1338 
Vhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
October  27,  1923 
Things  To  Think  About 
How  the  Other  Half  Lives 
In  a  big  family  like  ours  there  are 
many  curious  ways  of  living,  and  many 
calls  for  help.  We  have  it  in  mind  to 
discuss  a  few  of  them.  Here  is  the  first 
one — a  case  of  back-to-the-landing  where 
the  wife  goes  to  business. 
My  husband  and  I  are  buying  a  home 
here  on  the  main  highway,  about  two 
miles  from  the  city  of  Rensselaer.  The 
bus  from  Albany  passes  our  door.  We 
have  five  acres  of  land  and  some  chickens. 
Our  land  is  good  part  orchard — chiefly  to 
McIntosh  Reds,  a  couple  of  peach  and  a 
few  pear  trees.  We  have  five  boys,  rang¬ 
ing  from  six  years  to  one  year. 
Now  I  want  to  get  an  orphan  girl  over 
10  to  get  the  meals  and  look  after  the 
children  while  I  go  to.  business.  I  do  not 
expect  this  girl  to  do  any  work  beyond 
her  years  or  strength  (the  heavy  wash  is 
sent  out),  but  I  want  to  feel  that  the  chil¬ 
dren  have  their  meals  regularly  and  are 
cared  for  while  I  am  away.  I  have  no 
objection  to  a  clean.  Southern,  colored 
girl.  I  should  expect  to  see  that  such  a 
girl  was  properly  clothed  and  that  she 
had  some  money  for  herself,  but,  of  course 
I  could  not  afford  a  large  sum.  We  have 
a  car,  and  have  plenty  of  room  for  all 
hands  whenever  we  take  a  spin  or  a  trip. 
My  husband  and  I  are  close  to  30  years, 
and  are  young  enough  to  appreciate  a 
girl’s  longing  for  a  good  time,  and  yet  can 
look  out  for  her  welfare.  Of  course  she 
would  have  her  own  room,  which  I  would 
make  as  attractive  as  possible. 
I  am  much  in  need  of  assistance,  as  at 
present  I  am  trying  to  work  in  Albany 
and  keep  house  evenings  and  Sundays. 
My  husband  is  managing  meals  for  the 
youngsters  and  trying  to  work  on  the 
bouse  at  the  same  time,  >i.  w. 
We  think  it  very  doubtful  if  you  can 
obtain  a  girl  of  the  age  you  speak  of  to 
prove  satisfactory.  Girls  of  that  age  can 
now  obtain  high  wages  if  they  are  willing 
to  work  out,  and  where  they'  have  friends 
or  relatives  their  labor  becomes  an  asset. 
There  is  very  little  done  now  in  the  way 
of  putting  children  of  that  age  out  for 
the  sake  of  a  home.  That  was  an  old- 
fashioned  plan  at  a  time  when  human 
labor  was  worth  much  less  than  at  pres¬ 
ent.  It  may  be  possible  to  obtain  such  a 
girl  either  through  an  advertisement  or 
by  applying  to  the  charitable  organiza¬ 
tions,  but  from  our  own  experience  we 
cannot  give  very  much  encouragement.  It 
might  be  possible  to  obtain  a  colored  girl 
from  the  South  who  would  do  this  work, 
but  we  should  hesitate  a  long  time  before 
leaving  our  children  through  the  day  in 
the  care  of  an  unknown  character  ob¬ 
tained  in  that  way.  We  have  had  some 
little  experience  in  taking  from  an  insti¬ 
tution  unmarried  girls  with  children,  but 
this  is  not  satisfactory  with  such  a  family 
as  you  speak  of.  There  ought  to  be  op¬ 
portunity  to  bring  about  such  things,  but 
the  truth  is  that  today  the  average  girl 
of  16  who  is  willing  to  work  under  such 
conditions  can  easily  obtain  far  more 
money  than  you  would  be  willing  to  offer. 
The  Commuter's  Home  Problem 
[The  following  stated  case  is  not  un¬ 
usual  near  New  York  and  other  large 
cities — but  will  be  new  to  many  of  our 
country  readers.  City  people  go  to  the 
country  in  Spring  and  buy  a  farm,  ex¬ 
pecting  to  slowly  pay  for  it  by  holding 
the  city  job  and  traveling  to  and  fro. 
