T* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
49 
Comments from a Pennsylvania Woman 
Some Simple Needs. —I read the letter 
on page 1422 which had been reprinted 
from the Atlantic Monthly. I read, too, 
the letter on page 1015 by Mrs. II., from 
Tennessee. When I read the first letter 
I said, “Another poor soul with her hands 
and feet tied.” Doubtless she has good 
reasons for writing as she did, and she is 
not the only one who must endure the 
dark side of farm life. There are many 
just like her, and our case is hopeless. 
But I am willing to guarantee that if 
her husband provided good walks around 
all the buildings and up to the house, and 
kept at least a week’s supply of good 
wood in a good woodshed all the time, and 
provided plenty of hot and cold running 
water in the house, she would be well 
and happy almost anywhere. 
A Contrast. —Perhaps the Idaho hus¬ 
band does not approve of reading, so wife 
cannot use a minute here and there to 
improve her mind, for almost every farm 
wife will give up all her own little pleas¬ 
ures rather than endure her husband’s 
sulks and grouches. No doubt she must 
carry all water in and all wastes out, 
enough in itself to get her mind in a mood 
to write her letter. The Tennessee writer 
probably had husband or the boys carry 
both, if she does not have it piped, thus 
letting her read and get her mind in just 
the right mood to lead the prayer meeting. 
Perhaps they own their home, or have 
money enough to relieve her mind of the 
worry of debt. The first likely lives on a 
rented farm with the house full of rat 
holes, broken window panes, doors with¬ 
out latches, broken steps, leaky roof, no 
walks, and old toru wall paper and soiled 
paint, or perhaps husband just must have 
all the money there is to keep up the 
farm, stock, implements and machinery, 
and wife and the house can just keep up 
themselves. The Idaho woman is not lone¬ 
ly: she is uncomfortable, overworked with 
being compelled to do so much unneces¬ 
sary work. She is unthanked and un¬ 
praised. and almost unloved, and her good 
works all unnoticed. The second is in 
her element; she is a leader in her own 
little circle; that in itself is enough for 
her. We cannot all be leaders and we 
do not wish to be, but we want things 
convenient in our homes and want to cut 
out the unnecessary work so that we are 
not too weary or discouraged to go to 
some amusement, if by rare good fortune 
we have a chance to go. The second 
writer goes to the movies often when in 
town, but prefers to be in her own yard 
under a maple with a book, seeming to 
think that is all that is needed for others. 
If she does not need something else, why 
does she ever leave her own home? 
( rtANOiNG Conditions. —I stand firm¬ 
ly for the Idaho woman; she is iu the 
majority in this country. It is true, con¬ 
ditions are slowly improving, and many 
of the real farmers are being waked or 
shamed into getting better and more sani¬ 
tary. conditions in their homes, bv men 
coming from towns and cities and buving 
places, improving the houses and walks, 
puttng in running water and other im¬ 
provements, but the average farmer cau 
hardly be persuaded that he cau spare 
the money for such things, though if he 
needs a spreader or hay-loader or farm 
stock of any kind, he generally gets the j 
money somehow if he does not happen to 
have it. The farm husbands are kind and 
good generally, but just a little too much 
inclined to think more of the farm than 
the home. I believe the time is coming 
when most farmers will have modern im¬ 
provements in the home, but the question 
is, can we wives hold out long enough, 
or if we are still living will we care to 
live any longer? After a morning of car¬ 
rying water and carrying out refuse, stuff¬ 
ing ratholes, wading around the buildings 
to feed the different things, hunting for 
a little wood that I know I cannot find 
dry. and lastly wading around the hog 
and calf pasture to see that the frail fence 
is still standing, by that time it is nearly 
noon and my feet are soaking wet and I 
feel free to come iu and look for a pair 
of dry stockings that are not nearly all 
holes, and ns I sit on my own little rocker 
and take up baby (I have five children 
from two to 14 years of age and they are 
a great help to us), I think I would ex¬ 
change our stock, farm, implements, 
house and everything we have for a three- 
room house in town with the modern 
sanitary improvements the average town 
woman has, in just one minute. 
