1340 
Tht  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
October  27,  1923 
Tr  .  .  ~ 
Hope  Farm  Notes 
"Columbus  Day” 
Part  I 
My  understanding  from  reading  history 
is  that  the  great  original  Columbus  Day 
opened  with  cloudless  skies.  The  admiral 
■-aw  the  sun  climb  out  of  the  ocean  (or 
so  it  seemed  to  him)  as  though  deter¬ 
mined  to  present  a  perfect  day.  There 
was  no  such  evident  intention  on  the 
morning  of  the  four  hundredth  and  thirty- 
first  Columbus  Day  as  it  started  among 
the  New  Jersey  hills.  When  I  first  looked 
from  the  window  the  air  was  thick  and 
damp  with  fog.  For  several  days  the  air 
about  us  hud  made  a  strong  effort  to  form 
moisture’  enough  to  make  rain.  There 
was  evidently  enough  moisture  in  the 
atmosphere,  but  the  cohesive  power  needed 
to  make  raindrops  was  lacking.  So,  while 
the  springs  and  ponds  dry  tip  nature  re¬ 
fuses  to  run  the  air  through  her  wringing 
machine  and  squeeze  out  the  needed  wa¬ 
ter.  Wells  and  springs  are  dry,  and 
there  is  great  complaint,  but  on  the 
other  hand  apple  picking  time  is  upon 
us  and  our  deep  well  is  never  dry.  I  had 
an  invitation  to  go  to  the  great  ball 
game,  but  it  seemed  nearer  the  line,  of 
duty  to  put  in  a  solid  day  at  apple  pick¬ 
ing.  It  turned  out  more  like  a  patch- 
work  quilt — but  that  was  not  our  fault. 
***** 
Breakfast  of  oatmeal,  a  big  pancake 
and  milk — with  of  course  a  baked  apple- 
started  us  off.  “If  you  will  wait  until 
my  work  is  done  I  will  go  with  you  to 
pick  apples,”  said  Mother,  and  such  .so¬ 
ciety  is  worth  waiting  for.  So  I  got  out 
my  hoe  to  clean  up  a  few  strawberry 
rows  while  we  were  waiting.  There  are 
not  many  weeds,  but  I  want  to  start  Win¬ 
ter  with  a  perfectly  clean  slate.  I  worked 
in  the  everbearers.  They  have  been  a 
great  disappointment  this  year,  but  as 
1  worked  along  the  row  I  found  a  few- 
ripe  berries,  and  was  able  to  pick  two 
quarts.  Most  of  them  were  small,  but 
ihe  flavor  was  fine — perhaps  because  this 
is  really  stolen  fruit — taken  out  of  sea¬ 
son.  A  group  of  Jersey  Black  Giant 
chickens  came  out  of  the  barnyard  as  they 
saw  me  hoeing,  and  followed  close  be¬ 
hind  hoping  for  a  few  belated  worms.  Of 
all  the  friendly  chickens  I  have  ewr 
known  the  Jersey  Black  Giant  is  the 
most  companionable.  Our  black  birds 
follow  me  about  like  dogs.  My  work  is 
close  by  the  cotton  patch  and  leaning  on 
my  hoe.  I  can  imitate  Columbus  and  look 
for  a  new-  land  of  cotton.  If  is  not  in 
sight — here  in  Bergen  Co.,  N.  J.  The 
first  frost  of  October  5  nipped  the  tops  of 
the  cotton,  but  the  lower  leaves  and  most 
iff  the  bolls  are  uninjured.  We  have 
2-0  plants  which  are  protected  at 
mghr  by  a  little  frost.-proof  frame.  These 
are  in  perfect  condition,  flfid  tUPJ  make 
some  lint.  The  Darso  has  been,  cnt  tlrm 
the  chickens  are  working  at  the  seed. 
