River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-04-29

in the city. Susan Wen be rich. -
But there II be drawbacks. Sug.
gested Mrs. Pratt.
"Oh, yes, lashins and 'slashins OF
them. There'll be lions in the way,
but Wen slay them with pluck and in.
dustry"
Don't mix metaphors" corrected
Mrs. Pratt.
"Wen, l say it doesn't matter"
There will be so much for us to
learn.
But we can't do more than go to
the old woman's home at last, even il
We fail. and Wen do that if we stay
here. We can learn anything anybody
else can, Susan.
The two women were very much IN
earnest.
Wen succeed or die trying" they
said.
They shook hands on that too. The
rest OF the winter they skimped down
to the last notch and saved S25 more
apiece. They had then $3.50 to begin
to set up housekeeping. l fancy they
had almost as much pleasure planning
out their home and their chicken
houses As they did after they had made
their venture a success.
For they did MAKE it a success
March l they took the leap. They
felt as if they were jumping off the
end of a pier in the night, into water
of unknown depth. 1t did require
courage.
But they jumped. Their plan prob
lY required more talking over than if
men had been starting into it. They
got books on poultry raising.
They leased for five years three
acres of ground, with a house of three
rooms on it. That was their home,
kitchen, bedroom aud sitting room
They meant to devote their wealth to
their poultry yard. They selected a
place near enough a good sized town
20 afford a market for their products.
Such simple make-shift buildings as
they could do with at first were
erected very eheaply. There was the
awful possibility of failure, and the
old woman's home was always before
them. Mrs. Pratt read from her hen
book:
IAN acre of ground will be enough
yard room for 100 fowls. No more
than fifty should be kept in one house.
For that number building should be
thirty feet long, ten feet wide, eight
feet high in the front and five feet in
the rear, with a stopping roof.
:'Susan. how does that striker"
Il think understand it, p" murmured
her friend.
There must be separate apartments
for the sitting hens, and
"Oh, come, nOw3 Must we have
parlor bedrooms for the old hens?"
something like that, | take it. Lis
ten: There must be such provision
that the brooding fowls cannot get to-
gether and quarrel"
Like women in a boarding house, ;"
murmured Pratt.
"And fight and break their eggs,
and so learn the bad habit of eating
them" continued Pratt
She put the book down.
wen begin with 100 hens Each
one will make profit of 81 n year
There will be 500. We can't live on
that.
There's our vegetable garden and
our bees.
Yes, we might raise nearly all our
own eating. It's one of the aspirations
of my life to have an onion bed. "
They bought scrub chickens at first,
and all the Plymouth Rocks they could
afford. Their early chicks were out of
the shell in the beginning of May.
Miss Platt undertook to remove her
first hen from the nest 1t seemed to
her that fowl was out of temper She
edged around to the rear. The hen 5
head was around before her.
"Quaw aw-aw-kr' said the hen.
"Oh DEAR said Miss Platt.
If lions are in the way Wen slay
them, said Mrs. Pratt
Miss Plat put out her hand timidly
"Chicky, chicky! Henry. henneyrn
she coaxed. She patted the hens tail
to pet her.
Chicky darted outher beak and took
a piece out Of Miss Platt's finger
Mercy she exclaimed. III didn't
know hens would bite Susan, did
you?"
mo" replied Susan.
Miss Plat retreated She put a strip
of plaster upon the wounded finger and
put on pair of gloves. Pale and deter
mined, Susan following close behind,
she advanced to the charge again.
She drew a long breath, put out both
hands together, and captured the
enemy. But it was long time before
Mrs. Pratt ventured to pet a setting
hen.
The two wsmen worked hard. They
could not have lived without their
garden. But they did all the work in
it themselves, except blowing. Their
bones ached and their hands were
bliStered. Sometimes at night they
were so discouraged that they hardly
dared look one another in the face lest
each should guess the others thoughts.
But they had burned their ships behind
them and could not 90 back if they
would.
They found for one thing that veg
etable gardening could be learned
out of books, with patience and hard
trying. The town gave a market for
all the vegetables they could sell.
People who bought their lettuce and
cauliilower, recommended them to their
neighbors. They had everything first
class. Their celery was of the whitest
and crispest, and had the true hickory
nut flavor Their cabbage heads were
a poem, as cabbage heads 90, so solid
and symmetrical and sweet were they.
Miss Platt's onion bed panned out IA
mously. She planted the Quee variety
for earliest. and sold the tender green
lunches at the beginning of summer.
There was this about their produce
that helped get it a market. Every
thing they sold was so clean and fresh
and tastefully arranged that it looked
more like flowers than something to
eat
In the fail they planted out a large
strawberry bed. ~March, a year came
around. Miss PlPtt summed up.
Two hundred chickens on hand,
which is one hundred ahead. A year
hard work, good health, good temper,
the best of everything to eat-and no
clothes.n
I'VE don't need new clothes, Mar
ian. Only that woman is happy who
has not a reputation in society to
maintain.
That spring the greatest event of
their lives happened. They bought out
and out the three acres of ground, with
the little old house Of three rooms.
They borrowed money from building
association to pay for it, gave the as
ISOLATION mortgage on the property,
and they began paying the money back
by weekly installments. The sum
amounted to more than they had paid