Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-12-21
HEALTH AMONG THE HOPS.
A brooklyn Young Woman's CISstty story
Of Her Health Trip.

Il worked in the hop fields lest sum-
nDer.' she said, and she looked 40
though all the good Of tlse hops and
none of their luxurious qualities had
been absorbed into her system. for her
face was bright and rosy, Der step elias
tic, and her n cheerful. She
was not at all like the fragile yoag
lady Of eight months ago, wlssse friends
in Brooklyn hardly expected 10 see her
alive in November Fer n whole
month, " she continued. II liped on n
farm neal Cooperstown. N. Y, and
picked hops almost from dawn to dusk
every day except Sundays. The farm
or was glad to hire me for my board
and lodging. Four other girls and
two yonug men were engaged on the
same terms. We were all more orless.
~acquainted with each other in Brook
Ign. so il was not exactly like going
alone among strangers. Of course it.
would have seemed a great deal moro
refined if we had paid the farmer for
the privilege Of picking his hops, but
had we done so the object for which we
isolated ourselves so far from home
would not have been achieved. Hot
would never have had the moral cour-
age TO make his guests and patrons
work against their wills. AS matters
were arranged. he left a great deal to
his wife, and, l can tell you, she show
ed us very little consideration. She
was determined to get the full value
Of heF milk and weak tea, and was not
disposed TO give us her fat pork and
beans without a fair equivalent or to
allow us TO eat the corn bread of idle
ness She called us every morning at
daybreak, and she was not to be de-
MED We had 10 walk three-quarters
of n mile to the hop fields, and il was
necessary, she said, for us TO be astir
early.
I'VE did not mind this much on
warm mornings, but when the breath
of frost'was on the atmosphere il was q
dreadful thing TO be told TO get up
from not too comfortable beds,
and to know that we had no alterna-
tive but to obey. However, it Was not
so bad when we were once up, and
when the sun got well up, too, we
grew quite cheerful, for the morning
air in tho northern part of the state is
very bracing. 1t was like bathing at
Coney Island on a chilly day. After
the first dip the agony is over. But
washing in the icy spring water was a
terrible ordeal. Once | asked the
farmers wife TO let me have a little
warm water in my bedroom, but the
proposition, which she declined frigid-
ly, so shocked her that ] was afraid she
would punish me by giving me no
breakfast; but she only marked her
displeasure by combining me to three
slices of corn bread, which was bad
enough, for my appetite at that time
had grown cut of all ladylike proper
tions, and l usually consumed five
slices.
'One young man. whose hair and
mustache were of n beautiful seal
brown color, said hat he would allow
his beard to grow rather than shave
with cold water; but we were all amaz-
ed. to see the bristles on his cheeks and
chin coming out quite red. He was
very much mortified, and when the
other young fellow laughed ut him,
and lectured him about the evils of
f~orgetfulness, he packed up his traps
and went away two weeks before the
formers hops had all been harvested.
OhtpOutoS We udu sOllc IlSLlS tUdt
we always maintained. We insisted
on not being separated from each other
in the hop fields, and we ate our lunch
together among the vines. 1t was
very pleasant, for we could sing songs
and talk and tell stories, which we
should not have cared TO do if we had
been obliged to work side by side with
the paid laborers, many of whom we're
tramps, pure and simple. To them the
farmer used language that seemed to
me to DO sometimes unnecessarily en-
phatio. TO us he spoke more politely;
but this was the only distinction he
made. He was as careful in seeing
that We turned in our full complement
of hops every evening as he was to get
the value of his money from the men
ana women to whom ne palo Jneir'
wages at the end of each day.
Tho fare mt meals was, OF course,
execrable, but hunger is u good sauce.
and we all ate heartily. Next season
shall try TO make up a party of delicate
Young ladies, and take them to the
hop fields in search of health. / shall
lay in a stock of biscuits and canneds
provisions to assuage nay hanger in my
bedroom or among the vines, so that
the farmers wife will not have reason,
TO regard me with a strong ~reproaeh.
full eye at meals, rs though she thought
[ worked harder at the table than In
the field"