1370 
7ft#  RURAL.  NEW. YORKER 
November  3,  1923 
Hope  Farm  Notes 
Part  II 
That  picnic  dinner  was  a  great  suc¬ 
cess,  the  only  trouble  being  that  no  one 
felt  like  moving  after  it  was  over !  I 
was  finishing  a  mellow  Greening  apple 
for  dessert  when  it  suddenly  flashed  into 
mind  that  I  had  promised  to  go  and  de¬ 
liver  a  few  patriotic  remarks  at  a  sol¬ 
diers’  meeting  near  by.  I  came  near 
forgeti  ng  all  about  it.  Of  course  one 
cannot  pick  apples  and  pack  away  ap¬ 
plications  from  the  life  of  Columbus  at 
one  time.  While  it  is  doubtful  if  Thom¬ 
as  regards  me  as  an  expert  apple  picker, 
I  imagine  that,  after  all,  I  rank  higher 
in  that  line  than  as  an  orator.  The 
pickers  wene  back  to  the  hill,  while 
Philip  remained  to  pack  apples  and  be 
ready  for  customers.  We  have  an  order 
for  about  75  baskets  to  be  sold  on  a 
roadside  market.  You  must  be  careful 
about  packing  such  goods,  for  people  are 
getting  suspicious  of  such  markets. 
You  cannot  blame  them,  for  they  have 
been  fooled  many  times.  There  are  peo¬ 
ple  who  go  in  the  public  markets,  buy 
vegetables  and  fruit  from  farmers,  and 
then  open  a  roadside  place  and  pose  as 
genuine  producers !  We  are  not  on  a 
main  road,  and  there  is  hardly  enough 
travel  past  our  place  to  justify  a  stand. 
Some  of  our  goods  are  sold  at  a  stand 
several  miles  away,  where  there  is  a  con¬ 
stant  stream  of  cars.  A  better  plan  for 
us  is  to  advertise  in  the  local  papers  and 
bring  people  to  the  farm  in  that  way.  I 
think  some  such  plan  could  be  worked  out 
for  a  community — all  to  unite  in  adver¬ 
tising  and  bring  the  produce  to  some 
central  place  where  it  could  be  sold  di¬ 
rect.  It  is  remarkable  what  can  be  sold 
in  that  way  close  to  the  big  towns.  I 
hear  of  one  man  not  many  miles  from  us 
who  last  year  produced  nearly  5,000 
pumpkins.  He  advertised  and  sold 
everyone  of  them  for  Hallowe’en  cele¬ 
brations.  That  is  not  so  remarkable 
when  you  remember  that  there  are  9,000,- 
000  people  in  what  we  call  the  Greater 
New  York  territory.  It  would  not  be 
hard  to  find  5.000  families  who  need  a 
pumpkin — in  all  that  crowd.  Right  with¬ 
in  10  miles  of  your  farm  are  plenty  of 
people  to  buy  your  goods  if  you  will  only 
let  them  know  what  you  have  to  offer. 
Later  in  the  afternoon  my  daughter 
drove  me  past  the  place  for  our  meet¬ 
ing.  We  have  in  our  neighborhood  a 
“Soldiers’  Rest  Farm,”  where  disabled 
soldiers  are  given  an  outing  or  vacation 
as  they  need  it.  This  seems  to  be  kept 
alive  chiefly  by  voluntary  contribution. 
As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  a  few  patri¬ 
otic  men  and  women  do  practically  all 
the  work  and  raise  most  of  the  needed 
money.  Several  times  a  year  a  public 
meeting  is  held.  Columbus  Day  was 
selected  for  such  a  meeting  this  year. 
Very  likely  you  have  had  some  experience 
in  trying  to  keep  alive  and  help  some 
such  .patriotic  enterprise.  There  is 
usually  a  small  Gideon’s  band  of  people 
who  work  for  the  cause  and  get  small 
credit  for  their  labor.  When  I  was  a 
boy  a  dancing  master  came  into  the 
neighborhood  and  undertook  to  conduct 
a  dancing  school.  He  ended  up  with  a 
dance  at  the  tavern  at  the  corners.  I 
was  not  permitted  to  attend  the  school, 
for  our  folks  thought  dancing  was  wicked. 
