The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1347 
A  Farm  Woman’s  Notes 
Liberal  Education 
The  kerosene  tractor  exhausted  might¬ 
ily  and  bit  off  smoke  in  enormous  puffs. 
In  the  barn,  machinery  stirred  into  a 
steady  thrum ;  fork  prongs  began  to 
Hash  in  the  mow;  and  long  yellow  bun¬ 
dles  of  grain  came  flying  down  to  the 
grasping  rollers.  The  blower  pipe  in  the 
barnyard  breathed  out  a  stream  of  dust 
that  thickened  into  straw.  Where  the 
pipe  emerged  from  the  barn  a  man 
perched  to  hold  reins  guiding  the  nose 
of  the  blower,  though  to  the  children 
laughing  by  the  fence  he  appeared  as  if 
driving  a  camel.  Their  interest  wavered 
when  two  extremely  fat  pigs  that,  slept 
in  the  corner  of  the  barnyard  awoke  and 
propped  themselves  upon,  their  inadequate 
fore  legs  to  listen  to  the  rustling  of 
straw.  These  pigs  sat  ears  extended,  in 
an  attitude  of  “Do  I  hear  Correctly,” 
then  arose  as  one  and  went  over  to  the 
pile,  snorting  and  cavorting  as  pigs  will 
that  have  not  seen  straw  in  three  months. 
The  tinkle  of  dishes  that  always  fol¬ 
lows  in  the  wake  of  a  thrashing  rig  broke 
in  upon  the  comedy.  The  older  dark¬ 
haired  girl  took  her  sister  by  the  hand 
and  moved  reluctantly  to  the  house.  As 
they  passed  the  stable  door,  the  younger 
sister  broke  away  from  the  restraining 
hand  and  dashed  for  the  granary,  her 
brilliant  hair  flying,  her  brown-stockinged 
legs  twinkling  into  the  obscurity  of  the 
gloom,  a  mischievous  elf  just  past  four. 
Sure  enough,  here  was  Daddy,  though 
she  had  to  scrutinize  closely  to*  penetrate 
the  queer  grayness  of  him.  Dust,  it  was ; 
Mr.  A.  W.  Feaster  of  Mineral  County, 
W.  Ya.,  sends  us  this  picture  of  his  grand¬ 
daughter  Mildred,  and  one  of  the  water- 
.  melons  he  raised  last  year. 
the  air  was  smoky  with  it.  She  drew 
back,  but  just  then  she  saw  the  big  ma¬ 
chine  quivering  at  its  labor  and  stole 
after  Daddy  as  he  ran  with  an  empty 
bushel  basket.  The  noise  would  have 
been  frightening  had  she  not  been  in¬ 
toxicated  with  the  excitement  of  a  new 
adventure.  Her  father  was  carrying  in 
a  basket  full  of  grain  to  the  bin,  and 
looking  past  him  she  saw  more  grain 
sliding  down  a  trough.  (Why,  the  basket 
was  going  to  run  over — no,  it  was  stopped. 
Daddy  appeared  again  just  in  time  to  get 
the  basket  before  the  wheat  started  slid¬ 
ing  down  the  trough  again,  and  as  he  set 
down  his  empty  the  child  gripped  it 
eagerly  with  both  hands  and  prepared  to 
shove  it  under  the  spout  as  he  slid  the 
full  measure  away.  He  stood  shouting 
down  something  at  her  which  proved  to 
be  “You’d  better  go  back.  You’ll  get 
dirty  !”  But  she  shook  her  head  ob¬ 
stinately.  The  next  allotment  of  grain 
bit  off  the  argument.  O,  this  was  going 
to  be  a  glorious  game.  Between  running 
out  to'  see  the  stack  apd  watching  the 
basket  she  was  kept  busy  until  twilight 
crept  in  to  darken  dim  corners,  and  her 
father’s  hand  moved  to  the  light  switch. 
Then  suddenly  the  air  was  filled  with  a 
curious  new  sensation.  Men  shouted  in 
strange  voices,  commanding  “Whoa”  as  if 
the  big  machine  were  a  horse,  and  oddly, 
it  did  stop  for  them.  “The  blower  pipe 
is'  clogged,”  some  one  said,  and  men  came 
hurrying  from  everywhere,  strange  men 
with  loud  frightening  voices.  As  she 
shrank  back  a  dark  familiar  face  looked 
down  on  her  and  a  kind  voice  exclaimed, 
“Good  Lawd.  here’s  Scoot.” 
