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January, 1899.
generous supply of nails and whitewash
on fences and outbuildings, and things
began to assume their former aspect.
‘‘Martha,’’ said her mother one day as
Martha came in hot and tired, after super
intending some repairs; “what’s the good
of all your book learnin’ if you’re goin’ to
waste your time a-seein’ after that hard
work?”
“Scientists tell us that a change of occu
pation is a good rest, so I’m resting. [
must confess, however, that I’m a trifle
tired just now. Hereafter, I shall ride
old Fan on my rounds, which I find I
will have to take ottener.”
“I can’t see but it’s all onnecessary, se’-
in’ as how there’s two men folks to see
after things.”
“’Tis true there are two men folks to
look after things, but it takes some one to
look after the men folks. Now, this
morning, I found the pigs eating the
young corn, and after my telling Bob to
fix the pen securely.”
“Bob forgot, I reckon.” Mrs. Berridge
always had an excuse for Bob’s short
comings; never a word of blame.
“I suspect,” Martha assented
Matters progressed successfully under
Martha’s management. She consulted
her father, and read the best authorities on
approved farming.
Many and spirited were the controver
sies between Bob and Martha, when the
latter tried to supplant the old methods by
some pet plan of the new. “If there is
any good in the books, Bob, I’ll get it
out; if it is all theory, I want to know it,”
she would say in reply to his sc flings.
Martha’s patience with Bob reached a
limit one day on finding Jersey, the but
ter cow, with her tail tightly wrapped.
“Bob, what is the matter with Jersey?”
she asked.
“Think she’s got the hollow horn.”
“And what did you do?”
“Split her tail and put salt and pepper
on it.”
‘O, Bob; will you never outgrow your
grandfather?”
Jersey, by this time, was quite frantic,
and was plunging and bellowing at a ter
rific rate.
“Bob,” said Martha in a tone that
meant to be obeyed: “take those wrap
pings off at once. I never heard of any
thing more cruell It’s perfectly barbar
ous!’'
“Will you take the contract to hold her
while I take them ofl?”
“Yes, I will!” was the emphatic answer,
and with the aid of a nubbin and a little
coaxing, Jersey was securely tied while
Bob removed the offending salt and pep
per.
“Poor, Jersey! how you quadrupeds
have to suffer through men’s set ways!”
said Martha as she bathed the cut and or
dered Bob to the house for a lotion.
“Lotion! Another fad!” said Bob con
temptuously, as he walked off - .
“Bob,” said Martha on his return, “I
never again want to hear of you treating
what you call ‘hollow-horn’ in this man
ner.”
“Well, if you’re so smart, treat the case
yourself. I don’t set myself up as a cow
doctor.”
“One would never think of accusing
you of being a doctor of any kind, Bob.”
It transpired later that Jersey had
broken in and drank from that forbidden
pond; so after a few days of pure water
and careful feeding she recovered from the
“hollow horn,” or “wolf in the tail”—they
were not certain which.
The trouble with the cows was, they
were in a run down condition, having
been fed all winter on corn stalks and
straw, varied with timothy and nubbins.
Martha vented her opinions freely on
such management, when she found out
this fact.
“How did you expect me to feed them
better without means to do it with?”
asked Bob, somewhat resentfully.
“I’ll tel) you how I would have man
aged. I would have sold one cow and
bought proper food for the other two; if
that wasn’t sufficient, I would have dis
posed of another and fed one. What
those cows needed was bran and oilmeal
with their timothy and corn stalks.”
“Well, I reckon they had plenty of
what they did have,” returned Bob, with a
growing conviction that Martha was
heaping hot coals on his head.
“O yes, I suppose,’’ said Martha impa
tiently; “but you can feed a cow liberally
and still starve her to death, if the food
isn’t properly balanced.”
“Do you suppose the food was properly
balanced in our great-grandfather’s
time?”
“Not having been there, I can’t say.
But if you’ll just reason a little, Bob, you
will see what I mean. You know that
animals can get heat and lorceand a little
fat out of such food as you have been giv
ing them, but they need nitrogenous food
to make blood, muscle and flesh. Now—”
But Bob was ofl, with his nose in the
air, and didn’t hear the rest.
