02 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
WOMAN AND HOME 
The Man Behind the Plow 
Sing loud and Ions this happy song 
To him with uncrowned brow, 
Whose calloused had shall save this land, 
The Man behind the Plow. 
May it lvo said no line for bread 
With shame our hearts shall bow; 
TTo knows our need and sows the seed, 
The Man behind the Plow. 
Cod grant him strength through each day’s 
length 
To fill each bin and mow, 
Fruits of his care that all may share 
With the Man behind the Plow. 
With humbled heads these gangs of Reds 
We'll ship on eastbound prow. 
“They shall not pass,” “Keep off the 
grass.” 
Says the Man behind the Plow. 
To fill the breach, pur wants to reach, 
Right well he knoweth how, 
We hail him then, prince among men. 
This Man behind the Plow.” 
—JOHN NEVICS EMERY. 
A 
Fifteen years ago Dr. Wm. Osier made 
a speech in which he advanced the idea 
that most of the great things of human 
life are done in the 15 years between 25 
and 10. During this speech Dr. Osier 
referred in a half joking way to a work 
of fiction in which was described a col¬ 
lege in which men of 00 could go to be 
“chloroformed.” Osier undertook to show 
that in many cases history had been put 
back through the mistakes or “grouches” 
of old men who remained too long in au¬ 
thority. Few could object to what he 
really said, but the newspapers, iu need 
of a sensation, put in his mouth the state¬ 
ment that no man amounts to anything 
after he is 10. and that every man of 60 
should be chloroformed. Of course. Osier 
could not correct the report; it clung to 
his name to the last, although in his own 
career proved to he false. He was 56 
before he did his great work, and he lived 
to he 70. The foolish and cruel state¬ 
ment attributed to him caused groat 
trouble and suffering to many worthy peo¬ 
ple of middle age. Many of them, still 
capable' of doing their finest work, were 
thrust one side and neglected on the new 
theory that “youth must be served.” That 
is true in its way. but before youth should 
be served it must in turn learn to serve 
experience and judgment. “Old age” is 
not a definite term. The body may seem 
old, but so long as the spirit is young the 
man or woman should keep their place 
in the world. The wickedness of the 
statement attributed to Osier is in the 
fact that it helps to destroy the spirit. 
# 
At the New Hampshire College a loan 
fund has been started for the benefit of 
students. This money will be made avail¬ 
able in small amounts to students who 
must “work their way.” It will he 
loaned on notes at 5 per cent—interest to 
become operative when the student leaves 
college. It' will be a perpetual fund— 
the money received from the notes being 
returned to the fund for reinvestment. 
This is an excellent plan. If the loans 
are made with good judgment and under 
good safeguard of character, the college 
and the students will all be helped. From 
our own college experience we know what 
a help of this sort will mean to ambitious 
young men and women who are for the 
moment out of funds. It will be an in¬ 
vestment in character as well as in edu¬ 
cation. 
We have a good many letters from read¬ 
ers who say they would like to take one or 
more Belgian children to bring up. Most 
people seem to think there are many of 
these children in need of farm homes. We 
have been asked by kind-hearted people 
if we would not take several of them. 
The truth is that it is impossible to find 
any Belgian orphans in this country. 
There are thousands of them in Belgium, 
but (he people of that country feel that 
they are needed at home. They will be 
kept there, and homes will be preovided 
for them. For the Belgians fully under¬ 
stand the value of a child. They are 
determined to remake and rebuild their 
country, and they will do it—and every 
child will be needed. We appreciate the 
great-hearted kindness which prompts our 
people to ask for these children, but they 
are not to be obtained for the reasons here 
On the night of January 16 a choice 
crowd of “wets” in New York City cele¬ 
brated whab they called “the end of John 
Bai'leycorn.” It. was a great carouse. 
The leading hotels and restaurants were 
crowded, and as an average of various 
estimates we conclude that about $4,000,- 
000 worth of liquor was consumed. Fine 
wine sold at $25 per bottle, and whisky 
at $15 or more. The wonder was where 
all the money came from, for only a small 
proportion of New York’s people took 
part in it. At one place an intelligent- 
looking man paid $20 for a single bottle 
and held it up before a group of friends 
who did not drink. One of the latter 
suggested that a much finer celebration of 
the passing of John Barleycorn would be 
spending all this money to provide milk 
and bread and fruit for the under-nour¬ 
ished children. 
