312 
Vie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 2.‘), 1024 
A half million farms are already electrified. Millions ar« 
not. Why? 
Because a light and power company cannot economically 
serve a few, scattered farmers, because farm equipment and 
farming methods are not yet adapted to the utilization of 
electricity, and because electric service cannot be intelligently 
rendered before the needs, of farmers are known. 
The first task, then, is to gather all the facts. In this a 
special committee is now engaged, which is composed of ex¬ 
perts representing the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Department of the Interior, Department of Com¬ 
merce, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Society 
of Agricultural Engineers, Power Farming Association of 
America and National Electric Light Association. 
The first step toward electrifying our farms has clearly been 
taken. Electrification itself will follow when the Committee 
indicates what basis is sound both for the farmer and the 
light and power company. 
A booklet has been published outlining the work of the 
Committee. Write to E. A. White, care American Farm 
Bureau Federation, 58 E. W^ashington Street, Chicago, 
Illinois, or to National Electric Light Association at 
29 West 39th Street, New York City, for it. It costs 
nothing. Read it and pass it on to your neighbor. 
NATIONAL ELECTRIC 
UGHT ASSOCIATION 
“BROOKLYN 
BRAND" 
SULPHUR 
COMMERCIAL FLOUR SULPHUR, 99 %% pure, for spraying and 
insecticide purposes. 
SUPERFINE COMMERCIAL FLOUR SULPHUR, 99 '%% pure j f or dusting 
FLOWERS OF SULPHUR, 100% pure.f purposes 
“NIAGARA BRAND” 
AMERICAN CRUDE SALTPETRE 
for Better, Bigger and More Fruit. Also Crude Nitrate Soda. 
BATTELLE & REN WICK, 80 Maiden Lane, New York 
Dept. “B” Write for Prices and Bookie 
Hot Bed Sash 
$ 2-80 
FERTILIZER FOR SALE 
CANADA HARDWOOD ASHES—Joynt's Higli Grade 
Have just received an order from one of the largest To¬ 
bacco Firms in New England for 171 tons. Write for par 
ticulars. Address John Joynt Co., Lucknow, Ontario 
r r—| 
. ..1 
.L .,! 
. CYPRESS, well made 
I with cross bar, tenons 
securely fastened. 
Glass, $2.50 per box, 
60 square feet. 
C. N. ROBINSON & BRO. 
Dept. 14 Baltimore, Md 
LOWER PRICES ON LIME 
You’ll always pay less for standard quality 
LEHIGH HYDRATED LIME 
and 
LEHIGH GROUND BURNT LIME 
Our large output means lower prices. 
Also Manufacturers of Beef Scraps, Digester Tankage, etc. Write for prices. 
ROB’T A. REICHARD, Inc. Allentown, Pa. 
Mother’s Day Any Day 
0 p. m.—I am pretty tired tonight, but 
it would never do lazily to forget my 
diary, as I am sure the children will en¬ 
joy reading about everything that hap- 
I ened day by day on ilie old farm when 
they are grown up. 
I got up at 5 o'clock, although it was 
sort of hard work this morning, as Jimmy 
ate too much for supper last night, and 
consequently I was up with him a good 
share of the night. After I had dressed, 
sliced bread for toas f , put over the cof¬ 
fee and cereal, beaten up pancakes and 
fried the sausage, I heard all four chil¬ 
dren climbing downstairs “in high,*’ as 
their father calls their noise, and I knew 
there would be a loud cry for breakfast— 
and the table not set. I helped them iind 
their various belonging and don them, 
amid brotherly and sisterly kicks and 
quarrels, and somehow managed ro get 
the table set. the breakfast taken up and 
everyone settled at the table by the time 
their father, just in from chores, was 
washed up and ready to eat. 
I am having such a time trying to get 
Tim to use his napkin, while Marion has 
taken it into her naughty little head late¬ 
ly to eat Iter oatmeal with a fork. I hate 
to have them grow into little savages. I 
always used to say that because children 
were brought up on a farm where every¬ 
one seems too busy to think, was no ex¬ 
cuse at all for not having nice table man¬ 
ners. Perhaps the children will remem¬ 
ber my “naggings” when they are older, 
but, I should hate to have an important 
guest eat with them now. 