All  goes  fairly  well  through  the  warm 
weather,  but  the  cold  and  rain  of  early 
Fall  show  them  what  is  coming,  and  they 
try  to  figure  out  some  plan  for  holding 
the  farm  through  the  Winter.  In  many 
cases,  like  the  one  here  outlined,  these 
people  have  a  harder  problem  than  that 
which  faced  the  early  pioneers.  What 
would  you  do  in  such  a  case?] 
We  have  recently  bought  a  farm,  but 
although  we  are  now  living  on  it,  it  is 
necessary  for  several  of  the  family  to 
commute.  The  farm  is  not  workable  at 
present  and  our  objective  in  keeping  our 
obs  is  to  pay  off  all  owing,  clear  the 
mortgages  and  be  free,  say  in  three  years, 
to  turn  our  whole  undivided  attention  to 
the  place.  • 
We  are  up  against  a  big  difficulty.  Our 
old  folks  are  not  strong  enough  to  pass 
a  Winter  alone  there.  Before  the  fam¬ 
ily  return  from  their  various  jobs  in 
New  York,  it  is  after  9  P.  M.  The  place 
is  situated  on  a  very  isolated  road  and 
very  lonesome,  also  the  roads  are  very 
bad.  sand  hills,  the  worst  in  Jersey.  We 
have  great  difficulty  in  walking,  as  we 
cannot  get  a  car,  there  being  no  one  to 
drive  back  and  forth.  We  shall  not  be 
able  to  manage  it  in  the  Winter,  as  we 
have  had  a  taste  of  what  it  would  be 
like  after  the  past  few  days  of  rain. 
We  like  the  house  and  farm,  and  feel 
we  could  make  a  fine  home  as  well  as  a 
paying  prospect  out  of  it  in  a  few  years , 
therefore  we  are  reluctant  to  give  up 
and  would  be  glad  if  you  would  suggest 
some  way  out.  We  thought  if  we  could, 
through  the  medium  of  your  paper,  get  in 
touch  with  a  couple,  who  in  return  for  a 
home,  would  be  willing  to  give  compan¬ 
ionship  to  the  old  people,  and  the  man 
would  only  be  asked  to  do  little  jobs 
such  as  wood  cutting,  drawing  water  and 
taking  us  in  the  buggy  to  and  from  the 
station.  Or  better  still,  do  you  know  of 
any  young  boy  vre  could  adopt,  give  him 
a  good  home  with  board  and  clothes,  and 
in  return  he  would  do  light  duties  as 
mentioned.  The  thing  is  to  get  help  for 
the  old  folks,  so  that  they  will  not  have 
to  go  out  for,  water  or  wood,  and  to  have 
someone  take  us  to  the  station.  Then  we 
wouldn’t  mind  the  trip,  but  walking  t\yo 
miles  in  the  morning  and  night  in  the 
dark,  through  two  feet  of  mud,  takes  tlm 
heart  out  of  the  whole  business.  We  are 
very  courageous  as  it  is,  but  that  would 
not,  I  think,  be  conducive  to  our  hap¬ 
piness  mentally. 
We  have  thought  of  closing  the  place 
for  the  Winter  and  coming  to  live  in 
New  York.  This  would  necessitate  our 
leaving  a  houseful  of  good  furniture, 
which  we  have  but  very  recently  moved 
We  have  had  all  sorts  of  contests  to 
determine  the  biggest  or  the  smallest 
specimens.  We  seem  to  have  started  an¬ 
other,  regarding  big  boulders.  On  page 
1202  a  Connecticut  man  claimed  the  rec¬ 
ord  for  his  State.  Now  comes  a  Vermont 
man  with  the  picture  shown  herewith. 
He  says: 
down,  unprotected.  We  could  board  up, 
but  a  house  alone  on  such  a  road,  is 
not,  I  think,  very  safe.  Again,  is  it  pos¬ 
sible  to  get  a  caretaker  who  will  be  re¬ 
quired  to  do  nothing  but  stay  in  the 
place  and  take  care  that  no  one  interferes 
with  the  property,  outside  and  inside?  In 
return  she  would  have  free  house  with 
rent,  wood  and  any  privileges  she  would 
require  from  the  farm ;  make  use  of 
what  there  is  in  the  garden  and  even 
the  chicks,  although  we  could  sell  those — 
there  are  about  a  hundred.  There  is  also 
a  horse.  mbs.  m. 
That  Road  Question 
I  notice  “When  a  Road  Is  a  Highway.” 