They  will  eat  it  in  preference  to  other 
grain.  To  my  surprise  the  kudzu  is  still 
alive.  Two  vines  have  climbed  over  our 
S-ft.  rose  arbor  down  on  the  other  side 
and  15  ft.  across  the  lawn.  I  never  saw 
anything  grow  as  this  plant  does.  There 
goes  the  truck  out  of  the  driveway  and 
along  the  road.  Thomas  has  gone  after 
the  cow.  Yesterday  was  “Donation  Day” 
at  the  Old  Ladies’  Home  in  the  county 
town.  Among  other  donations  was  a 
young  Guernsey  cow — to  be  sold  for  the 
benefit  of  the  home.  They  had  her  tied 
on  the  lawn  during  the  day.  but  there  was 
only  one  low  bid  for  her.  The  old  ladies 
have  no  place  for  a  young  cow,  and  as 
usual,  Hope  Farm  was  selected  by  unan¬ 
imous  agreement  as  the  ideal  place  for 
such  an  animal  to  enjoy  life  while  a  tardy 
public  decides  to  pay  what  she  is  worth. 
Yesterday  afternoon  I  found  this  lovely 
young  matron  tied  to  the  front  porch  of 
rhe  home  with  a  rope  large  enough  to 
hold  a  steamship  to  the  pier.  The  man¬ 
agers  of  the  home  were  a  little  concerned 
about,  the  cow’s  health.  I  told  them  to 
leave  .  her  right  where  she  was  on  .the 
lawn  over  night,  gave  her  .wn ter, and  a  lit¬ 
tle  grain.  They  thought  two  packages  of 
oat  flakes  would  ba  about  right.  I  tried 
to  explain  'that  a  coxy  had  fojir  stpma'qha! 
and  thus, does  not  need  to  be  fed  as  often 
as  a  baby — but  I  fear  that  I  did  not'  make 
it  very  clear.  At  any. rate. tlte  cow  spent 
the.  night  in  town.  .So  Thomas  and  a 
neighbor  have  gone  after  her  and  Mrs. 
Guernsey  will  have  a  free  ride  to  her 
country  residence.  I  must  say  that  as 
the  truck  went  snorting  and  puffing  on 
its  way  to  escort  this  .fawn-like  lady  back 
that  I  glanced  at  the  ,hay  mow  thinking 
of  another  barn  boarder. 
*  *  *’  *  * 
That  work  inside  the  house  must  have 
stretched  like  a  rubber  balloon,  for  Mother 
and  the  girl  were  slow  in  coming.  But 
•GolumAus  was  the  mat*  v  ho  patiently 
waited  out  the  pitcher,  and  see  what  a 
home  run  he  made  in  consequence.  So 
I  kept  on  hoeing  until  finally  the  girls 
appeared  hustling  along  with  an  air  which 
gave  me  to  understand  that  I  had  kept 
them  waiting.  We  are  picking  Baldwins 
on  the  hilltop  today,  and  it  is  a  steep 
climb  for  a  lady  who  carries  considerable 
weight.  We  stopped  to  get  a  breath  now 
and  then,  and  look  off  across  the  valley.  The 
sun  had  broken  through  the  mist,  so  that 
we  could  look  off  to  the  Palisades  and  be- 
low  them  to  the  great  city!  We were 
both  thinking  of  the  wonderful  changes 
that  have  come  to  this  farm  since  we  put 
our  last  dollar  into  it  more  than  20 
years  ago.  For  it  was  then  a  rough  and 
weedy  abandoned  pasture.  And  there  was 
a  little  feeling  of  regret  that  thus  far,  not 
one  of  our  children  seems  inclined  to  make 
a  life-work  of  carrying  on  what  we  have 
started  here.  Their  minds  run  to  other 
things.  But  such  reflections  do  not 
pick  apples,  and  we  were  soon  at  the 
Baldwins.  The  crop  is  not  as  large  as  it 
might  be,  but  the  fruit  * "  of  beautiful 
quality.  On  most  of  the  trees  the  apples 
hang  in  blood  red  ropes  or  clusters.  There 
never  was  an  orange  grove  that  can  com¬ 
pare  in  beauty  with  such  an  orchard  of 
blood  red  apples  w-ith  the  warm  sunshine 
flooding  over  them.  Mother  and  I  are 
not  tree  climbers,  although  in  our  youth 
we  could  scale  the  highest  tree.  We 
present  a  more-  dignified  appearance  on 
the  ground  at  present — so  we  took  the  job 
of  taking  the  fruit  from  the  lower  limbs. 