I  shall  not  forget  the  hot  arguments 
waged  around  our  kitchen  stove  as  to 
whether  the  fact  that  David  danced  be¬ 
fore  the  ark  had  any  application  to  the 
proposed  dance  at  the  corners.  David’s 
wife,  or  at  least  one  of  them,  laughed  at 
his  capering,  and  she  found  her  counter¬ 
part  in  one  of  our  neighbors  whose  big¬ 
footed  husband  broke  away  and  attended 
the  dancing  school.  The  tavern  dance 
did  not  attract  a  large  crowd — -the  Metho¬ 
dists  had  a  “praise  meeting”  and  drew 
most  of  the  people  away- — when  the  issue 
was  openly  presented.  Rut  the  dancing 
master  was  a  cheerful  soul.  He  went 
around  among  his  faithful  friends  and  put 
up  a  good  face : 
“We  may  l)e  feiv,  but  me  are  very  se¬ 
lect  /” 
The  thought  of  being  “select”  caused 
the  mind  to  expand  so  that  the  few  faith¬ 
ful  dancers  could  not  see  the  great  open 
spaces  on  the  ballroom  floor.  I  know  a 
young  man  who  once  walked  five  miles  to 
give  an  “entertainment”  in  a  country 
church.  Something  went  wrong,  and 
there  were  only  about  a  dozen  people 
scattered  through  the  big  room.  And  the 
sexton,  an  economical  soul,  lighted  only 
half  the  lamps.  It  was  a  Universalist 
church.  Years  before  some  man  with  a 
liberal  mind  has  put  up  this  large  build¬ 
ing  and  given  it  to  the  community.  They 
had  never  been  able  to  produce  a  full 
congregation.  Universalism  was  not  popu¬ 
lar.  and  the  other  denominations  had 
combined  to  hold  a  “social”  which  made 
this  young  man’s  visit  very  unsocial. 
Rut  this  young  man  went  through  his 
program  and  then  tramped  back  home 
with  59  cents  as  his  share  of  the  collec¬ 
tion.  And  when  they  asked  him  how  the 
show  went  off  he  answered  : 
“It  was  a  great  artistic  success!”  I 
have  always  felt  that  this  was  the  proper 
spirit  to  show  at  any  performance  of  a 
modern  Gideon’s  band. 
***** 
F.arly  in  the  afternoon  the  sun  disap¬ 
peared.'  and  a  thick  mist,  or  fog,  fell 
upon  us.  There  was  promise  of  rain, 
but  we  have  had  so  many  broken  prom¬ 
ises  from  Nature  lately  that  we  pay 
little  more  attention  to  such  signs  than 
the  people  of  the  village  did  when  the  boy 
called  “Wolf!  Wolf!”  We  no  longer  have 
the  faith  of  the  little  girl  who  attended 
the  meeting  where  they  were  to  pray  for 
rain.  It  was  a  clear,  starlit  night,  but 
the  little  girl’s  faith  was  so  great  that 
she  carried  her  umbrella.  Ry  the  time  I 
reached  the  meeting  the  air  was  dull  and 
gray,  and  a  sort  of  depression  seemed  to 
have  fallen  upon  the  earth.  On  a  bright 
sunny  day  the  western  view  from  this 
farm  is  glorious.  You  look  across  a  wide 
valley  with  trees  and  farmhouses  and 
glittering  ribbons  and  patches  of  water 
where  streams  run  down  the  hills  to  lit¬ 
tle  ponds.  Now  the  gray  fog  bad  dimmed 
the  glorious  view.  There  were  perhaps 
150  faithful  friends  who  had  turned  out 
to  help.  It  came  to  me  that  here  was  a 
typical  illustration  of  the  way  too  many 
Americans  regard  public  service  and  their 
personal  part  in  government.  About  20 
miles  away,  as  the  crow  flies,  at  the  “Yan¬ 
kee  Stadium”  in  New  York,  nearly  70,- 
000  half-insane  people  were  watching  a 
ball  game.  They  had  spent  more  than 
$200,000  for  t  wo  hours  of  excitement.  At 
a  horse  race  a  few  miles  away  there  were 
some  25,000  more,  while  various  nearby 
football  games  attracted  as  many  more. 