The  way  I  understand  it  from  reading 
what  Mrs.  F.  A.  C.  says,  there  was  once 
a  large  farm,  was  divided  into  smaller 
farms,  and  a  lane  opened  up  as  a  right  of 
way  for  those  farms.  Mrs.  F.  A.  C.  owns 
the  original  homestead  and  the  land  of 
the  right  of  way.  Others  are  now  using 
this  lane  beside  those  who  own  the  land 
alongside  of  it.  I  would  suggest  putting 
no  trespassing  signs  on  each  end  of  this 
lane,  stating  that  it  is  a  private  road,  to 
be  used  only  by  those  living  along  it  or 
those  having  business  with  them.  Others 
who  travel  it  are  trespassing,  and  these 
trespassers  may  force  the  town  author¬ 
ities  to  make  it  a  public  road,  to  be^  re¬ 
paired  at  public  expense.  In  New  York 
State  next  November  we  elect  town  offi¬ 
cials.  Do  they  elect  in  Jersey  also?  If 
so,  get  busy  with  those  up  for  election 
now.  G- p- 
The  Older  Worker 
Referring  to  the  article  by  A.  J.  D..  on 
page  1772,  let  me  say  that  there  seem  to 
be  yet  a  few  people  who  do  not  condemn 
a  man  on  account  of  his  years  if  he  is  still 
capable  of  doing  the  work.  The  writer 
has  worked  in  cities,  at  manual  labor  of 
different  kinds,  and  is  now  working  as 
hired  man  on  a  mountain  ranch  at  stand¬ 
ard  wages.  One  of  the  firm,  a  man  in  the 
thirties,  told  me  that  I  am  more  satisfac¬ 
tory  as  a  ranch  hand  than  two-thirds  of 
the  younger  men  who  have  come  under  his 
observation.  These  people  are  apparently 
well  pleased  with  their  67-year-old  hired 
man.  —  .  J.  E, 
Auto  Hogs  in  North  Carolina 
Tlrat  New  Hampshire  law  with  “wolf 
teeth”  in  it  contains  suggestions  of  value 
right  here  in  North  Carolina,  where  about 
$100,000,000  has  been  spent  on  hard  sur¬ 
face  roads  within  the  past  few  years,  and 
the  building  is  still  going  on.  While  the 
detrimental  effects  are  not  yet  as  acute  as 
in  your  corner  of  the  country,  still  it 
does  not  require  a  prophetic  vision  to  see 
which  way  we  are  headed.  This  species 
of  hog  you  refer  to  is  rapidly  taking  the 
place  of  the  potato  diggers,  who  only 
liked  to  dig  them  out  of  the  gravy.  Pos¬ 
sibly  the  said  diggers  have  evoluted  or  are 
in  process  of  developing  into  said  species 
of  hog  !  j.  m.  F. 
EVENTS  OF  THE  WEEK 
DOMESTIC.  —  Nine  persons  were 
killed  and  one  seriously  injured  when  a 
Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis  Railroad  passenger  train  struck 
an  automobile  at  a  crossing  near  Fair- 
land,  Ind.,  Oct.  14.  The  train  was  bound 
from  Cincinnati  to  Chicago.  The  dead 
are:  J.  W.  Means,  70;  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Means,  65;  Mrs.  Roy  Britton,  30; 
Byron  Means,  9;  Jessie  McGuire,  35; 
May  Britton,  11;  Maida  Gaither,  35; 
Goldie  Gaither,  30,  and  Marjorie  Mc- 
This  immense  rock  is  in  the  town  of 
Whitingham,  Windham  Co.,  Vt.  It  is 
fully  30  ft.  high,  but  as  to  other  dimen¬ 
sions  or  weight  I  have  no  idea.  The 
men  in  the  picture  were  medium  height. 
w.  F.  THOMAS. 
It  looks  to  us  as  if  this  one  would 
weigh  more  than  the  ether. 
Guire,  7.  The  only  person  in  the  car 
to  escape  was  Roy  Britton,  who  jumped 
before  the  train  struck  the  machine. 
Two  dead,  scores  slightly  injured  and 
property  loss  estimated  at  more  than  $1,- 
000.000  resulted  from  the  brush  fires 
which  Oct.  13  swept  over  ridges  and 
canyons  near  the  suburbs  of  Montrose, 
Eagle  Rock  and  Glendale,  north  of  Los 
Angeles,  Cal. 
Damage  in  excess  of  $5,000  was  caused 
by  the  explosion  of  a  dynamite  time 
bomb  at  the  entrance  of  the  Cub’s  base¬ 
ball  stadium  at  Chicago,  Ill.,  Oct.  14. 