“07/ rot! What do ire care for them?” 
was the answer. He probably did not 
quite mean it. hut that is about the way 
things have been going. 
What do you think of the enclosed 
statement in a newspaper clipping? 
“PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 13.—Cost of food 
need not add to the terrors of the high 
cost of living. 
“Every man can live well on 11 cents 
a day. 
“This was the assertion of Dr. Harvey 
W. Wiley, former chief chemist of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
at a banquet given by the City Business 
Club in the Hotel Adelphia. 
“Cornmeal mush, and plenty of it, is 
the solution to the high-cost-of-eating 
problem, according to Dr. Wiley. Skill 
applied to the industry of eating will 
bring down its cost, he declares. 
“Referring to a statement he made 
some time ago that a person could live 
well on 13 cents a day, he said he had 
made a mistake. ‘Any man can live well 
on 11 cents a day,’ he said. ‘A pound of 
corpmeal a day, at the rate of $1.50 a 
bushel, would amount to three cents, and 
added to this eight cents’ worth of milk 
to give sufficient nourishment.’ ” 
We doubt if Dr. Wiley ever said it. 
Certainly he does not practice the mush 
theory himself, even if he preaches it. A 
reasonable use of cornmeal in the form 
of mush or pudding is good. Few people 
could eat it for any length of time with¬ 
out milk and sugar or molasses, and those 
would bring the cost up to a good figure. 
The continued use of cornmeal mush 
alone would upset most people. There 
are not enough vitamines or protein or 
ash elements in cornmeal alone to make 
it safe for a full diet. 
A Breakfast of Wheat 
The Hope Farm man certainly did give 
us a very personal letter recently. Wo 
now have a clear insight into the “inner 
workings” of the Hope Farm family ! We 
approve of the menu from every point of 
view, and in turn we are minded to give 
a breakfast menu of our own. because it 
is such an excellent one ; besides, it solves 
the problem of the II. C. L., so far as 
that meal is concerned. 
We are not enthusiastic grain farmers, 
because the crop has to he an extra good 
one to yield even a few cents per bushel 
profit. But last, year patriotism prompted 
us to put in a wheat crop, and we found 
ourselves with two bushels of the seed 
wheat left over, and this we proceeded to 
substitute for our time-honored breakfast 
cereal—oatmeal. The wheat is carefully 
washed, put in shallow pans and dried in 
the oven, coarsely ground by running 
once through an old coffee mill. Then it 
is put in a double boiler and boiled three 
or four hours, and then the next morning 
warmed up for breakfast. We started in 
having the wheat every other morning. 
On Thanksgiving morning we were in 
turn enumerating the things that we had 
to be thankful for, and when it came to 
“Larry” (aged nine). In 1 looked around 
the table and said: “Well. I’m thankful 
that we've got wheat instead of oatmeal 
this morning!” And since about that 
time we have had the wheat seven morn¬ 
ings in a week and 365 days in a year, 
and every one just as keen over it as ever. 
We have sausage, bacon and eggs of our 
own production in plenty, but not a soul 
cares for them for breakfast—everyone 
satisfied with just the wheat. AVe had 
the last of that two bushels of wheat this 
morning. So at a cost of little less than 
$6 a family of three adults and two grow¬ 
ing boys were supplied with a delicious 
and healthful breakfast for one year and 
two and one-half months! Of course, 
plenty of rich cream and a slice of home¬ 
made bread and butter, with a cup of 
coffee or glass of milk and fruit, goes with 
it; but the cracked wheat was, as the 
French say, the piece de resistance. And 
do not let anybody say, “Oh, well, with 
good, rich cream in plenty, any cereal 
would be delicious!” Because when old 
“Mollie” goes dry and we have nothing 
but near-milk (Holstein) from a neigh¬ 
bor to put on it, the wheat is just as pop¬ 
ular as ever. 
If I am ever able to reduce the II. C. L. 
for the other two meals I will report 
later. I was at our county seat the other 
day and ran into a restaurant formerly 
noted for its cheapness and excellent cui¬ 
sine, and after a very simple little lunch 
the waiter handed me a check for $1.85. 
