The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-12-20
HEALTH AMONG The HOPS.
A Brooklyn Young woman's Chatty Story
OF Her Health Trip.

"a 1ouhS tnt csokS
or Her Health Trip.
----
II worked in the hop fields lest sum
mer." she said, and she looked rs
though all the good of the hops and
none of their injurious qualities had
been absorbed into her system, for her
face was bright and rosy, her step elias
tic, aud her manne cheerful. She
was not at all like the fragile young
lady of eight months ago, whose friends
in Brooklyn hardly expected to see her
alive in November. For a whole
month" she continued, II lived on u
farm near Cooperstown, N. Y, and
picked hops almost from dawn to dusk
every day except Sundays. The FARM
er 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 orlcss
acquainted with each other in Brook
l.yn, so it was not exactly like going
alone among strangers. OF course it
would have seemed n great deal more
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. He
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 10
his wife, and, | can tell you, she show
ed us very little consideration. She
was determined to get the full value
OF her milk and weak tea, and was not
ItSnpSaI to piyn m hn,. Eat ,,1ri, aud
beans without a fair equivalent or to
allow us to cat the corn bread of idle
ness She called us every morning at
daylrca!i, and She was not TO be de-
MED. We had to walk th~rec-quarters
OF mile to the hop fields. and it 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 a
dreadful thing TO be told to get up
from our not too comfortable beds,
and TO know that we had no altcrna-
tive but To obey. However, ii was not
so bad when We were once up, and
when the SUI got well up, too, we
grew quite cheerful, for the morning
air III the 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 Il
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-
II, so shocked her that WAS afraid She
would punish me by giving me no
breakfast; but she only marked her
displcasure by combining me to three
slices of corn bread, which was bad
enough, for my appetite at that time
had grown out OF all ladylikc proper
tons, and l usually consumed five
slices.
One young man, whose hair and
m%ustaclle were Of a beautiful seal
brown color, said that he would allow
his beard to grow rather than shave
with cold water; but we were all anlaz-
cd to see the hristlcs on his cheeks and
chin coming out quite red. He WAS
very much mortified, and when tito
other young fellow laughed at him.
and lectured him about the evils OF
forgctfulncss, he packed up his traps
and wont away two weeks before the
formers hops had all been harvested.
OF course we had some rights that
we always maintained. We insisted
rn not being separated from each Other
III the hop fields, and we ate our luucli
together among the vines. 1t WA.
Very pleasant. for we could sing songs
and talk and tell stories, which WI,
should not have cared TO do if we had
been obliged TO work side by side with
the paid laborers, many of whom were
iramps. pure and simple. To them the
farmer used language that seemed IL
me to be sometimes unnecessarily EN-
phalic. To us he spoke more politely;
but this was the only distinction lie
made. He was rs careful in seem
that we turned in our full complemen'
OF hops every evening as he was to GET
ana women to Whom he paid rnclr
wages at the end of each day.
''Tho fare al meals was, OF course.
eNccrable, but hunger is Il good sauce.
aud we all ate heartily. Next season
shall try to make up II party of delicate
young ladies, and take them to the
hop fields in scarcl, of health. | slai
lay in a stock of biscuits and canned
provisions to assuagc my hunger in N,
bedroom or among the vines, SO thu;
the farmers wife will not have rcason
to regard me with a strong %feproaeit-
full eye at meals, us though she thought
| worked harder at the table than in
the field