M>38 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
.Tump r>, tO'20 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The roses are in bloom here. The 
apples are forming'on the trees. I just 
saw a cornfield with the crop four inches 
high; those big plants over there are cer¬ 
tainly potatoes, and the air is so mild 
that I would like to take off my coat! 
What has happened? Here you have 
been talking about the cold, backward 
season in New Jersey! But this isn’t 
New Jersey by 500 miles. I take it we 
are just over the line in Tennessee, hav¬ 
ing come through Southwestern Virginia 
on the run. The fact is, Mother 
and I are taking our belated wedding 
journey in the thirty-third year of our 
efforts to work as a double team. It is 
a strange thing, but we have never been 
able to get away together before. I 
presume no one would take us for newly 
married people off on “their wedding 
journey,” but at any rate here we are 
speeding away from Hope Farm as fast 
as steam can move us. 
4* * * * * 
And we are speeding south to the little 
town in Mississippi where the good lady 
was “brought up”—where she lived as a 
girl. The last thing she did before leav¬ 
ing New York was to call up Hope Farm 
and have a long talk with her daughter. 
That young woman will run the place 
during our absence. And so here we are, 
going back to the bid town, lazy and con¬ 
tent. not caring whether it rains or 
shines. Some folks go to Europe, others 
to a fashion resort, others stay at home 
and save their money, but we are going 
to Mississippi, back to the old town where 
Ma saw the light at an early age and I 
first saw her. It is 37 years ago that I 
went down into that country, T thought 
I was going to set the world afire with 
printer’s ink. The fact is that I didn’t 
have the matches needed to start the 
blaze! The matches needed to set the 
world on fire are either made in Heaven 
or they are slowly produced through long 
years of slavish drudgery in what seems 
like the other place. I went down there 
second-class—classed about as near to 
freight as I could get, and I nearly had 
to walk back. I am rather glad of that 
now as we move along swiftly and com¬ 
fortably on this trip. “The small end of 
the horn is far better as entrance than as 
This is an interesting country we are 
passing through. It seems to stand up 
on end—a succession of narrow valleys 
and high hills, with numberless streams 
tumbling down between the hills. I can 
see nothing here that would tempt me to 
move away from New Jersey, and I have 
no doubt if the dwellers in these little 
farmhouses were moved to our country 
they would be like the sick man in 
Arizona. He could not live anywhere 
else, and his land was worth a fortune, 
and yet he said : “I’d give the whole of 
it twice over for one week on a New 
England hillside in June.” You could 
not pull us away from New Jersey, be¬ 
cause that is “home,” and for just the 
same reason these folks are happy here, 
and I think this is one of the wisest laws 
which may be called socially divine. For 
many miles the country seemed light and 
poor as we look at it from the train. The 
trees and houses that are footed in the 
soil give a good indication of its quality, 
and most that we saw were scrubs and 
cabins. The land was red and full of 
gullies. It seemed as if someone had 
cut the heart out of it and left it blood¬ 
stained. Finally I saw a large field with 
little piles of lime scattered over it ready 
for spreading. In the distance it looked 
like a big checkerboard on which man 
was to play a game against sorrel and 
sour soil. I will back men in that game 
here as elsewhere. As we went on we 
noticed ledges of limestone cropping out. 
and at two places crushers were smash¬ 
ing it up ready for application. And 
wherever the limestone appeared both the 
trees and the houses grew larger, a few 
Alfalfa fields crept into view, and here 
and there we saw an automobile! That 
is another evidence of prosperity, and I 
think I never saw so many families of 
fine, fat sturdy children as these lime¬ 
stone lands show. Surely lime is life, 
and to use lime is to show loyalty to 
nature. 
* s* * * * 
And you see not only the variations of 
soil, but of the soul as well, on a trip 
like this. At one place across a narrow 
valley on a hillside I saw a gray-haired 
woman carrying two big pails of water 
from a spring. The journey to the house 
was at least 700 feet, and the woman had 
worn a deep track from her door. She 
was gray and feeble. She had to stop at 
least three times on her journey and put 
down those heavy pails for a rest. At 
the back of the house sat a girl with 
gingham dress and pink sunbonnet talk¬ 
ing to a big young man who leaned against 
a tree. I suppose if the pink sunbonnet 
had gone after water the young fellow 
would have quickly assumed the burden 
—but who befriends mother when her 
hair and life both turn gray? Down on 
Cape Cod they used to have a popular 
family saying: “Wear the oldest out 
first.” Such spectacles ought to be im¬ 
proving to a man on his wedding jour¬ 
ney. You may separate men by races or 
colors or sections, but human nature re¬ 
mains much the same. One thing they 
have us badly beaten on in this country, 
and that is the signboard nuisance. The 
journey between New York and Phila¬ 
delphia is one long succession of big 
boards advertising pills or corsets or 
knives—in fact, everything under the sun. 
