JOYS OF A HOUSEKEEPER'S HEART; by "Happy" from Minnesota; 1935

Dear Editor:

I'm so happy tonight that I just had to share my happiness with others, and I thought the best way would be through a letter to other women who are readers of The Farmer's Wife.

The reason is that we will move soon into a new house where we will have new linoleum for the kitchen, a new range and rocker and a beautiful lamp. And soon we are to have a radio--the only one we've ever owned.

I think any housekeeper would be happy who is to have all this at once. Even the commonplace task of scrubbing will take on glamour through the brightness of the linoleum. There will be such satisfaction in putting away shining dishes in the built-in cupboard, and the lamp will add so much enjoyment to our long evenings.

But best of all I have a loving husband and two beautiful babies to share it.

ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOR; by Mrs. F. K., Indiana; 1931

Dear Editor:

I was married to a farm work hand thirty-one years ago. We had a strong desire for our own farm that we might get the results of our labors. We bought a farm of 65 acres, very poor, because it had been rented to Tom, Dick, and Harry until it wouldn't rent any longer and stood deserted.

The buildings were a dilapidated log henhouse and a two room dwelling house, almost as dilapidated as the henhouse. No barn nor sign of building that could be used as a barn. Hubby made a straw shed which housed our two cows, calf, and feed till spring. Then he bought a team and farm implements and another heifer to freshen.

In debt? I'll say we were, as only a first payment was made on the farm, the rest being mortgaged for all it was worth. I put my shoulder to the wheel, we both worked hard, and economized to the last degree of decency. Our children came, five boys in succession, the sixth baby boy living only five hours. Then, after six years, God answered our prayers and gave us a daughter.

Many times Hubby was so discouraged he thought of quitting the farm and trying a day-labor job, but I loved the farm and the stock that I had helped to care for. Oh, yes, I bottled pigs and lambs and slopped calves and hogs. So I always tried to console Hubby even though I fought back tears of discouragement to do it.

We stayed by the farm through thick and thin, profited by our losses and tried to correct our mistakes. Today I am a grandmother, and Hubby and I are still on the farm we started on thirty-one years ago.

We worked hard to get a start but that is past, and now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. Hubby knows if the crops fail, he can pay the taxes from the interest on his Government bonds.

KEEP A STIFF UPPER-LIP; A Woman From Minnesota; 1931

There's so much talk nowadays about hard times that it would be really discouraging if we listened and believed all we hear. Are we as bad off as we like to make believe? Don't most of us have three meals a day, shelter, decent clothing, and a car?

Certainly we don't have as much as we would like to have, and we don't make the money we did while the war was going on, but after every war there's a period of unrest, lower prices, and less buying. It costs money, much money, as well as lives, to win a war, and the people have to pay in taxes to make this up. Most of us know little about really hard times such as the people of European countries are having, or even those of our own cities. They are much worse off than we are.

So let's not go around with long faces, talking of "hard times." Let's keep a stiff upper-lip, make over our old clothing for the children, save where we may, without sacrificing the health of the family, and help Friend Husband all we can. Let's do the best possible with what we have, and see what a happy home we can make.

THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD; by Winnifred J. Mott; 1935

They want to know my business in the old neighborhood.
They give advice about the things I shouldn't do--or should.
But all the while I sort of feel they mean it for my good.
And I can't get angry, somehow, at the old neighborhood!

They borrow--how they borrow! in the old neighborhood!
But when it comes to lending, they are, oh, so kind and good!
And they'll do a favor quicker than most anybody would--
For they feel an interest in me--in the old neighborhood!

There's a little world of sweetness in the old neighborhood.
And I wouldn't move away from it--no matter if I could.
Bless their hearts! I say sincerely. Bless their hearts with every good!
For with all my heart I'm grateful for the old neighborhood!

THE FARMER'S WIFE PONY CLUB QUILT ON SEWING WITH NANCY

http://video.wpt2.org/video/2174526096

In September of 2011, I taped a five minute segment on the PBS television show, Sewing With Nancy. She and her crew are so nice and helpful and make a terrifying experience *almost* fun. Above is a link to this short segment.

FEET ON THE EARTH, Part 2 of 2; Dr. Poling; 1939

Greer is 125 miles from the railroad, and the mail comes in three times a week. The only telephone connection with the outside world is by courtesy of the Forest Ranger. I haven't seen a newspaper for five days and I am a little anxious concerning foreign affairs; but yesterday and again today I caught my legal limit of trout, and as I write, the Little Colorado is singing loudly just outside my window. Across the deep canyon, the towering yellow pines have marched right into the heart of the moon. The quaking aspens, sister trees to the white birches of New England, are spectral fingers in the silvery light. I am strangely content. One of the year-round residents, whose family built Greer's first cabin forty years ago, remarked when a visitor complained about the remoteness: "People who want their mail more than three times a week shouldn't come here anyhow."

Well, there are still some things more important than the news--which is, of course, saying a great deal. The men and women who cherish the pioneer traditions of America and who live on the soil--East, West, North or South--are at times a vivid reminder to those of us who come from the cities that a man's life "consisteth not in the things he possesseth." Sharlot M. Hall, who was born on a Kansas farm and who, when twelve years of age, rode a Texas pony behind the covered wagon of her parents down the Santa Fe trail to Arizona territory, has written this philosophy for life into a single, noble verse:

"Greatness is born of greatness,
And breadth of a breadth profound;
The old Antaean fable
Of strength renewed from the ground
Was a human truth for the ages--
Since the hour of the Eden-birth,
That man among men was strongest
Who stood with his feet on the earth."

FEET ON THE EARTH; Part 1 of 2; Dr. Poling; 1939

We came to Greer, Arizona, ten minutes ahead of the thunderstorm that ushered in the 1939 rainy season. The little Mormon community, at an elevation of eight thousand feet on the shoulder of "Old Baldy" in Arizona's White Mountains, had been praying for this storm. Our arrival was accepted as a good omen. The lad who rode on the running-board of our over-loaded car and directed us to the commodious log cabin that was to be our August vacation home told us what the rain meant to vegetables, grass--and fishing. The latter was our chief concern but, knowing what the coming of seasonal rains means to the great Southwest, we were enthusiastic over the promise of bumper gardens and good grazing.

When we offered our guide the money we thought he had earned, he was embarrassed, but he definitely declined the coin. "No," he said, "that's all right. But if you need worms, I dig them--forty for 10 cents." Right there the West began!--no gratuities and a clear distinction between neighborliness and a reasonable charge for services rendered.

A little later the boy's father, who runs the general store, sold us a "fricassee chicken" for $1.25. He didn't figure the weight, and he apologized for the price. It took me back to my boyhood, when the neighbor who specialized in these same "fricassees" would say, "Twenty-five cents--and you catch her." To this day I have difficulty in figuring poultry values by weight, but that six-pound Mormon hen was worth the price.