The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-03-07
How Girls May Earn Money ut Home.
IYnnfh,R Corn naninn

How Girls May Earn Money at Home.
youths Corr panion.I
Gardening seems to me to be very fitting,
and ought to be congenial, work for girls.
1 do not mean the cultivation of flowers, for
that can only be done5 proftably near the
larger cities, and there sre so many green
houses already established that woman
| without capital and experience would not
stand an even chanee But for fruits and
berries and early vegetables there is likely
to be, in these days of GUNNER boarders,"
q market.
Not long ago saw two girls busy dig
gilg over the soil with trowels, where on
crop had been taken OF, preparing to put in
something else; and I'll venture to say
| that no ''hired man" would have done it
better. Whether they we.e day laborers or
were personally interested, there they were;
and it certainly was not so hard "a to scrub
/ floor, to wash or irou.
One girl tried strawberries JUST see what
she could do; did everything herself except
! the ploughing and narrowing. She set out
the plants in the spring, and By only the labor
of keeping out the weeds, cutting of the
runners twice, and watering them few
times, she had fine crop the fecond year,
which averaged twenty cents box.
Currsnts, rsspberries and blsckberries
sooa come into bearing, and so do grapes.
It ia easy enough to stsrt any of them, and
TO take care of them after that. They will
thrive in unoccupied corners and against
walls. There is unused space enough. tor
them around almost any house in the coun-
try. One lady WHO had cares enough SEEM
ingly to take al her time told me that in
odd hours for several springs she get out
grspe vines, trained and PTunsd them, and
even fashioned the trellises, till every nook
and corner about her house and o1thouses
had Its thrifty vine. She had read every
thing on the subject that she saw, and
/ learned what 20 do.
| She set out currsnt cuttings, and-whst
was great deal ba1der-conquered the cur
rant worms. 'Yes,r she said, 'one must
expee! to do that. If you have garden,
there will come an army of ,devsststors, in
the shape of worms aud bugs and nameless
flies. That is the law of the universe.
There ia isst so much overcoming to be done
in everything"
The same lady is zealously engaged in
peach raising, planting stones every autumn,
expecting in this way to keep her trees re-
plenished. AZ plant every year." she said,
sand let them stand q yeR where they
are, on tie principle of the survival
of the fittest, and then transplant
My friends laugh at me about my
peach orchard. But there is
three-yes--old tree coming into Soaring. 1t
has one peach-yOu see It'll"
Another lady told me that she hadilong
felt 1t to be a positive duty for ker to write
something about gardening for girls, hop.
ing that come who wish for bessthful, use
/ full occupation, with ell the sweet Influences
/ of open air life, might be induced to try it.
i Sne had a right to-speak, for she had her
lself done all kinds of garden work, sevenltos
tspading and trimming small fruittrees, and
che thought Ehe ought to know how TO graft.
Che was so sisnated tkst she was obliged to.
Il was a family which had been nu.1aerons
AID had seen more prosperous days. There
new remained 81 aged grandfather, o lame
aunt and this lady. They had an old place,
but no means of.support-
She was bright and fa.l of resources, and
thoLght she could turn the garden &c SC
count if she put her own hsnds to it. And
she did. Her arstsale that she ever made,
she said, was pick of green peas TO ths
butcher, which paid for ths:r stesK.
"Aud now" said ake, 81 planned as &Ry
fnanoier might. made tho garden yisld
two crops where it asas possible; and the
/ FIRST years actually paid ali our bills from,
that spot of ground. We bad studied every;
/ economy not to get in debt, AID here was q:
way of help, by which I protited the second
\ year, starting very esrly. alGo planted at
intervals, and planted late, so that always
had things from May tli November, from
the first lettuce to the celery for winter. 1t
wac q matter of bread and butter with US,
and did everything that a man gardner
would have done; and we did not have to
go without fresh meat, and stint ourselves
on sugar after that.
at was pleasant life, and / liked it.
There is nothing you are moro sure of than
that if yea put q seed into the sarth, doing
your part Alright, ali the skyey influences
will help you.
"You are not absolutely sure of anything
in this world, but you can rely on that wzsh
more certainty than almost anything else.
It is good to have all those CO. workers, sun !
and wind and rain and warmth aud tie I
dews of the night, and be 8 partner your
self in ell its growth.
eyes, there was daily pleasure, bssid IS
the practical sDd helpful avails-cueum-
Der twelve cents q dozen. shelled beans
twenty five cents peck tie season through,
celery shilling 3 head. But if q girl
would do it, she must get all false notions
out of her head as quickly as possible.
''You may depend upon it that a change
is taking place in the community about the
dignity and fitness of certain kinds of labor.
And no good reason can be shown why
girls should not engage in such employ
ment, and even in the lighter parts of farm-
ing; and there is good time coming for
those real girls who are not above it, who
love the country and mean to stay in it, and
to get all that is best and hsppiest out Of
life."
III you would like to know what two wo-
men of genius think about 1t, read Miss
Alcott's "Work," and Ella Farmans inter-