The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-04

These Women Are Not Poor, and
Not Used to the Work, but Their
Husbands, Fathers and Brothers
Are Fighting in the Far-OR
Philippines, and They Are Put
ting I'm the Crops.
The Philippine war has made not only
Kansas heroes but Kansas heroines, too
Out In Kansas, while Funston and his
friends are fighting In the Philippines,
their wives and sisters and sweethearts
are proving their loyalty to love and
country in novel and most remarkable
way.
They have taken the place of the men
at the plow. on the harrow and on the
moving machine. Common as field WORK
Is among the peasantry of Europe 1t is al
most unknown in America till now.
The singular part of it is that these
women are not poor and they are not
used to work. They are women whose
husbands and brothers and fathers own
the farms, abandoned for the war.
Mrs. Mary Semple, who is working a
25O-acre farm fifteen miles south of
Wichita, is the mother of Corporal Frank
Semple, who swan the Marilao river
with Funston when that daring colonel Of
the Twentieth Kansas regiment won vic
| tory and fame b his brilliant act.
Semple was wounded in the head at the
| time but he wasn't killed. It's hard to
| kill a Kansan they say at Manila
His mother is a widow, but she urged
her eldest son to join the army, and serve
| to take care of the farm while he was
away at the war. And she has kept her
promise to the letter. Jennie Semple is
| the prettiest girl in Kansas and she Is
| so proud of her big brother that she will
| 1ngly left school to take his place at the
| plow this spring. The photographs on
this page, snapped for the G l O e, show
her at work in the field; also as she was
on her eighteenth birthday, one week be-
| fore the war broke out.
| A year ago she was thinking only of
dancing parties and atrip to New York.
ST don't mind it Bit she says now,
80 long as 1t let's brother Frank fight
| for his country.
Another Of these brave, high-hearted
| heroines at home is Miss Lulu Funston,
| cousin of Brigadier-General Funston, the
| hero. She is now overseeing his farm In
Allen county, and actually blowing and
planting.
All the while the country has been ap-
| plauding General Funstons dash and
| bravery in the far-off Philippines she has
| been quietly at work helping to carry on
| the work on his farm. She has shrunk
| from even being mentioned. All she
| wants is to have people overlook her and
| praise her hero-her cousin.
And these are only a few instances of
woman's patriotism and devotion which
may now be found all over the state of
| Kansas.
1t is heroines' work and nothing daunts
them from five hundred acre unplowed
| field, which must be titled, to the hauling
| Of load Of hay.
\ Five hundred Kansas women, some old,
| some young, many rich and few really
| poor, are in the fields today working and
telling from dawn to dusk All because
! they think it is their duty
| When the call for soldiers was issued
| there was no class of people quicker to
| respond than the Kansas farmers AS a
| result the Twentieth Kansas regiment
| was soon organized and Fred Funston
| placed at It's head. Now Funston has
been promoted from a colonel to brig
| adter-general and many of the other
| Kansas farmers have had brevets added
| to their ranks.
| The Twentieth Kansas while stationed
at San Francisco last fall was the laugh
| ing stock Of the whole country.
| They were called "Sockless Simpsons"
| Now they are all heroes.
| There was only one thing which marred
| the happiness Of these farmer lads when
| they sailed away to Manila.
| Who would do their farm work while
| they were away if the war lasted till this
summer. 1t was true men We're plentiful
mo 10 ;lyo n;
| hero" This worried the Kansan. He
| cared not for the jeers and cries of the
| testers. The question which disturbed
| him at leaving his land was How will
| the farm get along without me?" The
| letters that came home about Christmas
| time were filled with anxious Inquiries as
| to how the folks intended running the
| fern. For running one Of the great Kan
| sas farms is not like running a flower gar
| den. They cover square miles. They are
| vast and the work to be done is complex
| and hard, and the duties are multitude
nous. These letters were read and talked
about between the mothers and wives
and sisters and sweethearts They, too,
had thought Of the same thing. Some
of them were still at school.
Then Miss Mary Dix, of Wilson county,
came forward with a bright idea.
Chris, Well do the work ourselves
What work we can't do we'll hire men
This scheme Travelled on wings of wind
and soon every girl who had relative In
the Kansas regiment who was a farmer
and three-quarters of them were-was en-
thusiastic over the plan.
They signed a paper agreeing to attend
to the duties Of their farms while the SOL
diers were away, and that little agree
ment soon had nearly 500 names attached.
This information was sent to the Kan
sans in the Philippines. That is why no
cry to come home has been heard from
the Kansans. They are content to STAY
and fight.
Long before the present term of school
was over this year girls packed up their
books and went home to the farm. Now
they are busy attending crops Miss
Dix says Of their work.
"Oh, there Is nothing remarkable about
1t. We are used to 1t now and as far
as 1 know all the girls enjoy 1t. We are
only doing whatsoever our hands find to
do It makes the boys out there feel
better
How do we know so much about farm
ing? Why, how funny There are not a
half dozen gilrs in America who could
MT do what we are doing. unless they
were sick. We have simply and literally
put our hands to the plough and havn't
looked back
Miss Dix's brother, Alva A. Dix, was
killed in the battle of Caloocan. He was
a private in Company D. Because of
his death Mary Wilson, his sweetheart
committed suicide. The sister was almost
Frustrated, but she did not give way to
her grief She says she will hereafter at
tend to the farm herself and care for her
parents. There are hundreds of girl farm
ers, such Miss Dix, whose brothers and
lovers and husbands have died in the
Philippines Hundreds more are doing
the hard farm work with lighter hearts.