The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1883-09-20
Girls on q Farm.

comes up whether any have ever tried to
manage q whole farm.
Yes, one of the best managed and best
paying of the smaller farms In certain
rocky New England town, is at this mo-
ment owned and is being carried on by
two maiden women, sisters.
Their father lost his property when
the younger was thirteen, and after that
he hired q farm, taking it on shares; hut
he seems to have made bad trades, was
unfortunate, and though he changed
about from place to place. did not better
himself.
Meanwhile the children scattered as
they grew old enough to take care of
themselves, the boys eventually settling
in life and having families of their own.
The three girls went to cotton factory,
where they worked until they had laid
by money enough to buy q small farm.
One died. and the two others took her
earnings and put with their own, and so
were able to accomplish the sacred pur-
pose of all those years of toll, and secure
place which should be . home for their
parents, now getting along in years.
It took nearly ali they had to pay for
it and buy some cattle to stock it with
80 they were not able to hire a man to
help. and it was clearly the duty of one
TO work ont of doors with her father,
while the other cared for the house.
The very small sum they had left they
put into savings bank for a "rainy
day" and then and there they began life
anew, owing no man anything, and re-
solved never to be in debt. The mother
was feeble. and the father not very
strong, so there was enough for these
two brave girls to do. Dorothy stayed
in the house, attending to the dairy and
general work; Rebecca went out with
her father into the fields, helping plant
and hoe and do the haying and harvest
ing; and in winter she took all the care
Of the barn to save him from exposure.
As he grew older. more and more de.
volved upon her, and for the last eight
years of his life he did nothing at all.
The farm has sixty acres, an orchard,a
pasture. fields for tillsge a,d moving,
and piece of woodland which supplies
the family with fuel-just enough land,
and none to spare. They do not have TO
buy wood. hay, grain, fruit or vegeta.
bles. They appear to have selected wise
ly, and their little "place" is all they
could ask for.
This last year they raised thirty bushels
of oats, fifty bushels of corn on the ear,
and thirty bushels of sizable potatoes be
sides many small ones suitable for feed
ing out to the COWS. They dried one
hundred weight of apples, and sold over
one hundred pounds of butter. having
on hand at the time, they told me, =
hundred and twenty-five pounds. wait
ing for rise in the price. Besides they
had some profit from eggs; and they had
boiled down two barrels of cider ready
to be used in "Shaker apple sauce"
These we're the CHEF items. The hay is
fed out on the place.
They keep four COWS, and generally
and the dairy part of the farming the
most profitable. Their butter is so nice
that it always commands the highest
price. 1--WE have to plan according to
circumstances about our produce" said
Rsbecca, land watch the market as men
would"
Neither of them has ever held pillow or
driven, moved or reaped, but they have
done nearly all other kinds of farm work.
They hire . man to do the harder part.
And they ask the advice OF some expert
enced neighbor of the other sex, about
''laying down. piece of land, and the
rotation Of crops" They manage care.
fally, and sell what they have to spare.
They have now spent by far the greater
part OF their lives on that sunny little
farm in the hollow, and are getting to
be elderly women.
They have more than they hoped for
a home for the parents, who both lived
to be over ninety, and who had no cares
or debts after these hlial daughters took
matters in their own hands; and they
have had Q good living. and are better
81 than when they began. For, besides
owning the land and the modest house
with its substantial and well-kept an
tique furniture, they have considerable
money out at interest. "enough to carry
them both through"
They have q common purse 40 far as
their mutual interest is concerned. but
II one wishes to buy book, or subscribe
for . Newspaper. or 60 on . journey, she
uses her own money. They have lsiore,l
70 harder than thousands of women who
iAnWe nothing 10 show for il, while they
Asvs prospersd IN every way. They are
sound-mindsd and intelligent, and have
~ respect Of every one.
They were healthy and cheerful. and
il i . pleasure to talk with them and to
80 their snug home. with its cosy ont.
buildings for the COWS and pigs and
poultry, and the picturesque bit Of gar
den and orchard, and tie outlying
AoIds.