Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-21
LIFE IN WHEATF|ELDS
Stories of Harvesters on Their
 Summer Experiences.
A PRETTY GIRL AS A FARM HAND

Plucky College Maiden From wichi-
 ta. Kan, Who Did . Mans Work.
 Experiences of Youth With a
 Jack of All Trades-The Men Had
 Five Meals a Day and Best of Ev.
 erythins to Eat.
 Nearly score of the men who were sent to the Kansas harvest fields by A
 B. Janlison. superintendent of the state employment bureau. visited him recent ly. They had returned to Kansas City after the work ran out. and they were elated with their experience in the wheat. says the Kansas City Star They laughed at>the idea that the work was too hard One of the men had gained more than ten pounds in weight.
 That man had been working in a packing house at Kansas City, and he found the heat of the open fields trying at first The harvest work stopped for two hours in the middle of the day. however. and that respite each day tided him over until he became accus- toned to the sun.
 The men said that they had five meals day and were given the best of everything to eat One man said the farmer he worked for produced a case of beer the day the harvest ended.
 An idea of the fierce pressure of the harvest work" said one young man. may he gained from the fact that when I got there girl was holding down my iob-and she was a college girl at that. Furthermore. and sur mounting everything else, she was pret, ty.
 "YeS. sir. the girl was a student In one of the colleges in Wichita and was visiting a friend whose father was a wheat grower. When she heard the farmer deploring the scarcity of men and signifying his willingness to pay g day she volunteered to do a mans work on the header box She knew how to drive and how to handle pitch fork. as many a Kansas girl does who also knows how to finger piano or paint strange flowers on china.
 "1 need the money to help me through college. and can do the work, said the girl.
 But what will people say about you and about us for letting you do such work:' protested her girl friend.
 Nonsense. said the wise old farm CT. who admired the girls spJnk. If she wants to work she can And so she did her part for four days until and others arrived upon the scene and there were plenty of men for all the jobs.
 Of course felt small in supplant. ing a girl. and if my back had broken or my hands blistered to the bone would not have dared to squeal."
 After had been in the fields two days" said another youth, T began praying for rain. It was not that thought the crops were suffering. but I knew I needed lay of badly Well. 1t did rain. And with that rainy day ' WAS glad to see the work begin again All the real thoroughbreds of this lit tie country were in that bunch. No matter what subject came up there was some man in that crowd who knew more about it than any other 1 man in Kansas.
 T decided to shave off the beard ! that had accumulated during my whirI at the simple life One of the I other harvesters saw me whettfng my razor. All wrong He showed me 1 how. He was the only man be had ever seen who really knew how to sharpen a razor The motion is like this. not quick, but steady. Anything else ruins a razor Now it would split ! 8 hair Shave my neck and see how it goes said the expert.
 50 I shaved the wondrous blade i sharpener, and then I discovered an other remarkable thing about him. As I made hesitating stroke the razor : jumped from one hair to another with { an uneven movement.
 The razor is dancing on you re 
 That is because I have so much . in me- he replied. I at !. tract steel. have lots Of electricity { In me. I guess must have oJo volts A current strong enough to kill an ordinary man does not affect me. and ! I cannot feel an ordinary battery
 After I had finished shaving this [ electric eel he conhded to me that he was the only man who knew how to l shave another with q touch soft enough i to put him to sleep. I lei him shave ]! me. and couldn't sleep for a week. i my face was so sore He simply tore | the beard or. Later I heard him tell . Ing the farmer that he could stick pig. scald f. and scrape it quicker than any other man living. He was 2 butcher t- trade. recognized his touch then. Later on be was trained pastry cook and an expert grain stacker that could pack the middle full That man -4z onl- Samrla of the