The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-15

cultural observation-disclosures for
Market-The Seed End of Potatoes
Dairy Don'ts.
A few years ago a humorous picture
appeared in the papers intending To show
the comparative effects of city and coun-
try life on health. In one part were seen
two boys. the city one being small, pale
and thin, Juggling a great armful of
books and seemingly over-taXed in body
and mind; the country boy was the en-
bodiment of health and strength, broad
shouldered, strong Of limb and intent
only upon outdoor sports. In the other
picture was given a plimpse Of these
boys after a half century had passed.
The reversal of their conditions was
startling. Our stirring boy was a thin
old man; too old for his years. bent
nearly double and leaning on a cane. The
city boy had become a man Of alder
manic proportions, sleek and well fed in
appearance. and swung his umbrella
aloft as he stepped briskly down the
street. "Only D. picture" you say. Yes,
and yet truth enough in il to give it
point
There is a tradition that farm work is
healthful, but while we have no con-
elusive statistics. no one will probably
deny that ill-health is fully as common
in the country in proportion to pOpula-
ton, as in the crowded cities. Be the
figures what they may IL is evident that
the rate of mortality, the prevalence Of
diseases and the tendency TO grow old
early in life are unduly great in the
country.
In the picture to which we have re-
ferred the farmer at sixty is bent in
form and an old man. We can almost
hear him say, Hard work broke me
down." In some instances such state
ments are correct, but in more cases IS
it not true that disregard of the laws
of health has done more harm than
hard work? The farmers work is
usually labOrious, and it is done under
the direct rays OF the sun, and IL is nee
essary to throw off coat and. vest, and
thin clothing is usually worn. When we
become heated and every pore is open
we seek the shade, and If there is cool
breeze the resting is delightful, but then
1t is that we begin to grow old The
aches and soreness that follow severe
labor are too often only the result of
the abrupt changes we make from heated
labor to rest in the cool shade. Bathing
in cold water while the blood IS heated
from a hot days labor and sleeping in
a draught are two more common mis-
takes in many homes. If farmers would
keep their work from making them old
too early in life they must observe the
laws of health.
1t is granted that some farmers grow
old too fast as a result of sheer hard
labor even when they do not disregard
the laws Of health in the ways men
toned, but if some observation is worth
anything, more country women are
broken down in health from this cause
than are their husbands. l am aware
that this statement is likely to arouse
al, tone fV-rarf hHuf nsa
a few things that need to be said. While
life is growing easier for men on the
farms, and while luXuries of the last
decade have become the necessities Of
the city home, tending to make its mis-
tress' home-life more pleasant and easy,
woman's work in the farm house is lag
ging woefully in the rear. Hot meals
can only be gotten on hot stoves, cellar
steps are as long as ever, and buckets
Of water and coal are no lighter. Houses
are built larger and household duties are
nearly endless. In a great many homes
an endless mOnotOhy reigns.
The result is care-worn faces and bent
forms, too often, at age when the
city dame, in perfect form, makes her
afternoon calls and looks as young as
many exceptions. Observe the wood
pile covered with snow, and the wife,
in a glow of perspiration from work
over the wash tub or hot stove, fishing
for that wood in the cold: or, observe
the wood house fifty feet from the
kitchen, with steps down from the
kitchen, and up again the wood house.
Observe the pump thirty feet from the
door, letting the cold air chill one every
time a bucket of water is drawn OBJ
serve the housewife tramping through
soft mud to the barn to milk the cows
or slop the pigs. Is It not all wrong?
Is 1t any wonder that ill-health is found?
Why not have the water in the porch
or kitchen? Why not have the wood
house near the kitchen and on a level
with it? / undertake to say that if the
average man would work over the stove
for one winter month, when winds are
raw and chilling, and expose himself in
the doing of errands in the open as
thousands of women do, they would
be hopeless consumptives or think they
were. 1t is just a little hard to tell
what a woman's work on the farm is,
and there is no desire here to define it,
but in the interest of health the plea
is made for less exposure that a little
foresight or change will secure. If wood,
water, etc, must be carried, why not
make the distance as short as possible
and the exposure little as can be?