The Better Side. —Other times when 
I come home from church and we have ! 
had a light Sunday dinner, and I go out 
into the yard and garden with husband 
and the children, or walk among the 
flowers and trees, or along the creek or 
woods, and we see and admire the won¬ 
ders and beauties of nature, I think I am 
surely a well-blessed woman, and would 
not change places with anv town person 
for anything. 
All-around Work. —I do .-ill the 
things the Tennessee writer says she can 
do, except spell, prepare and read a paper 
before the literary society, and lead the 
prayer meeting. I also do a few things ! 
more than she says she cau do. I have 
handled all kinds of farm stock, both sick 
and well. I can ride horseback. I can 
hitch and drive a team in almost any 
kind of wagon or implement. I have 
killed and dressed calves, hogs, beeves 
and all kinds of poultry, but not because 
I like, that kind of work; I hate it. I 
can pick more berries than any man or 
woman who has ever picked with us. I 
(Continued on page 51) 
Bring the WorlcPs Richest Plant Foods to Your Farm 
—Put Back the Fertility Which Crops Take Out 
E very 
sold 
time a crop of grain is 
it means fertility is 
shipped away from your farm. 
Even if crops are fed to livestock, 
fertility is shipped away in the 
blood and bo .es of the animals. 
If plant-foods are not applied, 
constant cropping will bankrupt 
any soil’s fertilitj\ Eventually 
corn matures too slowly. Pastures run down. 
Weeds appear. 
The business-like way is to put back each year 
the plant foods which crops extract. Y-C Fertil¬ 
izers are richer than the richest soil Nature ever 
created. They supply every soil and food re- 
Fertilizers 
quirement of growing crops. 
To keep the soil productive, we 
search the earth to find where 
Nature has hidden her plant-foods. 
They are shipped thousands of 
miles to be properly balanced with 
other ingredients and sent to Amer¬ 
ica’s farms. The ammoniates and 
phosphates that went to form, first, 
the hay and grain, and then the blood and bone of 
animals, is recovered and shipped back to you in 
bags of Y-C Fertilizers. Even the bones of pre¬ 
historic animals are mined and put into forms up¬ 
on which the crops can feed. 
Write us for the names of V-C dealers near you. 
Virginia 
New York, N. T. 
Baltimore, Md. 
Cincianati, Ohio 
Fart W ayne, lad. 
Sh rereport. La. 
Rtcbmoid, Va. 
Carolina Chemical Company 
INCORPORATED 
V-C SALES OFFICES: 
Norfolk, Va. 
Alexaadria, Va. 
Darkam, N. C. 
Wiaatoa-Salem, N, C. 
Ckarlettea, S. C. 
Colombia, S. C. 
Atlanta, Ga. 
Sara numb, Ga. 
Atbeae, Ga. 
GaiactriQa, Fit. 
Jacluonrille, Fit. 
Sanford, Fla. 
Birmingham, Ala. 
Montg ornery, Ala. 
Mobile, Ala. 
Memphb, Tens. 
Mt. Pleataat, Teat 
VI RGINI A^ 
CAROLINA’ 
V-C Fertilizers 
Farmers 1 Favorite 
Grain Drills 
Produce a maximum yield from every field. Have been on the market for more than 50 years 
and are used in every grain growing country in the world. Made in both grain and fertilizer 
styles and every size. Distribute the seed evenly at a uniform depth, which gives each grain a 
chance at moisture and perfect germination. No clogging or leaving empty furrows. This 
assures an even stand, a full harvest and adds to your profits. 
For Team or Tractor 
Power Lift and Adjustable HitcH for use with any Tractor can be furnished. Power lift 
enables operator to raise or lower discs while in motion without leaving seat of tractor by slightly 
pulling small rope. This Drill is a great time and labor saver to the farmer. 
Send for The Farmers’ Favorite Catalog and note the special features of this Grain Drill. 
Strongest angle steel frame; axle of cold rolled steel shafting; drag-bars of high-carbon steel; 
double run force feeds; steel ribbon grain tubes. 
Call on your dealer and have him show and explain to you the special features of this Drill. 
The American Seeding-Machine Co., Inc, 
Springfield, Ohio 
'■M 
IK 
IV.'V 
'••i Hie; 
l.* i 
Jil 
i 
«ri 
4 
