Willmar tribune., 1908-04-29
The independence
of Farm Life

Hard times, hard times come again no
more"
What strikes the casual sojourner
most who comes from the city to the
country is the total absence of any
look of worry in the faces of the peo-
pie about him. He sees many types
of the dwellers in rural districts, and
all stages Of existence included, and
men and women, boys and girls, all
seem to be freed from that hungry,
anxious look, which shows so plainly
In the visages of the dwellers in large
towns. When they are through with
their work they show it in sense Of
having thrown of the cares of the
day. In the cities, and especially on
the sidewalks and in the cars, the men
and women who have been released
for a brief respite from their tasks
have hunted and careworn look, ap-
prehensive to a degree.
Strikes, lock-outs, competition, ap-
preaching old age, the rises in the
price of the necessaries in life, the
| cost of living, the dread grind that re-
duces men and women to machines
which must regulate their movements
by the tick of clock or the turn of a
handle to testify to unerring and slav-
ish punctuality- these, while they
may not so much bring wrinkles be-
fore ones time, make the twin
wraiths of fear and anxiety look out
of the eyes of most of those who
carry the burdens of work-a-day life
in the metropolis.
| What does the mere problem of liv-
ing mean in the country? We found
that out very quickly. Rent, including
an ample garden plot and extra
ground for potatoes, with all the fruit
we could use, including apples,
peaches, plums, cherries, grapes and
blackberries, with the use of long
and short-distance telephone, all the
wood we needed for fuel If we cared
to cut it, house of five rooms with
a pump and cistern for kitchen use,
and a fine we'll at the east porch, a
yard with shady naples about it, and
a lawn of blue grass all around the
house-all this for $11 month.
We could have kept chickens and
had COW and it would not have cost
us anything extra. l had the run of
the entire farm of 100 acres to hunt
on, and in summer time We could get
all the greens" we could use by sim.
ply walking into the pastures close by
ard gathering them.
Neat at the town, four miles away,
was ten cents a pound for the very
finest steaks, much finer than any
could get in Chicago at any price.
When the farmers around us killed.
We coul6 buy meat for from six to
eight cents pound. Butter was &c
cents a pound the year round. Milk,
eggs aud poultry were cheap, and
groceries the same as in the city.
With the hiring of a girl at $3.50 a
week, and with the addition to the
table of our gardening products, the
average expense for four of us was
from $35 to $3S a month. Did some
one say "clothes?" You don't wear
clothes in the country, you just use
up what you take from the city; and
for the most part go clad like Joseph
in coat of many colors.''
Hickory shirts for a man, brown
duck trousers and coat, no hat, collar
cuffs, or tie, or maybe a loose black
silk tie for the turn-down collar that
goes with the hickory shirt, and that
completes mans dress in the coun
try. My laundry bill for two years
for boiled shirts and linen collars
was about $3.50. All a woman needs
is her old clothes, duck walking suit
consisting of short skirt and a neat
fitting jacket (if she's got good fig
ure), plenty of shirt waists which car
be laundered at home, and good, stout
walking shoes. If she is wise enough
to cut out the stiff, high collars, hel
neck will shed all its wrinkles, as a
ducks back sheds rain, after she has
given her neck entire freedom for siz
months.
Did some one say "sickness?" You
don't Get sick in the country. You
get out of the habit of it, mostly
Plenty Of fruit, vegetables, pure waite,
and open air, have depressing effect
on the drug store trade and doctors
bills. We only telephoned for the doc
tor once in two years, when the baby
was soaring us into frenzy one night
and the message got mixed and he
didn't come after all. And the baby
was all right, at that
What can you do with $35 or $3S
in a large city? You can just about
get one of those CHASTITY Joints
called a modern steam.heated fat
where you either freeze or melt, take
your choice. Where there isn't an,
front yard, and no back yard to speak
of. And then comes your girl" your
gas bill, your telephone bill, you,
laundry bills, your grocery bills, you,
meat, ice, bakery, vegetable and othe,
bills, your downtown expenses, car
fare, this, that and the other expense
until you are driven like a galley
slave to make both ends meet, and
even then you are in debt usually al
the end of the year. And you have
been eating poor stuff and drinking
doubtful water, and paying doctors
bills, and you're nervous, anxious and
unhappy. What's the use? Honestly
what is there in it for you?
Now you can get a house in the
country in q good many localities fol
even seven dollars a month with
room for chickens, a cow and a place
to keep pig. You can have butch.
er kill your pig and have your winter