H - University of Illinois

^ Cook With
Gas—Anywhere
The Kitchenkook gives
you the advantages of city
gas service—no matter
where you live, for
Kitchenkook is a gas
stove. Makes and burns
its own gas from gasoline.
The clear blue flame of
the world's fastest cookstove
makes cooking a
delight. It lights with a
match, and in one minute
one or all burners are
ready for use.
Kitchenkooks are made in
16 popular models—from the
beautiful white porcelain range,
with built-in oven and broiler,
to the two-burner plate. No.
833, shown above, is an inexpensive
three-burner model.
Write for name of nearest
dealer and folder describing
this stove and 15 other popular
models.
American Gas Machine Co., Inc.
ALBERT LEA MINNESOTA
Branches in New York and San Francisco
' American Gas Machine Company, Inc.,
I Dept K 16, Albert Lea, Minn.
I Send me full particulars about Albert Lea
I Kitchenkooks, and name of nearest dealer. I
[ Name I
j Address I
i Town and State i
fetters f rom ©ur ^arm ^omen
A Vacation Made Easy
DEA R Editor: Last year we took a
vacation that lasted all summer and
well into the autumn, and yet the actual
"vacationing" took place on only one
day each week. John and I both
believe in the re-creating powers of an
occasional outing, and since we could
not lea ve our little farm for more tnan a
day at a time, we hit upon this plan.
Every Sunday morning last summer
we were up before dawn and while I
packed a well-planned lunch, John took
care of the chores. When everything
was in order for the day, our little car
slid down the shadowy driveway and out
into the open road. And with what joy
Ave went out to meet adventure!
Sometimes we had a trip planned , to
some resort or beauty spot, a visit to a
distant relative, to the mountains or the
lakes. Or again we started out with no
particular destination in view, just
following any road that took our fancy.
Sometimes after a strenuous week we
looked for a quiet spot where we might
just rest among Nature's beauties. A
fishing trip, perhaps. At least that is
what we called it—even though our idle
lines bobbed on the sunny waters all day
long and we never caught a thing)
Each of these trips brought its little
adventure, its bit of beauty, a lesson, an
amusing incident, a lovely memory to
store away and think about and discuss
all through the following week. Our
kodak album is filled with pictures that
tell the story of each of those trips, and
often during the winter we have taken
them out and laughed and talked them
over.
And best of all, we never missed a
Sunday at church all summer. It was
always possible to find along the way a
church of our denomination holding
services sometime during the morning.
We always came away refreshed , awakened,
with some old truth or some new
thought to take with us on our little
journey.—Mrs. M. T. C , New York.
Loving Things Into Crowing
DEAR Farmer's Wives: I wonder
how many of you read the article in
the April FARMER'S WIFE about Galli
Curci and said, "Pooh! singing to her
flowers doesn't make them grow."
Now, I believe the singing helps a good
deal as the singing is her way of telling
them she loves them and love will go a
long way towards making flowers,
vegetables or chicks grow, I know.
I can't sing, but I can talk and I surely
love my vegetables, flowers, and chickens
and I tell them so. And they respond
by growing.
People say, "How do you grow such a
nice garden of flowers and vegetables?
It is too dry or too wet for mine to do any
good."
They just laugh and wonder how soon
they will have to send me to the insane
asylum when I say that I love them into
growing. Of course love alone won't
make things grow, but if you love anything
you are sure to do everything
possible for it.
It is the same way with my chicks.
I love them into living and growing.
Whenever I go among my chickens,
whether old or young, I am always talking
to them and looking to see if they
need water or anything else for their
comfort. I always get eggs, but just
? D ? ?
let me get sick and some one else care
for them and they can feed as I do, but
they don't get the eggs.
So if things don't grow to suit you ,
don't think of how much hard work
there is to it for what you get, but try
looking for the beauty in the growing
things and study them and Mother
Nature and you 'll soon find a difference,
not only in the way things grow but in
your own feelings, as you will find you
can do the same amount of work without
being utterly tired out.—A Lover of All
Growing Things, South Dakota.
Keep the Letters
Coming!
B EADING the letters sub-
*•*• mitted for this page is the
editor's most gratifying task. "
Not all can be published, unfortunately,
but every one brings
inspiration and helps more than
we can tell in our thinking and
planning for THE FARMER'S WIFE.
By all means keep them coming
through the summer!