Police  attributed  the  act  to  members  of 
unions  alleged  to  be  opposed  to  the 
Landis  labor  award  under  which  the 
stadium  was  erected  last  year. 
Edwin  Smith,  24.  of  1974  Bathgate 
avenue,  the  Bronx,  New  York  City,  re¬ 
ceived  a  broken  arm  and  hip  and  a  pos¬ 
sible  fracture  of  the  skull  when  he  was 
thrown  from  an  automobile  which 
crashed  into  a  tree  at  Stamford.  Conn., 
Oct.  14.  Three  men  who  were  in  the 
motor  car  with  him,  and  who  described 
themselves  as  James  Gillen,  462  West 
34th  street.  Manhattan ;  Wallace  Stroll 
of  2627  Webster  avenue,  and  Edmund 
Fauchot  of  1921  Wallace  avenue,  both  of 
the  Bronx,  are  under  arrest  charged  with 
stealing  the  automobile.  They  had 
minor  injuries. 
Oct.  16  a  truck  loaded  with  silk 
valued  at  $60,000  was  stopped  by  armed 
men  in  an  automobile  at  Spring  and 
Hudson  Sts.,  New  Y’ork  City.  The  men 
on  the  truck  were  ordered  into  the  auto¬ 
mobile  at  the  points  of  revolvers,  and 
one  of  the  bandits  drove  off  with  the 
truck.  The  prisoners  were  driven  to 
Moruingside  Park  and  ordered  to  roll 
down  an  embankment,  while  the  automo¬ 
bile  was  driven  away. 
Flames  from  a  gas  burner  under  a 
large  still  on  the  second  floor  of  a  four 
story  brown  stone  building  at  166  South 
Ninth  street.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  set  fire  to 
the  woodwork  Oct.  16  and  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  a  large  and  complete  plant 
for  the  manufacture  of  alcohol.  The 
second  floor  was  burned  out  and  part  of 
the  third.  A  50-gal.  still  was  found  on 
the  first  floor,  one  of  100  gallon  capacity 
on  the  second  and  another  of  equal  capa¬ 
city  on  the  floor  above.  On  the  fourth 
story  were  found  spare  parts,  2,600  gal¬ 
lons  of  mash,  a  much  damaged  bar,  15 
bags  of  brown  sugar,  100  bags  of  corn- 
meal  and  1.000  gallons  of  denatured  al¬ 
cohol  were  found  in  the  cellar.  There 
were  no  tenants  in  the  house  at  the  time' 
of  the  fire. 
William  Butler,  24,  a  son  of  Richard 
J.  Butler,  former  Assemblyman,  who  was 
indicted  for  aiding  Harry  K.  Thaw  to 
escape  from  Matteawan,  was  locked  up  at 
Police  Headquarters,  New  York  City, 
Oct.  16.  charged  with  complicity  in  the 
theft  of  247  bales  of  Japanese  silk, 
valued  at  $500,000  from  a  storage  ware¬ 
house  at  15  Vestry  street.  Young  Butler, 
who  described  himself  as  a  machinist,  of 
401  West  34th  street,  was  accused  of 
being  implicated  in  a  fur  robbery  last 
year,  was  placed  on  trial  and  was  ac¬ 
quitted.  His  father  was  for  years  the 
closest  friend  of  former  Chief  of  Police 
William  8.  Devery,  who  caused  his  elec¬ 
tion  to  the  Assembly  in  1902. 
Boston,  Oct.  16. — Lieut.-Gov.  Fuller, 
acting  Governor  in  the  absence  of  Gov. 
Cox  from  the  State,  today  issued  a  proc¬ 
lamation  suspending  until  further  notice 
the  hunting  season,  which  was  due  to 
open  on  October  20.  Danger  of  forest 
fires  because  of  the  prolonged  drouth  was 
the  reason  given. 
