1308 
Tbt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
Homesick 
I was born in Indiany—an' I’m pinin’ 
to get back 
I' rom these prairie winds ’at howl, an’ 
^ snarl, an’ moan around my shack; 
From this empty, endless wideness, 
stretchin’ fur as ye can see, 
An’ my heart’s a purt nigh breakin’ fer 
the sight o’ jest one tree. 
I was raised in Indiany—an’ I’m wish¬ 
ing I was back 
Where the shiftin’, shinin’ Wabash cuts 
its twistin’, trailin’ track. 
Plowin’ through the rus’lin* cornfields, 
loafin’ under bangin’ boughs, 
Where they’s pools to hide the fishes an’ 
they’s shade to cool the cows. 
My old home’s in Indiany—an' I’m heart¬ 
sick to git back ! 
Them creeks an’ woods hes got a tongue 
these lonesome prairies lack; 
Fer they’s nothin’ here but silence—’cept 
the never-endin’ cry 
O’ the winds, ’at moan an’ mourn onlil 
ye think ye’ll shorely die. 
An’ ye hain’t no wish fer livin’, an’ the 
dearest thing ye crave 
Is to die, an’ hev it over—ef they’ll only 
make yer grave 
Rack there in Indiany where the Wabash 
twists an’ turns, 
Where the sun hes trees to shine on, an’ 
the Autumn color burns; 
Where the sycamore’s crook’d branches 
shows the way the river goes. 
An’ across the yallerin’ cornfields ye can 
hear the cry o’ crows; 
Where the leaves is drappin’ sof’ly—Na- 
ehure’s tears fer days ’ats’ dead. 
An’ ’mongst the hick’ry’s trimblin’ boughs 
the squirrel perks his head ; 
Where the oak and maple colors make 
the woods a kind o’ hint 
O’ the land yer lookin’ fer at last, an’ 
seem to ketch a glint 
O’ the glory streamin’ down’ards through 
a break in heaven’s wall, 
An’ in the whisperin’ silences ye hear the 
angels call! 
Indiany’s purt’ nigh heaven ! an’ I’m 
wishin’ I was home, 
If they’s them ’at’s thinkin’ dif’er’nt, 
they’ve got license fer to roam. 
But heaven an’ Indiany is jest the two 
things I lack. 
I’m a good ways off from both of ’em— 
an’ prayin’ to git back! 
EZRA B. NEWCOMBE 
in Woman’s Home Companion. 
sk 
One of our readers says that her fa- 
vofite labor-saving device is the use of 
ball-bearing castors on woodbox, kitchen 
tables, storage trunks, or any heavy 
pieces of furniture that must be moved 
around. Sets of such castors are cheap, 
and they certainly save muscle. 
* 
The daily papers tell us that Nebraska 
farmers’ wives are asking for their rights. 
They say the farmers have been buying 
improved equipment for the farm, while 
ignoring the needs of the house. The 
women are credited with the following 
demands: 
A power washing machine for the house 
for every tractor bought for the farm. 
A bathtub in the house for every bind¬ 
er on the farm. 
Running water in the kitchen for every 
riding plow for the fields. 
A kerosene cook stove for every auto¬ 
mobile truck. 
A tireless cooker for every new mowing 
machine. 
Our share of the farm income. 
These demands seem only right. The 
Department of Agriculture reports, as a 
result of its questionnaire as to home 
conveniences on the farms, the following 
regarding Nebraska farmhouse conveni¬ 
ences : 
Thirty per cent have water in the 
kitchen. 
Seventy-nine per cent have kitchen cab¬ 
inets. 
Seventy-three per cent have kerosene 
stoves. 
Thirteen per cent have fireless cookers. 
Forty-nine per cent have linoleum on 
kitchen floors. 
Twelve per cent have bread mixers. 
Two per cent have wheel trays. 
Fifty-one per cent have screened 
porches. 
The low percentage of bread mixers 
may be due, in part, to prejudice or cau¬ 
tion, for we know many good housekeep¬ 
ers who do not wish to try them. We 
would not willingly be without one. for 
we think it a wonderful labor saver, and 
the uniform mixing results in bread of 
extra fine texture. If the Nebraska wom¬ 
en get all these additions to the home 
machinery, it will certainly set the wheels 
2078. one-piece over-dress, 34 to 44 bust. 
9593. Two-piece skirt, 24 to 34 waist. 20 
cents. 
97S3. Chemise Press, 34 to 42 bust. The 
medium size will require XVi yards 32 or 30 ins. 
wide of' (lie figured material, one yard 32 or SO 
of the plain. 20 cents each. 
9772. Box (’cat. 34 to 44 bust. The medium 
size will require 3% yards of material SO in. 
wide, 3 yards 44. yards 34. 
turning in many lines of business now 
suffering from poor demand. 
* 
The Department of Agriculture at 
Washington has issued Farmers’ Bulle¬ 
tin 1219. “Floors and Floor Coverings,” 
which will be found very helpful and in¬ 
teresting. It discusses floor stains, paints, 
fillers and varnishes, treatment and care 
of floors, rugs and other coverings. 
