VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 4, 1912.
NO. 18
The New Country-Life Home
Ideal    Conditions    Which
Prevail in the Great
Middle West.
SOME  THINGS  FOR   CITY   PEOPLE
TO THINK ABOUT.
By One Who Lives There.
It ls pcssible that this article may
sound rather defensive. I have read
so much on farm life, written obviously by city dwellers that, being country
l.orn and bred, I have a desire to tell
of farm live as I know it. When I
read articles on conditions in the
country which show so plainly the
writer's lack of knowledge on the subject, I am reminded of the doctor who
visited a rural district for a few days.
<>n his return to the city, he buttonholed everyone who would listen to
him and told all about how countryfolks lived.- My brother chanced to
be one of his victims. For obvious
reasons, I will not give the doctor's
name. He is a resident of the capital
of one of our middle states, however, and conceded to be one of the
brightest lecturers in their medical
college. The conversation to which I
allude took place near the capitol, at
a boarding-stable, where the doctor
kept his horses.
A City Man's Views.
The Doctor began by telling what a
terrible place the country was, regardless of the fact that he knew my
brother was a farmer. "Why actually," he said, "they served bacon for
breakfast! Think of it, bacon! And
it's a fact that they had no paper and
1 did not know Bob Ingersoll was dead
for two or three days! Such ignorance as I found was a revelation to
me. The barren home, the isolation!
It's simply terrible the way country
people live. No magazines, no daily
papers, nothing to uplift."
My brother listened with amusement
until he had finished; then asked:
"Doctor, do you suppose you would
find a daily paper in any of those
homes?" pointing to some houses
across the street.
"Why no," the doctor admitted, "but
>*ou must not judge our city homes by
'hem. Of course, those people are
ignorant."
"And yet, Doctor, you take one trip
into the country, into, as I happen to
know, one of the most God-forsaken
Parts, and because you find ignorance
;"id poverty there, you immediately!
' """* to the conclusion that all country people live in that way. I might
Jus. as well visit one of those hovels
"'<*ss thrre and say It was a fair rep-
"•"entation  of  your city  homes."
The doctor was neither silenced nor
convinced; but broke out fresh with
"■"re of his newly acquired knowledge.
•M'st then the voice of one of the stablemen came to them. "Mark Hanna?
Who's Mark Hanna?" he asked. It
''as when Hanna's fame was at its
tenJth, too.
"Listen,   Doctor,"   my   brother   said.
".io you hear that? Look across there.
Do you see that shadow?" The state-
house dome was casting its long shadow across the stable and street.
"Here in the shadow of the capitol, a
man is asking who Mark Hanna was.
Deplorable isn't it, the ignorance one
finds."
"Now, Doctor, I'll tell you what to
do. Come down to our place and see
how country folks live. The country
you  saw,  I  also  have  visited.      Facts
daily papers, the piano, the dinner-
table, and even ourselves seemed to
astonish the Doctor. He returned to
his home, and those who know him
say he has never, from that -day to
this, spoken of the hard, ignorant lives
of country people. Recently, he has
purchased a farm and cozily established his old  father and  mother on It.
Now, I mention this Doctor and his
views, only because his ways of judging country life is the way of most
city people. They see one phase of It
and straightway are convinced that it
is all like the part they chance to see.
Tlie Same in Both.
There are classes in the country just
The Way Modern Country Homes Look.
are, it is too poor to grow intellect.
You will find that intelligent people do
not stay in a part of the country like
that."
A Typical Farm Home.
The doctor accepted the invitation
and came on Christmas-day, driving
twenty miles each way to do it. Our
dinner that day was just such as our
neighbors were having and the company was a family gathering. We
country folks may show our amazement at what we see when visiting
city homes more than the city people
show theirs when visiting us, but I
doubt it. Our homo is only a typical
farm home, but the reading-table filled   with     the   latest    magazines    and
the same as in cities. One does not
expect the tollers In cities to be mentally equal to those in higher walks of
life. If they were, they would not be
where they are now. Just so it Is on
the farm. Wo do not expect to hire
intellectual leaders to labor in the
fields for us. Men of a high mental
caliber are not often day laborers, and
it is not environment that has made
them what they are. If the intellect
is there, it will find a way out.
Typical Farm Woman.
I^et me give you the typical farm
woman as I know her now and have
known her all my life. She is a happy, contented, youthful-looking woman.    You  will   find     her  with   neatly
A Typical  Scene in  an  Up-to-date Farming Community.
puffed hair, and, although her work-
dress is usually of calico or gingham,
it is made tastefully ln the styles used
by her city sisters for morning dresses.
She has also a light straw hat In lieu
of the old sunbonnet to wear about
her outdoor work. She is a neat, instead  of a slovenly, figure.
The Country Life Commission.
The Country Life Commission—that
subject for all cartoonists—sent out
by President Roosevelt, was never taken seriously by any one who really
knew country life. When they were
appointed, it caused amusement from
one confine of the United States to another. Most thinking people thought
the President had about run out of
something to appoint a commission
for. The tales that were told them
possibly were true; but is hard for me
to imagine a farmer's wife so void of
humor as to be able to resist telling
those gullible gentlemen wonderful
stories. They were like the scrupulously neat woman who, all her life,
had continually hunted over her beds
and house, least a bedbug might have
been carried to her. One day, her
long search was rewarded. With hor-
r...w, she carried the offending bug to
her husband, expecting him to share
her trouble. Instead, he told her that
one who had hunted all of their life,
ought to find something. The Country Life Commission hunted diligently
and, of course, found what they were
looking for.
Better Farm Home Conditions.
I cannot remember when conditions
on the farm were very hard for
women, but in the past few years,
these conditions have changed rapidly for the better. It is folly to say
the farmer is not providing conveniences in and around the house as
rapidly as he is providing them on his
farm.
Of my large circle of friends, who
are farmers' wives, I do not recall
more than one who does not have a
gasoline or oil stove for use in warm
weather. Nothing has been done to
lessen the labor of the farmer's wife
and add to her comfort more than
this.
Every one admits that country people have more good things to eat than
their city cousins. Of course, it calls
for work to prepare the delicious fried
chickens, tho strawberry shortcake,
the various fresh vegetables and other
good things too numerous to mention,
which all farmers, who arc worthy of
tho name, raise on the farm.
The farmer's wife has learned that,
with these cool stoves, she can do most
of her cookin~ seated by them. While
pies bake, she sits where she can reach
the oven door, and prepares the vegetable* or, if she Is tired, she drops
down a n.oment while she broils tho
meat. Also, in making jellies and preserving, she sits by the stove and
watches them. I write from actual
experience. We have learned many
things like this that our grandmothers
would have considered laziness in their
times,  but which  we know is wisdom
The Farm  Laborers.
It is a mistaken idea that the farm
laborers are boarded in the house by
well-to-do farms. Not one time in ten
is this the case. All farms of any
size whatever have  small  houses over