Yet  here  on  this  lonely  hill  less  than  200 
people  came  to  show  their  patriotism  in 
a  practical  way !  That  seemed  like  a 
good  subject  to  talk  about — why  do  re¬ 
publics  seems  so  ungrateful?  Mr.  Aver¬ 
age  Man  and  Mrs.  Average  Woman  seem 
to  feel  that  when  they  have  paid  their 
taxes  they  have  done  their  full  duty  to 
their  country.  Then  they  go  their  way 
and  expect  that  mysterious  thing  we  call 
the  government  to  do  all  the  rest.  Nat¬ 
urally,  any  “government,”  like  any  man 
or  woman,  left  alone  with  great  sums  of 
money  and  only  a  perfunctory  oversight, 
will  pick  up  the  habit  of  living  to  help 
itself,  keep  itself  in  power  and  help  its 
friends.  The  only  safety  in  a  republic 
is  when  men  and  women  know  that  they 
must  do  it  themselves  if  they  are  to  have 
any  share  in  government.  A  meeting  like 
this  one  is  the  finest  thing  that  can  hap¬ 
pen,  because  it  means  personal  interest, 
personal  sacrifice  and  placing  an  ideal 
above  the  hard  material  things  of  life. 
The  finest  thing  we  can  ever  do  to  our 
children  is  to  -try  to  make  them  under¬ 
stand  that  work  of  this  sort  is  the  greatest 
thing  for  them.  The  greatest  need  of  the 
world  today  is  sympathetic  vision.  We 
are  sure  to  see  marvelous  changes  in  the 
future.  If  we  sit  still  and  merely  let 
them  come  for  our  profit  or  enjoyment, 
without  trying  to  make  them  free  to  the 
people,  our  children  will  face  a  form  of 
industrial  slavery,  or  be  forced  into  a 
revolution  to  obtain  what  should  be  theirs 
as  result  of  evolution.  The  mere  fact  that 
Columbus  discovered  a  new  continent  was 
but  a  small  part  of  what  he  did  for  the 
world.  His  greater  service  to  humanity 
was  kindling  in  the  soul  of  men  the  fire 
of  hope  that  somewhere  across  the  sea 
there  was  a  land  where  the  poor  and  the 
plain  people  might  have  opportunity  to 
do  it  themselves  by  really  having  a  hand 
in  government.  Our  fathers  gained  that 
right,  but  we  are  slowly  passing  it  away 
by  simply  growling  over  our  taxes  and 
then  standing  back  to  let  the  “govern¬ 
ment”  do  the  job  without  oversight.  The 
very  rich  will  never  do  it  themselves. 
They  are  afraid  of  losing  some  of  their 
money.  The  very  poor  will  not  do  it. 
Most  of  them  would  like  to  take  money 
from  others !  Do  it  yourself  is  the  work 
of.  the  great  middle  class'  of  society, 
neither  rich  nor  poor,  but  working  people 
who  want  a  future  that  will  give  their 
children  better  opportunity  (not  greater 
ease)  than  they  ever  have  had.  The  most 
that  we  need  in  education  is  the  training 
to  make  these  same  middle-class  people 
proud  of  their  position  in  society  and 
conscious  of  their  power.  Too  many  of 
our  young  people  are  trained  to  envy  the 
rich  and  to  strain  every  selfish  end  to 
imitate  their  habits  of  life.  I  would 
rather  have  my  children  develop  char¬ 
acter  rather  than  accumulate  cash.  As 
for  the  power  of  the  common  people,  it 
is  too  frequently  used  merely  to  tear 
things  down.  I  want  to  see  this  tremend¬ 
ous  power  trained  to  build  things  up ! 