A few days later, Martha rushed in
with an angry frown on her face, exclaim
ing: “Father! Bob or I one will have to
quit. He’s a perfect drawback! Every
project I set on foot he objects to, and calls
it another one of my ‘fool notions.’ ”
“Send Bob to me.”
Bob came in, somewhat shame-faced.
“Bob, I suppose you forgot that I turn
ed the farm over to Marthy.”
“Well, no man could keep up with her
fool notions. I’ve carried out all of her
silly ideas; now she wants me to plant two
crops in the same field for late fodder.”
‘ Whatever her plans be, go carry ’em
out,” was the pere nptory order.
Bob stalked out and prepared to do as
he was instructed, muttering as he did so:
“It takes a fool woman to carry out them
new fangled notions sent out by some
Experiment Station.”
Nevertheless, B-b prepared a field of
mellow land and broadcasted two bushels
of peas to the acre. “Set the plow to run
four inches deep, so the peas will be at the
right depth in the cool, moist ground, so
they won’t dry up in case of a drouth;”
repeated Bob ironically, as he followed
the p’ow. “A few days later,” he went
on, giving a savage jerk at the lines,
“broadcast a bushel and a half of oats
over this rough plowed land; then,” —
with another jerk and a “whoa there,
Dick!”—“harrow it down and put on the
field roller so’s to make a smooth surface
formowing. Such tomfoolery! It’s equal
to her putting that cement floor in the pig
pen. The peas all come up in rows,’”
continue 1 Bob, as if conning a lesson,
“ ‘and the oats, growing between, hold
them up. The early frosts do very little
damage to the peas and oats, and the
green fodder is a great promoter of milk
at a time when there is little succulent
food at hand,”’ and Dave heard Bob give
a loud guffaw.
“What’s so amusing, Bob?" asked Dave’
coming up.
“O, I’m preparing the ground for that
wonderful ’silage Martha tells about.”
“Bet it’ll be a success if it’s tended
right,” answered Dave, who was Martha’s
special champion.
“No doubt!” returned Bob sarcastically.
“By the way, have you put that potash
and bone fertiliser on that fall wheat
land?” and gave another derisive
laugh.
“I have, and she’s right again there
too.”
“I reckon the next fool trick she’ll or
der done will be to plow under that red
clover in the orchard, to give the trees
more nitrogen,” and Bob’s upper lip went
a degree higher.
Dave walked off, leaving Bob to nurse
his ill humor.
Bob came in to supper in no better
state of temper, and twitted Martha as to
her treatment of cow diseases. “It’s high
time they’s gettin' well. Don’t you know
black coffee’s injurious to a fine complex
ion?”
Martha boasted an olive skin, but paid
no heed to his irony.
The cows under Martha’s treatment
soon regained their normal condition, and
added their quota to the family supplies.
Martha cleverly showed Dave how to
churn. “I am so fond of butter,” she
would remark, “but oh! how I do detest
to churn! —especially, with these old-fash
ioned arm-breakers.” And Dave churned.
Dave also learned how to dress a fowl,
and was so praised for his adeptness that
he would willingly have dressed fowls by
the dozen to please “Miss Martha.” She
had such a suave way of asking a favor of
Dave that it was always “Yes, Miss Mar
tha,’’ in a tone that implied a pleasure
rather than a tvk to do her bidding. Bob
hadn’t yet forgiven Martha for going to
college and taking on “new-fangled no
tions,” so did not confer favors very gra
ciously.
The summer passed, and things pros
pered. as Bob said, “fairly well, consider
ing they had been run by a woman.” Na
ture seemed to put forth her best efforts in
behalf of Martha, and the crops averaged
a greater yield than she had hoped for.
“What a handy girl Hiram’s Martha
is,” said the men who came to harvest:
and they all looked upon Martha as a
“mighty fine catch.”
“She’s a Berridge, out and out,” said
farmer Culton.
“She gits a fair share of energy from
her mother, too; fur she’s a hard workin’
woman, is Polly,” said farmer Bailey,
who was an old-time admirer.
“Yes, but Polly’s lackin’ in the Ber
ridge managin’ tactics,” asserted farmer
Culton.
