The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1205 
Things  To  Think  About 
Don’t  Work  too  Hard 
On  page  1047  Helen  S.  K.  Willcox 
gives  a  good  pen  picture  of  the  daily  life 
of  the  average  farmer.  When  in  addition 
to  the  daily  routine  of  chores  and  num¬ 
erous  litle  jobs  not  counted,  Mr.  Will¬ 
cox  has  secured  his  hay,  harvested  and 
thrashed  his  oats,  filled  his  silos,  dug 
and  sold  his  potatoes,  cut  and  stored  or 
marketed  his  cabbage,  and  finished  the 
plowing  for  another  year,  he  will  be  ready 
to  lie  down  and  sleep  for  a  week,  perhaps 
longer.  I  could  not  work  so  hard  if  I 
would,  and  surely  1  would  not  work  so 
hard  if  I  could.  At  the  Cornell  College 
of  Agriculture,  in  the  Winter  of  1S08, 
Prof.  J.  L.  Stone,  fresh  from  a  farm  in 
Pennsylvania,  who  was  often  called  upon 
to  instruct  the  class  of  short  course 
students  in  the  place  of  Prof.  I.  P.  Rob- 
erts,  gave  to  the  class,  out  of  his  own  ‘2‘> 
years’  experience  as  an  ambitious  practi¬ 
cal  working  farmer  this  advice :  “Don’t 
work  too  hard.”  On  my  own  part  for 
years  this  advice  went  unheeded.  Hav¬ 
ing  lived  and  learned,  having  watched 
the  lives  of  others,  and  looking  back 
down  the  years  of  my  own  experience,  I 
have  come  to  look  upon  this  “Don’t  work 
too  hard,”  as  the  best  advice  a  college 
professor  ever  gave  to  a  class  of  former 
students. 
Over-indulgence  in  strong  drink  is  not 
the  only  form  of  intemperance.  Anything 
whatsoever  that  is  carried  to  excess  is 
specked  apples,  you’ll  be  using  specked 
ones  all  the  time.”  i  analyze  this  as  a 
lazy  man’s  saying.  He  is  too  lazy  to  pick 
ais  apples  over  occasionally,  and  keeps 
picking  out  the  good  ones,  and  soon  he 
has  none.  My  way  is  to  pick  the  apples 
over  when  they  begin  to  decay,  making 
several  sortings,  as  specks,  mellow,  sound 
ripe  and  last  those  that  are  more  or  less 
green.  Use  and  dispose  of  the  specks 
for  cooking,  perhaps  eating  some  of  those 
that  are  so  slightly  spoiled  that  they  do 
not  taste,  and  giving  the  others  to  those 
who  can  use  at  once,  for  such  apples  are 
welcome  to  those  that  have  none.  Of 
course  use  the  mellows  as  wanted.  By 
mellows  I  mean  such  as  are  barrel  or 
box  flattened  or  dented  by  lying  against 
other  apples;  don’t  pinch  them.  Next 
begin  on  the  sound  ripes,  picking  over 
again  when  necessary.  It  is  but  a  short 
job  to  pick  over  a  barrel  of  apples.  Now 
what  is  the  use  of  all  this?  It  keeps  loss 
or  waste  at  the  minimum,  and  makes  the 
lot  last  as  long  as  it  is  capable  of  doing, 
or  until  if,  is  used  up.  This  does  not  ap¬ 
ply  to  apples  only  or  indeed  fruit,  for  I 
always  look  my  squashes  over  carefully 
for  the  finest  speck,  and  use  such  first. 
West  Barrington,  R.  I.  F.  T.  J. 
The  Government  and  the  Railroads 
Knud  Wefald,  Congressman  from  Wis¬ 
consin,  on  page  1078,  says  or  intimates 
that  the  government  has  guaranteed  cer¬ 
Now  then,  look  pretty  and  have  your  picture  taken.  A  camera  is  a  delicate  toy  for 
a  child,  but  some  children  make  good  use  of  it. 
intemperance.  The  present  ills  of  the 
world  are  readily  traced  to  the  many 
forms  of  intemperance  indulged  in  by  its 
people. 
Since  the  dawn  of  agricultural  history 
the  farmer  and  his  family  have  been  in¬ 
temperate  workers,  with  resulting  over¬ 
production  and  inadequate  reward,  while 
the  rest  of  society  has  fattened  on  the 
proceeds  of  the  farmers’  toil.  As  labor- 
saving  implements  have  multiplied  the 
farmer’s  producing  power,  weeds  and 
thistle,  insects  and  plant  diseases,  'bugs 
and  blight,  frost  and  flood,  drought  and 
bail,  have  also  been  multiplied  by  an  all¬ 
wise  Providence  to  counteract  the  farm¬ 
er’s  intemperate  habits  of  work  and  to 
save  him  from  utter  destruction  on  the 
rock  of  over-production. 