Many  of  these  low  headed  trees  hang  to 
the  ground  in  solid  masses  of  red.  I 
should  like  to  have  a  picture  of  the  lady 
of  our  house  as  she  looked  half  an  hour 
after  starting.  The  strap  of  a  big  pick¬ 
ing  bag  was  around  her  neck,  with  the 
well-filled  bag  in  front.  She  had  no  hat 
on,  and  her  hair  was  well-filled  with 
leaves  and  twigs.  You  know  what  hap¬ 
pens  to  your  hands  when  you  pick  ap¬ 
ples  !  They  are  soon  as  black  as  smut. 
An  apple  had  fallen  from  above  and  near¬ 
ly  knocked  Mother’s  glasses  off,  and  in 
trying  to  adjust  them  she  had  spread 
some  of  J:hat  black  on  her  nose  and 
cheeks.  Yet  she  seen.ed  perfectly  happy 
as  she  picked  these  great  red  globes  off 
the  tree  and  tucked  them  away  in  the  bag 
1 — for  in  all  the  range  of  farm  labor  there 
is  none  more  beautifully  satisfactory  than 
picking  fine  apples  on  a  brilliant  Autumn 
day  on  a  high,  breezy  hill. 
***** 
Philip  and  Rene  were  picking  from  lad¬ 
ders,  and  Tom  and  Broker  hitched  to  the 
wagon,  stood  nearby  ready  to  haul  a  load 
of  fruit  down  to  tho  house.  I  had  picked 
about  seven  bushels  when  we  saw  a  group 
of  newcomers  toiling  up  the  hill.  They 
had  come  to  buy  apples,  and  so  I  went 
back  with  them  to  pack  what  they  want¬ 
ed.  We  were  sorting  them  out"  in  the 
barn  when  Thomas  and  the  neighbor 
came  back  with  the  cow.  Mrs.  Guernsey 
seemed  well  satisfied  with  her  straw  ride. 
She  looked  about  her.  nosed  at  a  clump 
of  grass,  chewed  a  cornstalk  and  tossed 
her  head  as  if  to  say:  “This  looks  good 
to  me.  As  a  Winter  residence  in  the 
country  it  isn’t  so  bad.  But  you  might 
be  polite  enough  to  offer  me  a  few  quarts 
of  bran  to  start  with !  They  are  not 
heavy  feeders  at  the  Old  Ladies’  Home.” 
She  tried  to  get  at  a  basket  of  apples, 
bty;  I  xv ell  knew  what  sort  of  an  enter¬ 
tainment  fjjat  would  lead  to.  Our  cus¬ 
tomers  di'OYfi  SWAY  wiUi  their  cars  well 
loaded  with,  fruit,  ITnd  T  xv>Pt  back  to 
picking.  Half  xvay  up  the  hill  I  looked 
back  and  saxv  Thomas  in  earnest  discus¬ 
sion  xv i th  a  group  of  men.  They  had 
gathered  around  Mrs.  Guernsey,  and  there 
were  many  gestures  as  they  talked. 
Finally  I  saxv  one  of  the  men  make  a 
despairing  gesture  of  waving  his  hands, 
then  reached  into  his  pocket,  pulled  out 
something  and  sat.  down  on  a  big  stone 
and  seemed  to  write  some  laborious  mes¬ 
sage.  If  I  could  have  had  a  field  glass  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  solve  this  mys¬ 
tery.  It  was  not  the  sheriff  come  to  ar¬ 
rest  some  of  us.  but  Thomas  had  sold  the 
cow!  It  seems  that  this  man  had  made 
a  low  bid  for  the  coxv  yesterday  at  the 
Old  Ladies’  Home.  Perhaps  he  thought 
the  managers  of  that  institution  would 
find  the  coxv  something  like  a  white  ele¬ 
phant  on  their  hands,"  When  he  found 
that  these  managers  were  able  to  capital¬ 
ize  a  xvhite  elephant  he  followed  the  cow 
and  after  some  argument,  more  than 
doubled  his  first  offerjan.d,, walked  off.  with 
Mrs.  Guernsey.  xx-fio  i|ke 'other  young  and 
advep£nr$us  feniahes,^  was'  - ready  >Sito  go 
where  duty  and  rf  stout,  rope  led  her.  It 
xv  as  a  good  sale  all  around  and  xvhen 
!  Thoma|rs.c«me  - marching  hip  the  lane  xvith 
the  check  he  fouml 1  a  manager  of  the 
home  somexvhat  titled  but  all  smiles,  for 
deny  it  as  xve  will, '  it.  is  money  that  makes 
the  manager  as  well  as  the  mare  go  along 
the  road  to  contentment. 