A small sweet potato. 25c, and a sprig of 
celery, 30c! That looked like profiteer¬ 
ing, and the management admitted it; 
only said it was the help who were doing 
it. IIAUVEY LOSEE. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
“Hickville” and New York 
Enclosed clipping was taken from a 
daily paper of recent date. 1 am under the 
January 31, 1020 
impression that the old story of Pat and 
the judge would apply in this case. Pat, 
stopping overnight at a hotel, owing to 
crowded condition was put into a room 
with a judge of Irish descent. AVheu go¬ 
ing to bed the judge remarked; "Pat, if 
you had remained in Ireland it would 
have been a long time before you would 
have slept with a judge.” “Yes.” replied 
Pat, "and if you had remained in Ireland 
it would have been a long time before you 
would have been a judge.” w. n. 
* The clipping states that “Judge Mullen” 
nf New York had a case in which a hus¬ 
band claimed that he found cigarettes in 
his wife’s possession. The learned judge 
said : 
“Ifi is not immoral for women to smoke 
cigarettes. Some of the best women in 
the country and in the world smoke cigar¬ 
ettes. It would not make any difference 
if she had a thousand packages of cigar¬ 
ettes there. This is not Hickville, out in 
the center of the farm country.” 
“Hickville” seems to represent the 
judge’s idea of the rural districts. Well, 
lie is right in thinking that country women 
do not smoke cigarettes, and have at least, 
some standard of morality, and history 
shows that “Hickville” is more enduring 
than New York. 
“Care for the Old Folks” 
Will some one who has had experience 
tell me what the usual arrangements are 
between family and the child who stays 
at home to take care of their parents? 
The parents are well-to-do, have three 
children. One daughter married and liv¬ 
ing out of town ; lias received the usual 
help parents give, gifts of furniture, etc., 
and now is doing finely. She has four 
lovely children, money in the hank and 
owns her own home. Her eon has had a 
college education and money from time to 
time enough to start him in business, lie 
also had a chance to go in with his 
father, but refused, to the family’s dis¬ 
appointment. as he and his father are in 
the same line of business. The other 
child, who is married and has no children, 
came home to live. The daughter does 
the housework for a family of live, the 
mother being a semi-invalid. The son-in- 
law Inis given up his own trade at the 
age of 38 to help his father-in-law, who 
is getting on in years. The father pays 
the son-in-law just like any other be¬ 
ginner, and the daughter nothing, all the 
extra work, lifting and being out in the 
bad weather, to save father, etc., is to 
pay their board. The father is well-to-do 
and furnishes them with a lovely home, 
and fine table board. But the small wages 
are scarcely enough for him and his wife 
to dress on in order to live up to the 
family standard. They will he able to 
save very little, if anything, and 10 years 
from now would have to start all over 
again, at the age of 50, depending on the 
father’s whims, which are many. What 
would he the fair way? The daughter 
would gladly take care of them for noth¬ 
ing when necessary, but feels that it is 
not fair to her as it is now arranged. She 
does not like to put it up to the old people 
for fear of hurting their feelings, yet she 
is giving the best of her life to them. 
They would pay strangers more if neces¬ 
sary. and could. AA’hat is the answer? 
CURIOUS. 
As a rule we pay no attention to un¬ 
signed letters, and we have no idea who 
wrote the above. However, this question 
is evidently troubling a number of our 
readers right now, and we print the letter 
and ask for experience. No one could 
ever give wise advice iu such a case 
without knowing more about it, for the 
personalities involved must be considered. 
AA’e have only one side of the case pre¬ 
sented. AVliat do the old folks say, and 
how do the other children regard it? No 
one has any right to attempt to give ad¬ 
vice or try to settle such a matter with¬ 
out knowing all about it. We have in¬ 
vestigated several such cases, and always 
found more than one side. AA'e know 
where children (usually women) have 
given the best years of their lives to the 
care of parents, only to have selfish 
brothers and sisters come iu and take 
most of the estate, so that the patient 
worker received nothing for her years of 
devotion. On the other hand, there are 
some cases where some child demands a 
large share for “taking care of the old 
folks.” and in return gives them very 
inferior service. So we offer no advice, 
hut ask for actual experience—if readers 
care to give it. 
A t.ittle Scotch lad greatly coveted 
a fine Jersey cow belonging to the min¬ 
ister of the local kirk. "Do you believe 
in prayer?” said the good little boy to 
the minister. “Most certainly I do,” was 
the reply. “But.” insisted the questioner, 
“do you believe if I prayed hard enough 
God would give me a cow like yours?” 
“Certainly, if you had equally good rea¬ 
sons for possessing a cow, and your faith 
was sufficiently strong.” “Then.” came 
the immediate rejoinder, “you give me 
your cow and you pray for another.”— 
Tit-Bits. 
The Glory of Curing for a Family! 
given. 