WASHINGTON.  —  Gifford  Pinchot, 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  Oct.  14 
charged  the  Federal  prohibition  service 
and  bad  politics  with  the  responsibility 
for  failure  to  enforce  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment.  He  called  on  President 
Coolidge  in  an  address  to  take  personal 
charge  of  suppressing  the  “whisky  re¬ 
bellion”  and  said  the  President  was  the 
only  man  who  can  meet  the  present 
emergency.  The  address  of  Gov.  Pinchot 
was  made  at  a  mass  meeting  of  the  Citi¬ 
zenship  Conference,  called  by  756  men 
and  women  in  the  interest  of  supporting 
the  Eighteenth  Amendment’  \'- 
What  the  Government  is  doing  for  for- 
service  men  was  .  outlined  Oct.  .14  by 
Mrectbr  IJines.  summarizing  the  work  of 
the  Veterans’  Bureau  :  The  expenditures 
for  four  years  have  amounted  to  $2,350.- 
OOOJHIO.  Thirty-three  thousand  rehabili¬ 
tated  veterans-  have  gone  into  employ¬ 
ment,  20.000  of  these  are  earning  more 
than  before  the  war.  Thirteen  thousand 
three  hundred  apd  fifty-nine  more  veter¬ 
ans  will  be  rehabilitated  and  given  jobs 
before  Jan.  1.  Six  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  have  applied  for  vocational  train¬ 
ing  to  Sept.  1,  and  327,842  were  found 
eligible  for  training.  Seventy-three  thous¬ 
and  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  are 
undergoing  framing,  33,258  .  in  schools 
and  colleges.  45,671  in  placement  train¬ 
ing  and  4,347  in  Federal  vocational 
schools.  The  bureau  is  operating  forty- 
six  hospitals  with  16,086  beds  capacity, 
10.957  beds  being  occupied.  Thirty-four 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-three 
patients  received  treatment  at  Govern¬ 
ment  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  the 
last  six  months. 
Following  investigation  of  unfair  prac¬ 
tices  in  the  anthracite  coal  business,  or¬ 
dered  by  President  Coolidge.  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  Oct.  16  filed  com¬ 
plaints  against  five  wholesale  anthracite 
dealers  in  New  York  and  Boston  and 
against  the  operating  firm  of  Madeira, 
Hill  &  Co.  of  Philadelphia,  a  firm  en¬ 
gaged  in  mining  anthracite.  The  Presi¬ 
dent’s  attention  was  called  to  charges 
that  unfair  practices  prevailed  in  the 
anthracite  business,  through  the  recon¬ 
signment  of  anthracite  shipments  so  as 
to  create  an  unnecessary  increase  in  the 
cost  to  consumers.  The  New  York  firms 
cited  as  defendants  in  the  commission’s 
complaint  were  Pattison  &  Bownes.  the 
Titan  Fuel  Corporation,  Clement  P. 
Brodhead  of  the  Brodhead  Coal  Com¬ 
pany  and  Hartwell-Lester,  Inc. 'Lynn  M. 
Ranger  of  Boston  was  another  defend¬ 
ant.  All  defendants  have  been  ordered  to 
appear  before  the  commission  Nov.  19  to 
answer  the  charges  and  show  cause  why 
an  order  should  not  be  entered  against 
them  to  stop  the  practices  alleged.  One 
of  rlie  independent  operators,  Madeira, 
Hill  &  Co.,  was  authorized  to  charge 
$10.50  for  certain  sizes  of  coal.  The 
trade  commission  charged  that  although 
Madeira.  Hill  &  Co.  had  agreed  to  sell 
to  the  wholesalers  at  the  maximum  price 
of  $10.50.  they  actually  sold  at  the  in¬ 
voice  price  of  $11.50  upon  the  secret 
condition  that  the  wholesalers,  when 
they  had  disposed  of  the  coal,  would  re¬ 
bate  to  Madeira,  Hill  &  Co.  a  part  of 
the  marsrin  realized  by  the  wholesalers 
above  $11.50.  The  trade  commission 
charges  that  these  acts  constituted  a 
conspiracy  to  enhance  the  price  of  coal. 
It  is  charged  that  the  rebate  from  the 
wholesale  dealers  to  Madeira,  Hill  &  Co. 
varied  from  50  cents  to  $2.50  a  ton. 
It  was  Tuesday  morning.  The  clothes 
had  been  washed,  dried  and  folded,  and 
common  sense  pointed  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  ironing  day;  but  cautions  Scandina¬ 
vian  Tillie,  the  new  maid,  wished  to  make 
no  mistake.  Before  committing  herself 
she  said  appealingly :  “Meesis.  I  skuld 
like  to  speak  something.”  “What  is  it, 
Tillie?”  “Skal  I  cook  some  flat  iron?” 
asked  Tillie,  earnestly. — Youth's  Com¬ 
panion. 
Guest  :  “I  wish  I  had  come  here  a 
week  ago.”  Hotel  Proprietor  :  “Ah  !  You 
are  flattering  to  my  establishment.” 
Guest :  “What  I  mean  is  that  I  should 
have  preferred  to  eat  this  fish  then  in¬ 
stead  of  now.” — London  Opinion. 