After breakfast was cleared away I 
washed the dishes, milking machine and 
strainers, helping Marion meanwhile with 
her arithmetic, which is apparently so 
much Greek to the poor child. Jimmy 
wanted me to hear his spelling words, 
and Tim needed some help on his English. 
Alice insisted on reading aloud her lesson 
for the day, as she didn’t know quite a 
few of the words. I tried to tell her be¬ 
tween the rattling of milk pails and the 
educational demands of the three others. 
Probably their teacher thinks the children 
receive very little intelligent help at 
home. 
By the time the children had passably 
got their lessons on the installment plan, 
it was time to put up their four lunches, 
which they carry to the distnct school- 
house, half a mile away. It is rather 
hard to put up lunches recommended by 
the Home Bureau and food authorities, 
as each child is so sot about its likes and 
dislikes. Marion is bound she won’t drink 
milk in spite of all the tempting ways I 
have tried out after the instructions of 
food specialists. I have tried giving her 
a cute little pitcher of her own to pour 
it from; have told her all the stories 
about the vitamine fairies, and really 
have made an unusual effort to get the 
contrary child to drink her quart a day. 
As for Jimmy, he has a fatal weakness 
for homemade bread and butter, although 
you might think that was the one com¬ 
bination a growing boy should eat must 
of. Well, Jimmy eats too much bread 
and butter, and has a horrible stomach¬ 
ache every now and then to pay for his 
greediness. All he wants is bread and 
butter, and then more bread and butter 
—which keeps me baking nearly every 
day for this family. 
Alice likes fresh fruit and is very 
peevish' if her lunch box doesn’t contain 
the lion’s share of apples, dates, and so 
on. Tim goes in for cake, and I haven’t 
the heart to deny the boy, as he will 
never be young but once, and his wife 
may be a poor cakemaker. I manage 
with much thought and work to get their 
lunch boxes put up to suit them ; then it 
is a painful scramble to brush teeth, 
comb hair, change into school clothes, 
wash ears, faces and hands, find books 
and stray pencils, hunt up caps and init- 
tens and rubbers, stop Tim from biting 
Alice’s ear, stop Jimmy from hiding Ma¬ 
rion’s arithmetic paper—until they are 
finally bundled out of the door—to be 
gone until half-past four.. 
And then how I fly into the work! 
The cooky jar is empty, and two kinds, 
molasses and sugar, must be baked, as 
the children are strong for sugar, while 
their father refuses to eat anything but 
the soft molasses kind. I also stir up ft 
big cliocolate-cocoanut cake—Tim’s fa¬ 
vorite, bless him—and make a pan of 
johnnycake for dinner. Potatoes have to 
be peeled, a fat. squash broken into with 
an ax, the pot roast put over to warm up 
again today, and two pumpkin pies made 
so that one will be hot for dinner. To¬ 
morrow I shall have to bake bread again, 
and so get up at half-past four, as it is 
always light and ready to hake early. 
I happen to think that perhaps the 
bovs forgot to feed the hens this morning, 
and rush out to see'if my dark suspicions 
are true. They are. The hens are mak¬ 
ing a great to-do. reproaching me and 
mine for our carelessness, so I give them 
an extra panful to appease. Such irreg¬ 
ular feedings will never do at all if the 
eggs are to be kept up. What forgetful 
children I have! 
Grant came in from the barn at 11 
o’clock with a bleeding finger, to which 
I applied first aid. I babied him and 
sympathized, as I secretly know he loves 
to have me do. although wild horses could 
not drag the truth out of him. He said 
he was having trouble, as usual, rounding 
up those confounded heifers into their 
stanchions, so I ran out and bravely 
helped the contrary beasts into their 
stalls. 
When I came in I smelled burned po¬ 
tatoes—which Grant hates above all 
things—and which I knew he would not 
forgive, man-like, even if his old heifers 
were to blame. I fixed them up the best 
I could, set the table for dinner, put on a 
fresh collar and brushed my hair, and 
was all ready to sit down as calm as you 
please when Grant came in promptly at 
noon. After dinner the house received its 
long over-due attention. Of course it was 
a sight after the children’s scrimmage of 
the morning, and it took until three 
o’clock, after washing the dinner dishes, 
to pick up waste paper, run the vacuum 
cleaner around, dust down stairs, arrange 
everything in order, mop the kitchen lino¬ 
leum and empty ashes. 
