. and I cut 
up his seed potatoes. I also helped him 
plant the garden and did a good share of 
the weeding, thinning and transplanting 
in it. 
A Mud Bath. —In .Tune there are 
quantities of wild roses growing along 
the fence, beside the road below the house. 
One morning the little girls went down 
there to get some roses. I could hear 
their happy talk and laughter through the 
windows as I worked. There was also 
a puddle of water down thereafter every 
rain. Suddenly I thought of that puddle 
and went to investigate. To be sure, they 
had found it. They were standing in it, 
and oh, horrors! Mary was reaching down 
to the bottom, pulling up handfuls of mud 
and piling them on Baby Sissa’s head. 
Did I punish them severely? I looked 
at Baby Sissa’s black face, with her bright 
eyes, red lips and white teeth grinning out 
at me .and I laughed and laughed. I got 
them to the James, undressed them and 
put them in the tub together. It took 
three waters to get them clean, and even 
then there were particles of sand like 
grains of sugar in Baby Sissa’s scalp. 
That was all the punishment they got. and 
they love their bath, but they never did 
it again. 
Straytng Children. —About this time 
Baby Sissa came to the door one morn¬ 
ing. grieving because she had lost Mary. 
She and I went out, calling for her. I 
soon spied her up by a neighbor’s barn, 
which is in plain sight of our house. I 
went up and got her and came right, back, 
when, lo, where was Baby Sissa? I 
searched for her with no result; then 
called her father, and we both searched 
the house and barns and cow lanes. Then 
I started down the road. How far would 
it pay me to go before returning to search 
the tall grass in the mowing? There are 
only two houses on this road beyond our 
own. so there is very little travel. I had 
gone nearly a half-mile when around a 
bend there sat Baby Sissa in the middle 
of the road in the hot sun. scooping up 
sand into her lap. She had gone until 
she was tired looking for Mary and then 
sat down to play contentedly with the 
first thing handy, with never a thought 
in her baby mind that she was lost. 
Hay tng. —Husband did his own haying 
this year with just my help, except three 
half-days when the mowing away in the 
barn was too hard for me. Also his oats, 
which he cut green for fodder, and his 
rowen. At first. I loaded the hay and 
then raked the scatterings while lie was 
at the barn unloading, but he soon needed 
iny help in the barn, and the scatterings 
had to wait. When the man was here I 
raked after the cart, and while they un¬ 
loaded I raked old scatterings or turned 
over hay or coiled up. My raking I did 
with a drag rake. While we were at 
work near the house I took the children 
into the field a good deal, but the rest 
of the time I hired a neighbor’s 12-year- 
old girl to stay with them. 
Work Inside and Out—I n August I 
papered my bedroom with some help from 
niy small sister, who was visiting us. 
August 11 husband began cutting corn 
for green feed for the cows, and husking 
the ears for the pigs—about a bushel a 
day—and when he was pretty busy I did 
the husking for him. I also picked up 
about a half bushel a day of sweet ap¬ 
ples for the pigs. I was-fortunate this 
year in having silo fillers to feed only 
one dinner. That day I gave them ail 
they could eat of baked potatoes, dried 
beef gravy, stewed shell beans, with slices 
of salt pork cooked with, them, tomatoes, 
two kinds of pickles, white bread, brown 
bread, doughnuts and apple dumplings. 
A Tiny Housekeeper. —Husband and 
I dug about 140 bushels of potatoes from 
half an acre of ground. I pulled tops 
while he dug, and we picked up together. 
One forenoon the little girls were out 
with us, but it was cloudy and windy and 
they weren’s having a very good time, so 
when the baby awoke from his nap I let 
them all stay in the house together, leav¬ 
ing the back door open so we could hear 
if any of them cried. For my conscience 
sake I will say it is the only time I ever 
left them alone in the house together 
awake, unless it was to run to the garden 
or henhouse, or to head off the cows, or 
something of that sort. At 11 o’clock I 
came to the barn for more bags, and ran 
into the house to put potatoes baking. 