The  farmer  is  exceedingly  slow  to  learn 
his  lesson  and  reform  his  intemperate 
ways.  With  the  example  of  other  pro¬ 
ductive  classes  all  about  him.  with  a 
large  over-production  of  most  farm  sta¬ 
ples.  and  no  outlet  in  sight,  he  is  hedged 
about  with  commercial  barriers.  With 
the  cost  of  labor  in  excess  of  the  produc¬ 
tive  power  of  the  hirelings,  the  farmer  In- 
doing  the  work  of  three  men  himself, 
pressing  into  service  the  whole  family, 
even  to  the  little  children,  he  is  still 
striving  to  maintain  and  even  to  exceed 
his  accustomed  rate  of  production.  His 
own  common  sense  is  teaching  him  there 
is  nothing  to  gain  in  dollars  and  cents ; 
nothing  to  gain  physically,  mentally  or 
morally ;  nothing  to  gain  but  a  “bad 
headache  and  a  rusty  disposition.”  Surely 
the  ills  of  the  ‘farmer  are  many  and 
grievous.  The  remedy,  “Don’t  work  too 
hard,”  is  safe,  sure  and  easy  to  take.  Try 
it. 
For  greater  authority  as  to  the  sound¬ 
ness  of  this  doctrine  the  reader  is  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  last  ten  verses  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
Matthew.  Also  there  is  much  to  learn 
upon  this  subject  throughout  the  Bible 
that  should  make  it  clear  that  the  Lord 
did  not  create  man  to  see  how  much  work 
he  could  do.  but  that  the  tempter  has  be¬ 
guiled  man  into  intemperate  ways. 
Mrs.  Willcox  tells  us  there  are  too 
many  farmer^ ;  yet  for  temperate  people 
the  farm  is  the  best  known  place  to  find 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
B.  W. 
Sorting  Fruit 
Certain  sayings  seem  to  be  known  to 
everybody,  and  one  that  I  have  not  seen 
answered  is:  “If  you  pick  out  and  use 
tain  earning  to  railroads.  The  facts  are 
that  the  government  guarantees  the  rail¬ 
roads  nothing,  but  it  will  take  half  the 
earnings  above  6  per  cent  on  property 
value  from  any  railroad.  Will  you  pub¬ 
lish  this?  It  is  not  fair  to  the  railroads 
to  make  such  misleading  statements, 
though  some  members  of  both  houses  of 
Congress*  continue  to  do  so. 
IIEXRY  BEIILERT. 
Caring  for  a  Revolutionary  Soldier’s 
Grave 
To  whom  could  I  write  to  get  informa¬ 
tion  as  to  the  up-keep  of  a  Revolutionary 
soldier’s  grave?  Yesterday  we  came  across 
the  grave  Of  a  veteran  of  ’76  in  a  very 
neglected  wayside  graveyard.  There  was 
nothing  left  of  this  desolate  resting 
place  but  a  few  slabs  of  stone  bearing  in¬ 
scriptions.  Some  of  the  graves  were  over 
100  years  old.  It  seems  to  me  that  some¬ 
thing  could  be  done  to  keep  sacred  the 
last  resting  place  of  this  soldier.  While 
the  road  is  being  repaired  traffic  is  driv¬ 
ing  over  this  place.  What  can  be  done  to 
save  this  soldier’s  grave?  MBS.  G.  S.  M. 
Locke,  N.  Y. 
If  you  are  absolutely  sure  that  this 
grave  is  genuine,  write  to  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution,  Memorial 
Centennial  Hall,  Washington,  D.  C. 
They  will  refer  you  to  the  nearest  local 
chapter,  and  it  will  be  the  duty  of  this 
chapter  to  investigate  and  attend  to  the 
matter. 
Another  Poison  Ivy  Remedy 
I  have  found  an  excellent  remedy  for 
poison  ivy.  I  was  always  affected  by  it 
since  childhood.  8*  da  and  the  usual 
remedies  did  not  seem  to  control  or  re¬ 
lieve  it  in  my  case.  The  remedy  is  a 
household  necessity,  the  disinfectant 
called  “C.-N.”  If  put  on  full  strength 
it  will  smart,  but  kills  the  poison.  Some¬ 
times  I  dilute  it  a  little.  Iodine  is  good, 
and  gasoline  put  on  when  first  exposed 
may  dissolve  and  remove  poison. 
Brookfield  Center.  Conn.  mbs.  j.  s. 
