The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-12-11

How many of you, gentlemen, have
on hand at this time at your respec-
tive homes, and keep on hand from
the first day of January until the
last day of December, a good sup
ply of good, dry stovewood for the
use of your wives and daughters in
cooking your meals? WE'LL you say,
wood is not a convenience, it is a
necessity. That's true, my friend,
but good, dry wood is not only a
convenience, but a luxury to most
women The wood, of course is a
a necessity, but the qualities of being
dry and easy to ignite and burn con-
stitute the convenience about it
which women so much admire. But
what I am driving at is, thatin order
to have a good supply of dry wood,
which so delights a wOman's heart,
is for you to build at once, if you
haven't one already, a good, sub
stantial woodhOuse and keep it
filled with good, dry wood, and you
can rest assured that you have taken
a worry away from your wife that
she viii greatly appreciate. How
often, on the contrary, do we e a
man go to the woodpile and split
out a few knotty sticks of wood,
not more than a dozen, perhaps, and
possibly it may be wet and soggy,
and then go off to his work, and the
woman will have to put on a long
apron and go upand down the fences
and pick up pieces of bark and chunks
in order to get a sufficient supply of
fuel to finish her meal. I am re-
minded just here Of a plucky Bed
ford county woman a few years ago,
whose husband split her just a few
sticks of wood to get dinner and
then went'Of with his hands to the
field to work. The good woman
went about her dinner, put on her
cabbage and beans and potatoes,
etc, and lastly her bread. But long
before she put on her bread the sup
ply of wood was exhausted and the
fire almost out; but she went on
with all the routine just the same as
though the fire was still burning
and the stove hot, and when the
hour came at which the vegetables,
etc, would have been we'll cooked if
the fire had been kept up, she took
up the entire dinner, each and every
article, without any regard to its
''doneness," and placed it on the
table and announced that dinner was
ready. Imagine the husbands CON
sternation on seeing this sight! Her
only answer to him in explanation of
the embarrassing situation was that
she had done all she could toward
dinner.
How pointed was that answer |!
Possibly she could have done more,
but she did all she ought to have
done. It is needless to say that after
that stove-wood was supplied.
Second, how is your supply of
water and have you that water
made as convenient for your family
IS you can? Next to good, dry
wood, I believe a woman appreciates
4 bOuntiful supply of good water,
and that water as convenient as pos
sible. Have youa cistern, and is it sup
piled with a good pump? Or, bet
ter still, have yOua small hand pump
over the kitchen sink which COM
municates with the cistern, so that
the housewife need not go out in bad
weather to draw a supply of water?
The expense is insignificant, and
the pleasure enjoyed by the wife is
great.
No more exertion is required to
pump water which is 500 feet away
from your house and twenty feet
below the plane than there would
be if the water were directly under
the pump and twenty feet below it.
This simple principle in philosophy
seems to be entirely forgotten when
it's employment would save ome a
great many miles of travel. By hav.
ing a check valve at the water the