***** 
Just  before  12  Philip  and  Rene  packed 
the  xx-agon  full  of  apples  and  started 
slowly  down  the  hill.  Mother  and  .1 
picked  on  a  while  longer,  for  we  were  to 
have  a  picnic  dinner  doxvn  by  the  spring. 
The  girl  had  already  gone  doxvn  to  help 
prepare  it.  Finally  xve  followed  and  I 
left  mother  sitting  under  the  hickory  tree 
xx-hile  I  xx-ent  ahead  to  get  her  soap  and 
a  towel  and  to  hurry  up  the  rest  of  the 
crowd.  Our  spring  is  about  half  xvay  up 
the  hill  in  a  little  clump  of  trees.  I  got 
there  first  and  started  a  fire  on  top  of  a 
big  flat  rock.  I  learned  the  trick  of  build¬ 
ing  a  fire  high  up  off  the  ground  from  an 
Indian.  It  is  far  more  -convenient  for 
cooking  than  a  fire  on  the  ground.  By 
piling  a  fexv  flat  stones  around  the  fire 
xve  had  a  sort  of  stove.  Mv  daughter  and 
Aunt  Charlotte  came  up  the  .lane  with 
various  packages,  .while  mother  got  xva- 
ter  from  the  spring  and  removed  in  p's  t  of 
that  apple  smut  from  her  hands  ahd  face. 
Observe  the  generous  loading 
space  back  ol  the  front  seat  — 
50  cubic  feet  of  clear  space 
with  square  corners. 
Note  also  that  front  seat  adjusts 
backward  to  make  tall  people 
comfortable  without  crowding 
people  in  rear  seat. 
Front  seat  adjusts  forward  to 
put  foot  pedals  in  easy  reach 
of  short  people.  Adjustable 
to  three  positions. 
Here  at  last  is  restful  sleep  on 
camping  trips,  with  seats  and 
upholstery  made  into  full  length, 
full  width  bed  on  floor. 
See  the  large,  comfortable 
seating  capacity  and  the  wide 
doors  both  front  and  rear  — 
no  seat  climbing. 
GtmoXlajCA/ 
Qn£uX$eXtextill& 
CaA, 
Willys-Overland  now  presents  the  first 
real  all-purpose  car  —  the  new  Over¬ 
land  Champion!  Exclusive  features, 
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and  the  American  family! 
The  new  Overland  Champion  fits  it¬ 
self  to  you.  Both  front  and  rear  seats 
are  adjustable  forward  and  backward 
to  accommodate  short  people  and  tall 
people — no  stretching  for  pedals — 
no  leg  cramping! 
Both  front  and  rear  seats  and  uphol¬ 
stery  are  entirely  removable.  Take  out 
the  rear  seat  and  upholstery  and  you 
Jhave  50  cubic  feet  of  clear  space  for 
farnTtools,  truck,  groceries,  milk  cans, 
luggage,  camping  duffle  —  anything! 
—  — (• 
For  camping,  front  and  rear  seats  and 
upholstery  make  up  into  a  wide  rest¬ 
ful  bed  the  full  length  of  the  body! 
Doors  both  front  and  rear — like  the 
famous  Willys -Knight  Coupe-Sedan! 
Real  ease,  without  seat  tilting  or  climb¬ 
ing,  when  getting  in  or  leaving  the  car 
—  for  loading  and  unloading  bags, 
boxes,  tools  and  cans. 
A  handsome  family  car  with  body  of 
steel,  and  washable  blue  Spanish  long 
grain  upholstery.  A  sturdy  work  car 
of  unmatched  utility,  cradled  on 
Triplex  springs  (Patented). 
An  all-year  car.  And  above  all, 
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astonishing  economy! 
See  the  new  Overland  Champion 
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Touring  $495,  Roadster  $495,  Red  Bird 
$695,  Coupe  $750,  Sedan  $795 ;  f.  o.  b. 
Toledo.  We  reserve  the  right  to  change 
prices  and  specifications  without  notice. 
Willys-Overland,  Inc., Toledo,  Ohio 
Willys-Overland  Ltd. ,  Toronto,  Ont. 