Among inexpensive homemade stains we 
are told that a strong decoction of walnut 
or butternut hulls may be used as a brown 
stain on wood containing tannin, such as 
oak or chestnut. A simple brown stain 
for pine is one mmee permanganate of 
potash dissolved in one quart of warm 
water. This makes a violet solution, but 
when applied to wood a chemical reaction 
follows, and the stain is brown. This is 
more desirable for pine than for oak. 
Life seems hard enough in the sage¬ 
brush section of Idaho, judging from 
what Mrs. Greenwood says on page 1287. 
Distance from markets would seem to be 
the greatest trouble, but isolation is the 
heaviest trial to many women on farms. 
We have often wondered how the women 
bore the hard Winters on wheat farms 
in Western Canada. Perhaps there is 
some one among our readers who can de¬ 
scribe life there from a woman’s stand¬ 
point. 
Tennessee Notes 
Excuse the alteration. “Man proposes 
and health disposes.” After all prepara¬ 
tions were well nigh complete for dividing 
the family, that the children might attend 
school, whether from overwork, worry or 
the thoughts of leaving home, the cows, 
chickens, turkeys, etc., and Paul and Mr. 
I’, to shift for themselves, I cannot tell; 
anyway, the time to move found me too 
weak to attempt it. Like other things 
longed for, yet dreaded, it looms in the 
future. Meanwhile we are studying at 
home. I rise a bit early and after the 
morning chores are over the students are 
at their books. One of the grandsons 
joins us quite often. I long for slates, 
pencils, blackboard, chalk, charts, etc., to 
help us along, but what we lack we do 
without. Whatever has become of all the 
slates, anyway? Multiplication and long 
division require room for expansion. Lan- 
gauge puzzles me sometimes because it is 
something I never studied, to my great 
regret. 
September 30 a chilly rain was sifting 
down all day; the cold wind whistling 
around reminds us that Winter is not far 
away. Before we think about it Christ¬ 
mas will be here. Five grandchildren will 
be looking for a bit of cheer. What will 
it be? Something out of nothing? Well, 
some day I shall get busy. Three of them 
are not yet past the doll stage. Store 
dolls are. soon destroyed. I shall make 
some of different sizes and colors that may 
not be very artistic, but they will be ap¬ 
preciated. Some old sock tops will ravel 
out for balls for the boys. Lee. is the 
handy man about the house. A sled, a 
doll cradle, accompanied by something 
useful, and a bit of homemade candy will 
about fill the bill. 
Chestnuts have begun to ripen. A box 
of them for *the boys in Iowa, and some 
for friends afar, while for another friend 
I have in view a tufted table spread. For 
the foundation I shall use one yard square 
of unbleached muslin or domestic; trace 
the design, then thread a large-sized 
darner with nine threads of single cotton 
thread, double thread, and follow the de¬ 
sign with a stiteh made by taking up 
three or four threads of cloth every fourth 
inch, then when finished clip between 
each stitch. The cotton thread and cloth 
soon bleaches white and will last indef¬ 
initely. To another a homely braided 
rug, and to others to pass on a book or 
magazine that lias been enjoyed by more 
than one, and is yet enjoyable. 
Speaking of books, is there anything 
that can give a more lasting pleasure than 
an interesting book? A close companion 
is a good picture, one that is restful or 
will transport us to the scene. One has 
to be confined to the four walls of home 
or to a sick-room to realize what it is to 
count nail heads, the cracks in the ceiling, 
or some other foolish thing that a well 
person would never think about. 
How swiftly the time flies! It seems 
only yesterday that the green shoots of 
corn were peeping through the soil. Now 
from my window I can see the fodder 
shocks, all sere and brown, their tat¬ 
tered blades mute witnesses of the dam¬ 
age done by hail. 
Well, it is time for the spelling lesson. 
Someone said to me recently in a joking 
way: “Guess you are drawing a big sal¬ 
ary. now that you are teaching school.” 
and I told her yes; it was the same that 
I had been receiving for the past ”0 
years. Give of health, strength, self, 
time and labor for thirty years, and the 
only reward is the fear that I have some¬ 
how failed. Not one I have cared for but 
what is just an ordinary, healthy, human 
being, but. after all. the bulwark of our 
nation is made up of these ordinary, com¬ 
monplace people, so I will not worry. 
MRS. D. B. P. 
November 5, 1921 
Agood oldyriend 
Remember the good old- 
fashioned mustard plaster 
grandma U9ed to pin around 
your neck when you had a 
cold or a sore throat? 
It did the work, but my 
how it burned and blistered! 
Musterole breaks up colds In 
a hurry, but It does Its work more 
gently, —without the blister. 
Rubbed over the throat or chest it 
penetrates the skin with a tingling 
warmth that brings relief at once. 
Made from pure oil of mustard, 
it Is a clean, white ointment good 
for all the little household ills. 
Keep the little white jar of 
Musterole on your bathroom shelf 
and bring it out at the first sign of 
tonsillitis, croup, neuritis, rheuma* 
tism or a cold. 
Sold by druggists everywhere, in jars and 
tubes, 35c and 65c; hospital size, $3. 
The Musterole Co., Cleveland, Ohio 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th St. New York City 
