The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-06-06
BOYS GIRLS


II girls were brought up to it they would
astonish many people by their business-ske
capacity. And they ought to be brought up
to it. All nonsense for girls to think they
must have somebody to take care OF them
and support them. They have the same
mental faculties that boys have. They learn
their lessons in school just as well, too Is
there any reason why they should not go on
and earn money for themselves after that!
Indeed there is not.
Listen while we tell. you what some girls
have done. After you have read it, renlem-
Der that what girls have done, girls can do.
There was Helen Burdett, an Illinois girl
Her pspa had no son, and 50 brought Helen
up to be his boy, which was very sensible Of
him. She worked and played outdoors,
spent much time in the sunshine and became
strong, active and healthy. What a jolly
girl abe was-none of your pale, feeble, cor
set-waisted, back aching creatures who are
afraid Of getting tanna, and who have fit
II q mouse runs across the floor. Helen's
papa taught her to know the value Of live
stock and other property, how to buy and
sell, and how to employ hired men, and
raise wheat and corn. When she was IA
years old he lot her go and buy cow for
herself. She went out alone and selected the
animal and brought her home in triumph.
She came leading her home by rope "her
own self" The cow was valuable one, and
the girl got lot of money from her invest
ment Her papa was as proud OF her as he
could be. With all her business sense she
was refined, highly educated girl, too.
When the daughter was Is years DID, this
good, sensible father died. Then it would
have been all up with almost any other girl.
But Helen had been trained for business. She
planted the crops and went right on with
that farm just as the most intelligent man
in the country could have done. Among
other things, she bought Is head of cattle
She pastured them through the summer
and in the fall sold them for beef and
cleared over thousand dollars on them.
The moral is that any other girl can do
lust as well as this if she sets her head to
learning how to, and her father gives her a
chance.
Girls in the far west have wonderful energy
and good hard sense. Out in Nebraska and
Dakota they take up homesteadS and timber
claims from the government LAM Is, and III a
few wears own fine farm of $40 acres. IL they
plant trees upon l6O-acre claim and tend it
for a certain length of time it becomes theirs.
A homestead claim is also l60 acres. They
must build ''shanty" and cultivate the
land, and it becomes theirs ut the end Of five
years. Some of the smart Nebraska girls
| have built their shantieS with their own
hands. Farmers daughters out there often
| begin by teaching for small wages. They
save their money very carefully, and
| thus often pay their own way through
| college Then they teach again,
| and, having higher education, can
get better wages But they save their
| money in any case, take up land claims
and improve them with their earnings.
| Thus in few years they have both fine
| education and a farm. They are excellent
| scholars, excellent teachers and first class
| farmers, for they work faithfully and dc
| their best at everything they undertake.
! That is the way to succeed. There is nc
success without it. Any girl can take up a
| homestead and timber claim who is II years
| old. But they become teachers before that
| time, SO as to have some money and be
ready. These brave girls not all teachers,
| however Sometimes when they have I'm
| ished the district schools their fathers let
| them have little money, and they buy
COWS and calves and go to stock-raising.
They can begin this when very young-not
more than IL or Ia years old. With ordi-
nary luck, by the time they are 81, they can
really have considerable property of their
own.
These are the girls who are worth soma
thing. They are not weak and idle drones
One unmarried woman in Nebraska, not we,
old, is half owner Of creamery, has heI
farm Of 800 acres, is postmistress and has q
small store besides, connected with the
Office. She wears gold watch and drives q
ane horse and carriage, and is somebody
in that country. She has earned it all her
self, too.
This Is what young women in the country
have accomplished. Again the moral is;
What girls have done, girls can do