I doubt if anyone ever sold an article by 
such advertising, but it is strung out 
through miles of travel. In nearly 400 
miles of travel over this road I saw only 
one signboard that read “Cheatham the 
tailor.” I think the artist must have 
been a wag. for as seen across the fields 
it looked just like “Cheat ’em.” At 
Roanoke was a small sign which re¬ 
minded me of New York: “Hot Dogs,” 
which of course meant frankfurter sau¬ 
sage. In New York the name is too 
German, and they call it “Liberty sau¬ 
sage.” I think it would pay some one in 
the South to sow strips of Crimson clover 
or Alfalfa here and there along the rail¬ 
road. It would show the stranger what 
these old fields can produce, and send 
many a man on his way thinking this 
must be a goodly land—as it certainly 
seems to be. 
* * * # # 
Down through this limestone belt I see 
many fields of wheat. They look fairly 
well, but the fields are small—at least 
along the railroad tracks. Of course no 
one has any business to report a country 
seriously from a car window. Here and 
there are small apple orchards which 
look well, but the farms are largely given 
up to pasture. I have seen several fields 
of sweet clover, which seems to grow 
vigorously here. There is not, apparently, 
much dairying, but the pastures are well 
filled with beef cattle. At Bristol. Tenn., i 
I saw great loads of ice cream going out ! 
for distribution—much of the cream ap¬ 
parently being shipped in. One thing 
that surprised me is the small number of 
colored people in this section. I have 
no doubt we shall see enough of them to 
make up the average as we go farther 
South. Some one tells me that lime not 
only increases the size of the man, but 
darkens his color. The beef cattle in the 
pastures seem of good breeding, most of 
them showing Shorthorn blood, with now 
and then a white face. Man gets sugges¬ 
tions from animals. I have been having 
some trouble with my eyes, as a long suc¬ 
cession of sties formed on the eyelids. If 
you ever had that trouble you know of 
course that there are times when you feel 
that only one thing will satisfy. That is 
to take out the eyeball and rub it with 
sandpaper! I felt like that at one point 
on this trip, when I looked out of the car 
window and saw a white-faced calf evi¬ 
dently of like mind. At least by some 
twist of the body this calf got his foot 
up to his eye and scratched it. And there 
came into my mind the advice which my 
doctor forced upon me: “Never rub or 
scratch your eye cxecpt with your elbow /” 
* >> $ * * 
But as we go on our way I fall to 
thinking of old days in that little Mis- 
Each. Cup Of 
INSTANT POSTUM 
contains the same uniform quality 
of goodness that makes this table 
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Make re strong or mild as you prefer 
by varying the quantity used. 
No wonder so many prefer it to coffee, 
not alone on account of taste but because 
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There's a Reason Tor POSTUM 
Made by Postixm Cereal Co. 
Battle Creek.. Mickigan 
WRITE GAILOWKY 
r- TODAY 
OF WATERLOO 1 
Don’t pay high prices for farm 
equipment. Deal with Galloway 
and save money aa a result of hia 
direct from factory to farm method. 
Pay only for what you get! Put the 
saving in your own pockets. Send 
a postal card today, now, and 
Get Galloway’s DIRECT 
on Cream Separators, Gasoline DDIPrC 
lilntrinoa Mnnura Qntmn Jnwe Pin 
** i -i m. ' xuiul, reuemft Auiomo* 
mobile Tires, Phonographs—everything needed 
for the farm and the farm home. 
Write Today and mention implement you are in¬ 
terested in. Goods shipped from points near you. 
THE WM. GALLOWAY CO. 
PAINT 
$ 1,35 
PER 
Gallon 
ORDER DIRECT FROM FACTORY 
We will send you as many gallons as you 
want of good quality red or brown 
BARN PAINT 
upon receiptof remittance. We are paint special¬ 
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direct from our factory. SatisfactionGuarantecd. 
On orders for thirty gallons or over we will propny the 
freight within a radius of three hundred mile9. 
AMALGAMATED PAINT CO. 
Factory: 372 WAYNE ST., JERSEY CITY, N. J 
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Y 
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When you Jo need a battery, your nearest USL Service Station will sell you n USL 
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USL Golden Rule Service Stations— everywhere. 
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Likely there’s one of our fifteen hundred service stations in your town. If there isn’t, for 
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The Battery & Starter Co., Syracuse Electric Service, Gander Automotive & Electric Co., 
Buffalo. New York Syracuse, New York Albany, New York 
The USL 
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Storage Battery 