“Perky,”  she  cried,  and  launched  her¬ 
self  at  him. 
“You.d  better  go  in  an’  wash  yo’  face, 
Scoot,”  he  accused.  “Look  like  some  one’s 
been  drawin’  pictures  on  it.  I  see  old 
Bc-oot  has  been  walking  on  her  hands 
again !  I’m  going  out  to  get  myself  a 
drink  and  I  reckon  I  better  take  you 
along  in.  Lawd.  your  mother  haf  to  take 
you  right  up  stairs  to  the  bath  tub  to  get 
you  clean.  Don’t  you  come  back  in  this 
dirt.”  .  . 
She  had  danced  along  looking  up  into 
the  face  of  the  old  colored  man,  her  eyes 
shining  with  laughter.  But  she  was 
sorry  indeed  to  have  to  stay  in  the  house 
where  all  was  tame,  especially  dull  when 
her  mother  was  so  busy.  She  sat  waiting 
on  the  top  step  of  the  back  porch  with 
Pete,  the  Airedale  pup,  who,  not  minding 
the  dirt,  licked  her  cheek  companionably. 
Pete,  alas,  had  begun  to  suck  eggs,  and 
if  he  didn’t  stop  soon,  why  something 
awful  might  happen.  Daddy  had  said 
that  he  guessed  nothing  short  of  carbolic 
would  stop  him.  They  had  put  cayenne 
pepper  in  eggs  to  make  Pete  quit,  but 
Pete  had  a  fatal  facility  for  licking  out 
only  the  pleasant  portion  of  the  egg.  O 
dear,  why  couldn’t  Pete  understand?  Her 
throat  ached  uncomfortably  for  him. 
Some  one  was  chopping  in  a  bowl  by 
the  window.  That  is  why  the  words 
came  out  so  plainly  to  the  child  on  the 
steps.  It  was  the  visiting  cousin’s  voice 
that  was  plainest.  When  mother  an¬ 
swered  you  could  hardly  hear  her  at  all. 
“That  lovely  child  with  her  wonderful 
hair  and  eyes.  You  are  bringing  her  up 
too  carelessly.  She’s  out  there  in  the 
barn  with  those  dreadful  men  and  in  that 
dust.  I  wish  I  had  her.  She  ought  to  be 
beginning  her  education  in  kindergarten. 
What?” 
This  seemed  to  mean  that  Cousin  Inez 
wished  to  wash  her  and  comb  her  hair, 
and  Scoot  was  about  to  move  in  when 
she  heard  her  mother  say.  “No,  you  can’t 
have  her.”  And  she  sat  amazed  into 
silence.  Cousin  Inez  laughed  softly. 
“I  suppose  it’s  because  she  is  so  much 
like  me  that  I  want  her.”  she  admitted. 
“My  hair  was  just  as  red  as  hers  at  that 
age.  I’d  love  to  take  her  as  my  own.” 
The  answer  was  a  discreet  murmur,  in¬ 
telligible  to  the  listening  child  as  “Why 
should  I  let  you  spoil  her?” 
“You  have  too  many  children  for  the 
work  you  have  planned  to  do.  One  less 
would  give  you  more  time.  She’ll  be  hap¬ 
py.” 
Scoot  shivered  and  drew  closer  to  Pete. 
Her  mother  came  closer  to  the  window 
so  that  she  couldn’t  help  hearing. 
“After  one  has  reached  30,  my  dear, 
one  ceases  to  think  of  children  as  a  bur¬ 
den.  The  years  stretch  ahead  without 
the  promise  of  early  youth,  and  the  way 
seems  lonely.  It  is  engrossing  to  watch 
the  growth  of  one’s  own  children.  So 
often  there  crops  out  in  a  character  some 
trait  that  you  recognize  as  one  you  loved 
in  those  gone  forever,  and  it  makes  you 
glad.  No,  I  can’t  give  you  one  of  my 
children,  but  there  are  many  lonely  chil¬ 
dren  in  this  world  that  need  a  mother. 
I  think  if  you  tried  you  could  love  one 
of  them.” 