“Well, maybe she be,” was the some
what tardy response.
“Marthy,” said farmer Coleman, “I’d
never a-thought with all your schoolin’,
your taste would a-run to farmin’.”
WOMAN’S WORK
“Necessity often moulds us, Mr. Cole
man.”
“Well, she’s made a purty fine pat
tern oht o’ you.”
“Thank you, but I don’t believe I’m
such a bad farmer, myself.” This was
intended for Bob, and Bob swallowed it.
Martha’s energy and good spirits seem
ed to serve as a tonic for the rest of the
household. Even the turkeys, chickens
and geese partook of it, and were marvels
of size and plumpness. “Do you know,
Marthy,” said her mother one day on
viewing her fine fowls, “that my chick
ens was awful puny, and even laid pale
egg* a-fore you come home?”
“Yes, they were like the rest of the farm
belongings; they needed a little stirring
up. I think my improved hen house had
a great deal to do with it. don’t you? You
see they are not troubled with ‘bumble
foot’ any more, since I had their roosts
lowered to three feet. There’s nothing
like improved methods, is there, little
mother?”
Os course her mother acquiesced;“didn’t
Marthy know it all!”
September came around, and Martha
made preparations to take charge of the
District school in her neighborhood. She
had not apprised her mother of her inten
tions until the evening before school open
ed, for fear of her disapproval; and, to
Martha’s surprise, her mother threw her
self in a chair and burst into tears. This
was a new experience for Martha, for
nerves and sentiment were, seemingly,
foreign to her mother’s nature.
“Here you’ve been gone two long years,
an’ now you want to go ’way ag’in, an’ I
don’t see how I’m to git on ’thout you; an’
there’s no use’n your teachin’ when things
is goin’ on so prosperin’ like.”
“There, don’t cry, Mother; I am going
to board at home, so I will still be here
mornings and evenings to superintend
things and quarrel with Bob,” said Mar
tha with a little laugh.
“Well, what’s the use’n your teachin’
anyhow?” and the storm broke out afresh.
“Don’t fret, Mother,” and Martha gave
her a tender little pat. “You see. Moth
er,” she continued, “the interest on that
thousand dollar mortgage is away behind,
and if I don’t teach how are we ever to
catch up?”
‘•Can’t you sell the corn? We’ll have a
right smart lot o’ corn, Bob says; an’
there’s the wheat an’ hogs an’ poultry; an’
I’ve saved up nigh onto ten pounds of
butter an’ ’leven dozen eggs.”
Martha had noticed a falling off in the
table supply of the last two named arti
cles, but knowing her mother’s frugal
habits had kept her counsel.
“Let’s keep the butter and eggs at home,
Mother, for you know how I relish them
both; besides, it takes sinew to make
workers, and it takes meat to make sinew;
so, with the butter, eggs, and plenty ot
poultry, we’ll grow muscle for the coming
year’s work. As to the wheat and corn,
Father and I both think it wise to hold for
a rise in price. Just think! corn is only
17 cents, and wheat 45. It would take us
years to pay out at that rate. I saw Mr.
North about the mortgage, and he said he
would not push us.”
Mrs. Berridge, with a long drawn sigh,
resigned herself to the inevitable. “Mar
thy says things will turn out all right;
an’ I reckon they will—Marthy is so aw
ful smart.”
Martha went bravely to work, and, in
the two years that followed, cleared the
farm of debt and placed it well stocked
and drained, into her father's hands; with
it all, she found time to contribute her
share to the pleasure of her school-day
friends.
So succcessful were her efforts, that the
men who aired their opinions so generous
ly on higher education for women, and
“’lowed it was time woman was a-comin’
down off her high horse, for she didn’t
know nothin’ nohow,” came to this slip
of a girl and humbly acknowledged that
there were a great many things in their
line open to discussion as to ways and
means.
Bob underwent a wonderful transfor
mation during Martha’s two years reign.
He forgot how to be careless, and began
to emulate Martha in learning “approved
methods.” Martha said: “Bob only need
ed a capable hand to guide the lines; then
he knew which way to go.”
Bob laughed in his sleeve at Martha’s
attempt to marry him off to an energetic
girl friend, but he refused to be married.
