jouio 1910
VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 9, 1910.
NO. 28
Written  for the  Indiana Farmer
OUR   GIRLS   OF   THE   RURAL   DISTRICTS.
By Laura S. Dickey.
Theodore Roosevelt says: "It is especially important that whatever will
brighten home life in the country and
make it richer and more attractive for
the mothers, wives and daughters of
farmers should be done promptly, thoroughly and gladly. There is no more
important person, measured in influence upon the life of the nation, than
the farmer's wife, no more important
home than the country home and it is
of national importance to do the best
we can for both, by any legitimate
means that will help to make country-
life more gainful, more attractive and
fuller of opportunities, pleasures and
rewards for the men, women and children of the farms.
"The improvement of life >on the
farm is the most important question
now before the American people."
Our church is aroused to the necessity of hard thinking, wise planning
and careful work if she would not only
keep alive, but still better, have a
healthy country church for the future. We are realizing that in the
past few years we have left the rural
church to "Shift for itself. We are now
studying ways and means for remedying this condition and while we plan
for the general work of building up the
rural church, let us consider as one of
the problems that confront us, the
great number of women and girls who
live in the rural districts. The church
has a responsibility to them.
The day has come when woman has
become a power with which one cannot
reckon lightly. She has made, through
her ability and capacity a large place
for herself in the present day world.
She is a valuable asset of the church;
shall she be lightly treated, allowed to
turn her energy and ability into channels that are outside her church life,
and so both the church and the woman
be the loser, or shall she be considered
as a powerful, resourceful part of the
rural church problem? Shall efforts be made to secure her co-operation in building up our rural churches.
The Presbyterian church has always
stood for a high type of mentality and
we are proud of her educational work
and the educational influence she has
always been wont to exert.
In these Eastern States the Presbyterian farmers of the rural districts
were for the most part Scotch or
Scotch-Irish. We all know the strength
of that influence. Were those same influences in the country now we would
still have strong rural churches. But
most of these people or their descendants have moved into the city and
their families become the source of
strength for our city churches. Other
people of different national influences
have settled on our farms and united
with the local churches. These newer
daughters of the church claim and
need her care and attention.
Statistics tell us that about one-half
of our American people live under
rural conditions, and it is estimated
that there are over six millions of girls
in the rural districts of our land.
Being a Young Women's Christian
Association secretary I am accustomed
to think of people in a four-sided way,
physically, socially, mentally and spiritually. May I go about the study of our
rural girls in this way?
Our country girls do not have opportunities for systematic, well planned
work  in  an  up-to-date  gymnasium  or
confined to picnics and occasional parties in the summer and to still fewer
parties in the winter. Then there are
the drives to church Sunday night with
her young man and during the week
other drives with him.    In the summer
THEY ALL  READ IT.
Master  Raymond  Newton,  age   3 years, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. V. Newton, Parke Co., a young farmer reading the Indiana Farmer.
even recreation. Athletics of any form,
all of which would teach her the muscular control of her body, give her
grace and the development of the
weaknesses of her physical make-up,
as well as keep her in good physical
condition. She does not have the advantage of health talks, which would
teach her the marvelous organization
of the body, also its sacredness, and
that as "the Temple of the Holy Spirit,"
it must be kept pure, clean and true, a
fit dwelling place for the Spirit of God.
Physicians tell us that in the hospitals for the insane there are more
farmers' wives and daughters than
women from any other class. They
will tell you this is due to the monotonous life of those who keep the farm
home, the same weary round, early
and late, every day for years. There
is not the variety of seeing people and
things which the town or city woman
enjoys. The physicians also say the
monotony of diet accounts for many
cases of melancholia.
The    social life of the rural girl is
the horses are being used so continuously that it is hard for her to get a
horse and go to anything. In the
winter the weather and distances make
few  social  occasions.
Her originality and Ingenuity are not
developed as her city sister's are, for
she does not have to plan for luncheons, parties and little functions where
women take pride in arranging dainty
and unique accessories for the amusement and pleasure of their guests. It
is well and good for her that she does
miss much of the social life that is
wrecking the bodies and souls of many
of her city sisters.
But is the social life she does enjoy
sweet and wholesome? Is it full of
real fun that will be a recreation and
benefit to her? Mentally what is she
getting? y
Continued next week.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Will some of the farmers that have
had experience in sowing clover in
corn write an article for your paper
stating the  best time  to  sow. Also
if clover is to be sown alone or in some
mixture.     What variety of clover is the
best, Big English or Red?       C. F. C.
Wayne Co.
Written for the Indiana Farmer:
NOTES    OF    TRIP    IN    SOUTHERN
COUNTIES.
By Walter S. Smith.
Gibson county, in part, is further
south than Lexington, Kentucky, and,
as the soil is quite good, things were
well advanced when I was there, about
the 17th to 21st. Corn was fully knee
high, and apples just at the point of
turning ripe. There were ripe peachea
in places, and the wheat was nearly
r'eady for  the  binder. I  never  saw!
apple, peach    and    plum    trees    laden
more heavily with fruit.
I did not notice any fields devoted to
tobacco, although I think the 3oil is
rich enough. It Is so much to the
Gibson county farmers' credit, for tobacco is dirty all along. The fat
green worm that crawls over it, and
bites holes in the leaves displays very
poor taste. There are no other animals
that will eat it, except the genus homo
and the genus goat.
There is a poor outlook for wheat,
and a good one for corn.
There is a fine grade of intelligence
among the farmers. The houses are
good and the fences are in good condition.
I saw several flne orchards about
Princeton, and the first great watermelon fields of my life. One such field
north of Princeton I Judged to contain thirty acres; and there seemed to
be not a hill amiss. From the car
window they appeared to be
planted about six feet apart
both ways, and the spread of the
vines had reached from two to three
feet in diameter. A commission man
once told me he understood from the
growers that watermelons will do no
good planted the second year on the
same ground. The growers had told
him that any man who can devise a
fertilizer that will overcome this trouble has his fortune made.
In Princeton I heard of a field that
has been planted to corn continuously
for 107 years. I wonder if the soil
fertility is not kept up by the annual
overflow of White River.
At Vincennes, I walked out to see if
I could find the site of the old English
stronghold that was captured by the
intrepid Clark. I saw the house of the
first Indiana Governor, General Wm.
Henry Harrison. It is a very nice
two-story brick building, seventy or
more feet square. It fronts westward
and southward, and stands in a filthy
little street crossing, almost under the
eaves of a huge paper mill. The company to whom the mill belongs has
bought the house and the State talks
of moving it to the public park. There
is no one living in it. There is already
a monument of the civil war there,
erected by the Grand Army, and eight
old cannon are reposing upon its walls.
Vincennes is wet. This park is disgraced by a gigantic brewery that
backs right up to it. The streets are
very straight and the site very level.
I was however rather surprised to find
so few fine buildings.
The original post was French, and
was called Saint Vincent