Scoot  sighed  softly  and  tried  to  think  of 
being  without  a  mother.  She  was  get¬ 
ting  sleepy,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  move 
with  the  porch  post  on  one  side  and 
Pete  on  the  other.  It  was  only  dimly 
that  she  heard  an  inner  door  close,  and 
her  sister’s  voice  say,  “I’m  through  prac¬ 
ticing.  Where’s  Scoot?” 
And  her  mother  said  with  surprising 
knowledge,  “She’s  out  on  the  porch 
asleep,  I  think.  We’ll  bathe  her  and 
put  her  to  bed.  She’s  had  enough  educa¬ 
tion  for  one  day.”  MRS.  F.  H.  UNGER. 
Barns  and 
Dungeons! 
Bright  Lights,  More  Eggs 
A  dark  barn  is  as  cheerless  as  a 
dungeon.  Its  gloom  makes  easy  work 
harder,  robs  you  of  time  for  other 
things. 
Darkness  is  an  enemy,  ever  ready  to 
lead  you  into  accident — or  worse. 
Thirty-one  years  ago  science  made 
a  wonderful  discovery — the  way  to 
banish  darkness  on  the  farm.  That 
discovery  was  Union  Carbide.  A  little 
mixed  with  common  water  makes 
Union  Carbide  Gas,  which  gives  the 
most  beautiful  and  restful  light  known, 
and  the  hottest  flame  for  cooking,  iron¬ 
ing,  or  water  heating.  398,000  strong 
has  been  the  farmers’  response! 
Keeping  the  Iron  Hot 
The  Colt  “Gas  Well”  makes  this 
Union  Carbide  Gas  automatically 
The  Colt  “Gas  Well”  is  planted  at 
a  convenient  place  in  the  yard.  It 
makes  Carbide  Gas  just  as  needed. 
Small  iron  pipe  carries  the  gas  to  all 
parts  of  the  house,  barn,  and  other  out¬ 
buildings.  No  matches  required  for 
lighting.  For  many  years,  on  thou¬ 
sands  of  farms  in  every  State  in  the 
Union,  Colt  “Gas  Wells”  have  been 
taking  the  gloom  out  of  the  morning 
and  evening  chores. 
With  the  Colt  “Gas  Well”  on  your 
farm  you  won’t  have  to  hurry  to  get 
the  night  chores  done  while  there  is  yet 
light  of  day.  You  can  do  more  and 
better  work — and  be  safer,  too!  You 
won’t  have  to  guess  about  that  loose 
board — that  top  step — that  doorsill — 
nor  your  stock,  either.  Colt  “Gas 
Wells”  are  helping  thousands  make 
their  farms  pay.  Why  not  for  you,  too? 
You  buy  Union  Carbide  direct  from 
Union  Carbide  Warehouses  at  factory 
prices. 
Lighting  the  Bedroom 
Qet  your  Colt “ Qas  Well-*  now— take  a  year  to  pay 
Get  the  story  of  what  the  Colt  “Gas 
Well”  is  doing  on  other  farms.  Learn 
all  that  Union  Carbide  Gas  will  do  for 
you — learn  how  to  light  up  the  hen¬ 
houses  and  harvest  more  eggs.  The 
first  step  is  to  send  in  the  coupon  NOW. 
J.  B.  COLT  COMPANY 
DEPT.  F-10 
30  EAST  42d  Street,  NEW  YORK 
599  Eighth  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  3  J  Exchange  Street,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
325  New  York  Life  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Oldest  and  Largest  Manufacturers  of  Carbide  Lighting-and-Cooking  Plants  in  the  'World 
Lighting  the  Living  Room 
OLT 
V 
/ 
y 
-  J.  B. 
r  0V  x  COLT 
r  *  COMPANY 
q^,  ^  Dept.  F-10 
* /  30  East  42d  Street 
New  York 
TRADE 
MARK 
y 
Please  supply  me  without  ob- 
'  ligation,  full  facts  on  the  Colt 
Lighting-and-Cooking  System. 
Union  Carbide  in  generator  sizes  is  sold  direct  to 
consumer  at  factory  prices  through  150  Union 
Carbide  Warehouses.  There  is  one  near  you 
/ 
/ 
/ 
;  /  STATE. 
TOWN . 
NAME. 