Mary welcomed me joyfully and began 
telling me and showing what she had 
done toward dinner. She had put the 
potatoes in the oven, opened the draft of 
the stove and partially fried some salt 
pork which I had sliced. The pork she 
had put on a tin cover and placed on the 
dinner table, turning the grease into a 
teacup, which she put on the pantry 
shelf, hanging up the frying pan. On 
the dinner table she put a pitcher of milk 
.and a glass of milk for both herself and 
Sissa. two cold baked apples, two cold 
graham rolls, and she had tried to pare 
some tomatoes. Most of the tomato was 
left in the wash basin in the sink, but 
there was a little in two saucers for daddy 
and me. I think I said enough to her so 
she would never do it again, but I couldn’t 
be very severe with her when she was so 
jubilant at the idea that she had been 
helping mamma, and I couldn’t help won¬ 
dering. as mothers will, how many four- 
year-old girls would have done as well, 
not spilling anything or burning herself. 
Husking Corn. —Next came husking 
the picked corn, and I helped husk about 
300 bushels. It was nice, warm weather 
while we were husking, so I could take 
the children into the barn with us, the 
boy sitting in his carriage, with the girls 
playing around. This about finished my 
out-of-door labors for the season, except 
a few little things not worth mentioning. 
Canned Coons.—Following is a list 
of the canned goods to be found in my 
cellar after the last of my pickling in Oc¬ 
tober. It is all my own work, except that 
husband picked most of the berries, and 
he and my small sister helped me hull 
the strawberries and shell the beans; 
Twelve quarts rhubarb, 15% quarts wild 
strawberries, 28% quarts wild raspber¬ 
ries. 28% quarts wild blackberries. 15 
quarts pears, 3 quarts peaches, 3 quarts 
plums, 5 quarts crabapples, 6 glasses crab- 
apple jelly, 15 glasses grape jelly. 10 
quarts tomatoes. 1 pint dandelion greens, 
14 pints peas. 15% quarts string beans, 
pints corn, 12 quarts cranberry beans, 
30 bottles catsup and chili sauce, 5 gallons 
sliced tomato pickle. 3 gallons little cu¬ 
cumber pickles, 2 gallons ripe cucumber 
pickles, 1 gallon mixed mustard pickle, 
1 gallon pear pickles, 1 gallon little beets, 
one o-gallon jar of little salted cucum¬ 
bers. 4 gallons boiled cider and some dried 
apples, corn, pumpkin and peas. Mother 
chides me for working so hard. She says: 
“You look as young and blooming as most 
people of your age now. but I am afraid 
your future health will suffer for the way 
you are working now.” I doubt if I would 
do it if my husband didn’t work as hard 
as I. or if he spent his money foolishly ; 
but we are truly partners in every sense 
of the word, and we sincerely hope that 
some day our children will be partners 
with us. 
Child Care.—I fed the baby barley 
water according to the directions given 
by the V. S. Department of Labor, Chil¬ 
dren’s Bureau, in book on “Infant Care.” 
and how he has thrived! At birth lie 
weighed seven pounds, 10 ounces. At 
10% months he weighed 21% pounds, 
has four teeth, walks by holdiug on to 
things, and tries so hard to talk. There 
never was a better-uatured baby. lie 
never has eaten in the night since lie was 
two months old. and never but twice since 
then has he kept us awake at night. 
A Cheerful Outlook. —If I were so 
inclined I could paint mv condition as 
?'^ n V, ly T as “ A Successful Farmer's 
y. lfe - But I never think of such a 
tiling. My mind is fully occupied with 
my work and plans, children, reading and 
sewing. Why. I don’t even attend 
church, my children being the “ties that 
hind, and only once since our honeymoon 
have husband I spent an evening out to¬ 
gether : but these very children who are 
keeping me at home now will furnish the 
elements that will draw me back into so¬ 
cial circles later. I have made mv bed 
and am perfectly content to lie in it. 
MRS. OLOVA IIUSTL T \ 
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tiUiii 