And don't forget to vote for
the best letter this month. Many
voted for the April letters, Mrs.
A. E. A., Nebraska, winning the
$10 prize, with "A Kansas Homemaker"
a close second. The
other letters published win $3
each.
Manage the Man, Jiot the Hog
DEAR Editor : I read the letter from
Mrs. C. T. of Iowa in the April
FARMER'S WIFE with a mixture of feelings.
You will recall that one of her
fi rst problems after she, a town girl , had
been married to a farmer, was to cut and
put away the carcass of a hog which her
husband had just butchered and whose
carcass he brought into her kitchen.
She certainly is to be congratulated
for the way she went after that hog, but
again she will never come in for much
praise for managing her husband.
She should have put on her bonnet and
gone away for the day also and then
when they had bot h arrived home, she
should have smiled her sweetest and
said , "Now, how will we cut up this hog?"
Her husband, I believe, is a "mama's
boy" who has never grown out of the
notion that woman was made for his
express comfort. In the beginning
when love is young, it is so easy to mold
our husbands. It isn't necessary to keep
on with the spoiling process and grow
gray hairs.
A famous jud ge in a New York divorce
court once said that mothers were to
blame for most of the divorces, because
they do not prepare their sons to live
with another woman.
I think Mrs. C. T.'s husband has
"Master Farmer" stuff in him , but she
will have to do a lot of work with him to
bring it out.
If she ever has a son , I hope she doesn't
make the same mistake with him as she
has with her husband. His wife may
not be so "gritty," but may take the
easier way, the divorce court.—A Farmer's
Wife Who Doesn't Chore and Whose
Husband Helps During the Meal Canning
Spasm.
In Green Pastures
It
T^EAR Friends: must have been
*-* the subject that attracted my attention
to the April letter, "Whence Cometh
My Strength," but it was not until I
read the whole letter that I felt such a
sweet sense of mutual understanding and
satisfaction. When I reached th,e sentence,
"No one can help me, but the
Divine One," I stopped and drank in the
full meaning, for it had the fullest meaning
to me. It expressed my own heartfelt
feelings—whether in sorrow or joy.
It was the crowning point of all—sweet
communion with God. It is the key that
unlocks the splendor of the buds and
blossoms and makes their beauty have
a double meaning. Because of this
knowledge the little birds sing with a
sweetness that seems to have a touch of
the Divine, and in it we find a broadness
that will enable us to love all mankind.
I thank Mrs. G. R. B., North Dakota ,
for such a soul-reaching thought.—Mrs.
C. A. W., Maryland.
Teaching Children Thrift
DEAR Farmer's Wives: Thrift! Tc
spend just a little less than you earn!
To save a bit, no matter how little you
earn. We cannot begin too young to
teach children the meaning of that word.
It spells all the difference between
success and failure.
For each of our children we began a
small bank account on their first birthday,
just one dollar. Then on each
following birthday we added as many
dollars as they were years old—two on
their second birthday, three on their
third , and so on. There are five little
tots around our table, but while they
were young and the sums small, the
burden was , not heavy. They soon
learned the meaning of their penny
banks and it became a natural act to
put all their pennies into it.
As they grew older they began to help
a little to make the sum in the bank grow.
Each spring they gather up the junk
that accumulates about a farm , rubbers,
rags, paper, scrap iron. Whatever the
ragman pays is divided among the five,
pro rata. During the summer I pay
them for all the stolen nests of eggs they
find—a cent for each egg. This is always
thrilling work. Many of our city
friends come out to the pastures for wild
raspberries, and the older children pick
for them. They are always well paid
and have learned to pick pails of clea n
berries. During the early winter , we
sometimes gather greens for Christmas
decorations and sell them at our local
merchant. Early fall and winter is the
time mice migrate to barns and houses,
so the children trap mice at a cent a
piece, while a rat brings them ten cents.
All this is only a bit at a time, but the
yearly total is sometimes quite surprising.
Each child is determined to have his
birthday money gathered "all myself"
by the time the great day comes around.
Best of all, the grand total, when the
son or daughter reaches majority, will be
enough for a year at college, or if business
opportunities seem preferable, it will be a
nest egg for a modest beginning. It will
never be a burden to anyone of us, and
since each child has had a hand in earning
his money, we earnestly hope that
he will have learned the value of money,
learned how to save, and felt the joy of
toil rewarded.—Mrs. L. LaB., Wisconsin.