***** 
Well,  it  was  a  good  meeting  in  the  fact 
that  those  who'  came  were  geninue  help¬ 
ers,  and  they  made  the  meeting  go.  After 
it  was  over  I  tramped  on  along  the  dusty 
road,  thinking  many  things — some,  I  pre¬ 
sume,  unsuited  to  the  day.  Several  peo¬ 
ple  came  dashing  along  in  cars,  stopping 
to  offer  me  a  ride,  but  I  declined — I  was 
trying  to  do  it  myself.  At  last  there 
came  a  whirl  of  dust  around  a  corner, 
and  a  car  that  seemed  familiar  came  in 
sight,  with  a  smiling  young  woman  of 
substantial  figure  at  the  wheel.  M^ 
daughter  had  torn  herself  away  from  that 
great  thesis  to  bring  her  father  home. 
And  home  we  went  through  the  gathering 
dusk,  discussing  many  things,  from  the 
influence  of  Shakespeare  upon  modern 
thought  to  the  “Giants”  and  their  chance 
to  win  the  championship !  Very  likely  I 
am  better  qualified  to  discuss  the  Giants 
or  “Rabe”  Ruth  shaking  a  bat  than 
Shakespare.  Night  had  fallen  as  we 
reached  home.  The  apples  were  ready  for 
delivery,  and  two  more  loads  had  come 
5PEE 
AGON 
Made-to-Order  Fitness 
for  Farm  Service 
The  Speed  Wagon  has  fleetness  for  bringing  the 
markets  nearer, — 
Certainty  of  mechanical  performance  that  puts 
an  end  to  wayside  stops, — 
Brute  power,  relatively  light  chassis  weight,  sen¬ 
sible  balance  and  pneumatic  tires  so  that  all  roads 
can  be  surely  and  safely  negotiated, — 
Correct  capacity  for  the  average  farm  loads, — 
500  to  2500  pounds, — 
Simplicity  and  accessibility  to  promote  ease  of 
attention  and  adjustment, — 
Double -frame  mounting  of  power  units  for 
smoother  driving  and  longer  life, — 
Economy  that  makes  the  Speed  Wagon  the 
cheapest  commercial  car  in  the  world. 
Designed  and  manufactured  in  the  big  Reo  shops, 
— not  assembled.  Chassis,  $1185  at  Lansing, 
plus  tax.  Nearly  100,000  in  operation. 
REO  MOTOR  CAR  COMPANY,  Lansing  Mich 
iiriwiiiiiti  ~~ i  i  i  ii,iii.,iii  '~iii  Y  . . 
SEDAN 
SEDAN  is  the  newest  of  the  com¬ 
fortable,  smart,  roll  front  laundered 
styles  so  popular  today. 
Never  have  starched  collars  been 
quite  so  comfortable  as  this  season’s 
newest  style  in 
If  your  dealer  does  not  sell  SEDAN,  send 
us  his  name,  your  size  and  75c  for  four. 
HALL,  HARTWELL  &  CO.,  INC. 
TROY,  N.  Y.,  Makers  of 
MARK  TWAIN  Collars,  HALLMARK  Shirts  and 
HALLMARK  Athletic  Underwear 
I  EADCLAD\  Galvanized  fToncan. 
IftinH  Metal  Roofing!  Specialists^ 
CONSUMERS! MFG.& 
s“'  '  • '  (supply,  col 
$3toituA{ater\bo  User ) 
7 
H^uSe!  P.O.BOX 342  \  MOUN0SV1LL£,W.VA.\ 
Metal  Roofing,  HI  Styles 
Metal  Shingles  Spouting’ 
'Write 
for  oi 
-.cyatogdJy 
ini  i  iimiiiimiiiiiiiiii  niiiiiiMiiMi  iiiiiiiim 
The  Farmer  His 
Own4  Builder 
By  U.  Armstrong  Robert* 
A  practical  and 
handy  book  of  all 
kinds  of  building 
information  from 
concrete  to  carpen¬ 
try.  Price  $1-50. 
For  sale  by 
THE 
RURAL  NEW-YORKEB 
333  W.  30th  St.,  N.  V. 
imiiMiiimimmiimiimmiiMimmiiimi 
When  you  write  advertisers  mention  The  R.  N.-Y.  and  you’ll  get  a 
quick  reply  and  a  “square  deal.”  See  guarantee  editorial  page. 