Coming into possession of a few hundred
dollars left him by a relative, he decided
to follow Martha’s plan and convert his
capital into brains. “As you won’t ac
cept the lean of it,” he said to Martha,
“the next best use I could put it to, will
be to go to college.” And Martha said
“yes.”
After Bob was gone, Mrs. Berridge
said: “Marthy, Ido hope you and Bob
will quit your quarrelin’ an’ lead peace
ful lives like you used to.’j
“Bob’s coming around handsomely,
Mother,” returned Martha. “When he
gets back from college he will know a
great deal more about science than I do;
then we will get along famously.”
And Mrs. Berridge rocks and smiles
as she “toes” off a generous sized sock
for Bob.
I. M. Harper.
For Woman’s Work.
THE BEST READING MATTER.
‘HE longer I live the more I am im
pressed with the adaptability of the
T
Bible to the needs and requirements of all
ages. No other book, not even Shakes
peare, is so well suited to everyone and to
every time as it. Verses which were
written thousands of years ago, are proven
to be as true now as though they ema
nated from the pen of the writer but yes
terday. The cycles of time which have
rolled by since they were first inscribed,
have not affected their truth and force.
Who has not been impressed with the
truth of “For he that hath, to him shall be
given: and he that hath not from him shall
taken even that which he hath?” in the
every day occurrences of life. The rich,
prosperous merchant has no difficulty’in
negotiating a loan to almost any amount,
although his penniless brother cannot
borrow a cent. The former is given a
thousand opportunities to double and
treble his fortune, while the latter is re
fused sufficient work to provide for the
common necessities of life. The man
who has gained political distinction may
successfully compete for higher honors,
while his neighbor—who may be eminent
ly better fitted to fill such an < ffice—be
cause of his obscurity never comes before
the public. «
“Nothing succeeds like success.” Men
admire success. They judge a man’s fu
ture, and his capacity for work, by his
past: if it be prosperous, they infer that
his future will be all the more so, and that
they can bask in his reflected glory. In
the same manner th&y argue that a man
who has tailed to acc 'inplish anything
hitherto, cannot successfully grasp the op
portunities in the future —and so they
pass by on the other side. There is noth
ing more contemptible in the eyes of the
world than a failure; nothing more to be
commended than success. Unto him who
succeeds shall be given still more, while
for him who fails there is an oblivion still
more complete.
Every day we see the story of the good
Samaritan exemplified, and we may often
have played the part of the priest and the
Levite, passing by the poor traveller who
fell among the thieves. Were all the
good deeds written upon the pages of the
Book of the Recording Angel, to be
known, I think we would find that many
of them are credited to those who are good
Samaritans. Although they may be peo
?le from whom we draw our skirts in
'harisaical righteousness, they display in
their actions the Christian charity which
we profess with our outward lips.
“Judge not that ye be not judged” ap
plies just as truly to us as it did to the in
habitants of Judea, who clustered about
their Divine leader on the Mount of
Beatitudes; yet how few of us remember
this injunction. In theory we endorse it,
but in practice—? Well, perhaps the less
said upon this subject the better, for few
of us can show a clear record in this re
spect.
Perhaps, however, there is no verse in
the entire Bible, the truth of which is
more clearly demonstrated each day than
this: “And a little child shall lead them.”
To my mind there is no influence in the
entire world so potent for good as that ot a
little child. Fresh from an unknown in
finity, before their tiny feet have entered
life’s dark mazes, experienced the con
tamination of sin, or been warped by mis
ery and suffering, by their very innocence
and helplessness they prove the one bright
ray of light in many darkened hearts.
Men whose daily lives are one long record
ot crime and profligacy, whose faces are
sadly marred by traces of their excesses
and wickedness, will soften, and often
times melt into tears, at the touch of a
tiny hand—which, small as it is, is strong
enough to draw them up, if only for the
moment, out of the slough of depravity
into which they have fallen.
And so we might go on, selecting gems
of truth from the great Bible storehouse,
but the priceless Book itself is accessible to
all, and I would admonish everyone to
“search the Scrip ure*.” There can be no
reading matter more profitable.
Mira L. Cobbs.
3