I think I must be getting old or lazy, 
as it seems to take so long to do the work 
in this house. While I am making beds 
upstairs and brushing up the bathroom 
and redding up generally, I heard a knock 
at the front door. Of course I hadn’t 
changed my dress, which was none too 
clean, although I did have on a hair net, 
so I went down and let in Mrs. Myers, 
one of our new baek-to-the-land wives, 
who had come to return my call which I 
had made a despetate effort to make two 
weeks before. 
I was pretty thankful the living room 
was dusted and in order, as I confess it 
would not be if I had not had an easy 
day without much to do. Mrs. Myers 
pretended to ignore my morning percale, 
although I know that she thinks a farm¬ 
er’s wife should change her dress prompt¬ 
ly at noon just because the average farm 
woman doesn’t. She asked about our new 
radio and said that she and Mr. Myers 
far preferred the new table-phonograph 
he gave her for Christmas to an ordinary 
radio set. Mrs. Myers said she hoped to 
see us at the Home Bureau and Grange 
get-together meeting tonight, as she and 
Mr. Myers had been instrumental in pre¬ 
paring an unusually fine program. I told 
her I doubted if we could go, as I must 
set bread tonight and get up with it at 
4:30 in the morning, which would give 
me only three or four hours sleep at most, 
as I aiways lie awake when I have been 
out in the evening. 
I could see that Mrs. Myers thought 
home bread-making a very poor excuse 
for staying away from a Home Bureau- 
Grange meeting. In fact, she advised me 
as a new but good friend to buy my bread 
and get out evenings more often, as very 
few farm women bothered to bake bread, 
or even cookies, any more, as there were 
so many things to go to and cook for 
since the farm organizations have been 
putting on such congenial social affairs. 
I told her that my- family would have 
homemade bread as long as one of them 
were with me, as Jimmy would simply 
pine away if he didn’t eat a loaf of my 
bread a day, as he scornfully refuses any 
store substitutes of any kind. I told her 
that Grant was a member of the Grange 
and Farm Bureau and attended their 
more important meetings, but he was so 
used up the next day after a Grange sup¬ 
per and entertainment that he had sworn 
off except very occasionally. I could see 
what Mrs. Myers thought about us. 
After au hour she went, and, dear me, 
it was nearly time for the children to 
come home, and I had not done the mend¬ 
ing and darning that simply must be at¬ 
tended to before another day. So I flew 
into ir, not even bothering to start sup¬ 
per. a* the children are always famished 
when they get home from school and lunch 
so heartily and thoroughly that we do 
not have supper until half-past six. 
I succeeded in getting the worst of the 
darning done by the time they romped in. 
although a real good darner might find 
something to criticize in the results, but 
fortunately my family is glad to get into 
clothes which are fairly decent, just so 
long as they are not entirely transparent. 
After the child en had filled up on bread 
and butter, milk, new cookies and apples, 
they went outdoors to play and I started 
supper. Tonight we had creamed pota¬ 
toes. cold beef, canned peaches, new cake 
and cookies, loads of bread and butter, 
Dutch cheese and new milk. Everyone 
did it full justice, in spite of the after¬ 
school lunch. My family is generally 
very nice about eating what is set before 
them. I love to have them think Mother 
the best cook in the world. 
After supper we have a little family 
reunion, with radio concerts mixed in. 
Grant looks over the day’s mail, Jimmy 
gets out the typewriter and does some of 
his lessons on it, Tim reads several chap¬ 
ters in his grist of new Christmas books, 
the girls make doll clothes or write let¬ 
ters to their cousins in the city, or study 
or play games. 
After doing the dishes, straightening 
the kitchen, setting bread; fixing the fire, 
peeling a pan of apples for the rest to 
eat—they all love peeled apples—and per¬ 
haps popping a pan of corn if Grant feels 
like eating it, the clock will remind me 
that if Alice’s new dress is to be finished 
in time for the school social the last of 
the week, I had better be sewing on .t 
every minute there is. 
It is now nearly 10 o’clock and I must 
get up at 4:30 with my bread in the 
morning. Alice’s dress is pretty well 
(Continued on page 315) 