How  lead  serves  in  your  home 
IEAD  has  never  been  prized 
Ji  for  its  beauty,  as  have  gold 
and  silver  and  other  precious 
metals.  With  a  reputation  as 
one  of  the  baser  metals,  lead 
has  had  few  admirers. 
Yet  lead  today,  because  of 
the  many  services  it  renders,  is 
to  be  found  in  homes  every¬ 
where. 
In  the  bathroom 
Lead  is  an  important  ingre¬ 
dient  in  making  the  glossy 
white  enamel  that  covers  the 
iron  tub  and  basin  and  the 
glazed  tile  walls  in  your  bath¬ 
room. 
The  lead  oxides,  either  lith¬ 
arge  or  red-lead,  are  mixed  with 
several  other  materials  and 
melted.  This  makes  a  molten 
glass  which  changes  into  fine 
white  granules  when  plunged 
into  cold  water.  A  mixture  of 
these  granules  and  water  is 
spread  on  the  iron  body  of  tub 
and  basin  and  the  casting  is 
fired  at  high  temperature. 
When  cooled  it  presents  the 
beautiful  hard  enamel  surface 
with  which  we  are  familiar. 
On  the  dining-room  table 
In  practically  the  same  way 
as  lead  enamel  is  put  on  the 
bathtub,  the  potter  uses  white- 
lead,  litharge,  or  red-lead  to 
help  produce  the  smooth,  hard 
glaze  on  the  fine  china  plates, 
cups,  and  saucers  you  have  on 
your  dining-room  table. 
Lead  is  in  every  room 
Electric  light  bulbs  through¬ 
out  your  house  are  made  of 
fine  lead  glass.  The  hard  rubber 
of  your  comb  contains  lead. 
On  your  desk  may  be  collap¬ 
sible  glue  tubes  made  of  lead 
alloy.  If  your  table  lamp  has 
a  shade  of  ornamental  glass,  the 
bits  of  glass  are  held  together 
by  lead-tin  solder. 
Lead  is  in  the  hard  rubber  stem 
of  your  pipe.  Your  tobacco  and 
your  tea  are  often  contained  in 
heavy  lead-tin  foil  to  keep  them. 
There  is  lead  in  the  hard  rubber 
case  of  your  fountain  pen. 
Lead  on  the  walls 
All  of  these  uses  of  lead  are  in¬ 
teresting  and  important.  But  do  not 
forget  that  its  most  important  use 
is  as  paint.  In  this  form  it  is  used  on 
inside  walls  and  woodwork,  and 
also  on  the  outside. 
Professional  painters  use  a  mix¬ 
ture  of  pure  white-lead  and  linseed 
oil  or  flatting  oil  to  save  the  sur¬ 
faces  they  cover.  Property  owners 
everywhere  are  being  rapidly  con¬ 
verted  to  the  necessity  of  protect¬ 
ing  their  houses  with  paint.  The 
phrase,  “Save  the  surface  and  you 
save  all,”  is  recognized  as  a  truth. 
Use  durable  lead,  in  the  form  of 
white-lead,  as  your  surface-saver. 
Look  for  the  Dutch  Boy 
National  Lead  Company  makes 
white-lead  of  the 
highest  quality 
and  sells  it,  mixed 
with  pure  linseed 
oil,  under  the 
name  and  trade¬ 
mark  of  Dutch 
Boy  White-Lead . 
The  figure  of  the 
Dutch  Boy  is  re¬ 
produced  on  every 
keg  of  white-lead 
and  is  a  guarantee  of  exceptional 
purity. 
Dutch  Boy  products  also  include 
red-lead,  linseed  oil,  flatting  oil, 
babbitt  metals,  and  solder. 
Among  other  products  manufac¬ 
tured  by  National  Lead  Company 
are  lead  pipe,  printers’  metals,  traps 
and  bends,  bakelite  products,  con- 
densite  products,  fuse  wire,  US 
Cartridges  and  US  Shot  Shells. 
More  about  lead 
If  you  use  lead,  or  think  you 
might  use  it  in  any  form,  write  to 
us  for  specific  information. 
NATIONAL  LEAD  COMPANY 
New  York,  111  Broadway;  Boston,  131  State  St.;  Buffalo,  116  Oak  St. ; 
Chicago,  900  West  18th  St.;  Cincinnati,  659  Freeman  Ave.;  Cleveland, 
820  West  Superior  Ave.;  Pittsburgh,  National  Lead  &  Oil  Co.  of  Pa.,  316 
Fourth  Ave.;  Philadelphia.  John  T.  Lewis  &  Bros.  Co.,  437  Chestnut 
St.;  St.  Louis,  722  Chestnut  St.;  San  Francisco,  485  California  St. 
