Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27

By J. H. S N Y D E R

call physician; or, in of fire, he
mon help. His family, too, much safer, the
assistance OF eghbors being promptly procurable
if danger of any kind threatens and it is said that
already the average tramp has become wary of
entering farm house where he knows there is
telephone The benefcent little instrument makes
end forever of The loneliness which hitherto has
been the curse of farm life and, cheap as it is, the
luxury inestinable is actually furnished for
nothing in many places, the butcher or the grocer
in the nearby town paying the rental of the instru
ment for any customer whose patronage amounts
to twenty-five dollars monthly.
AS of keeping the agricuturist in
touch with the world at large, the system of rural
free delivery surpasses even the telephone, and is
justly to be regarded the greatest boon
bestowed upon the farming population of this
country. 1t is conducted at almost no cost to the
Government, practically paying for itself
The system does not merely bring to the farmer
his letters every day, but provides him also with
daily newspaper containing the latest market and
crop reports and all sorts of fresh information that
is of value to him. 1t provides his entire family
with unlimited quantities of excellent reading
ter of all kinds, such may be obtained in these
days at cost of next to nothing. In the widest
sense, it affords whereby intelligence is
dfused and, thanks to the education thus OBJ
tanned, the agrculturist is enabled to improve his
methods, to produce larger and better crops, and
sell his products for more money.
Farm Women Study Styles
LIS wife subscribes to fashion journal, which
u
that she, and her children also better dressed
than they used to be- But these of course are only
a few of the benefits conferred by the opportunity
of communication with the outside world which is
represented by the neat little painted box attached
to post, in company with dozen others like it, at
the junction of the nearby cross roads
The farmer in these latter days has come to be a
of electricity extensive scale Along
the trolley lines which fairly grdiron parts Of
the country-as, for example, in Indiana and Ohio
and sections of Pennsy lvana-the rural residents
supplied by side wires with a current, which
they utilize for great variety of purposes. Thus
in such regions finds the ingenious agrculturist
no longer "hayseed," but an up to date citizen
of the world illuminating his dwelling and barns
with incandescent lights, and in many instances
employing electricity power for running churns,
fans, and sewing machines.
In speaking of the trolley however, one refers to
a mechanical continuance which itself has been
an enormous blessing to the farmers For one thing
1t has enabled them to travel frequently, whereas
in former days they seldom went far away from
home If the rural resident happens to be not far
from electric road, he and his wife and daughters
instead of being obliged to go a long distance in
order to reach railway station, can step aboard
the cars at any time almost at their door, and be
whisked to the village few miles off, or even to
the distant city
Much freight and express business is now done
by the trolley companies, which transport back and
forth between town and country much of the
chandse which formerly was conveyed by wagon
Service of this kind has proved immense
venlence to the farmers, who thus enabled not
only to get their dry goods and groceries the
city easily and quickly, but also to send their pro-