The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-08-29
COUNTRY GIVING.


In these days of spasmodic giving
it is truly pleasant to find people VIII
are systematic with their charities
At Christmas and Thanksgiving man
women living on farms where every
thing is plentiful in the way of food
! feel constrained to fill baskets wit
good things and send them to peopl
who are unfortunate but during tn
rest of the year they are apt to forge
all about the poor. Indeed the very
fact that food is abundant on farm,
makes the owners careless abou
sharing their blessings. One woman
when asked if she ever gave the rura
letter carrier basket of the apples
which were rotting in the orchard be.
cause she could not possibly use
them, replied that apples were too
common to give to any one. They
were common to her, but she found
--s---.-AI 4is "a
cid send apples to him in return for
many favors, were heartily thanked
for their kindness.
One country woman has on her list
several old people, not living on char
| ity, but who must exercise the strict
est economy to live within their mea-
ger means, and whose food consists
of the cheapest things that can be
bought. Every time this woman
goes to town she takes basket to
one or the other of her friends filled
with good things that would otherwise
go to waste on the farm. There is
scarcely farm of any size in the
country that does not grow too many
vegetables and fruits for the use of the
family, or produce that canuot go to
market. Windfall apples, that would
otherwise go to the pigs, find their
way to the baskets for the old people,
and it does not cost one penny to keep
them supplied with this wholesome
fruit all summer and fall. It does
not pay the farmer to pick up one or
two bushels of apples each day to sell
at twenty or thirty cents bushel be-
cause they are bruised and imperfect
and will not command higher prices
so they go to waste unless used in the
family or given away.
In the same way The surplus peas,
beans, cabbage and other products go
to the old people, filling their hearts
with gratitude. For cooking, burst
ed head of cabbage is quite as good as
a solid one, but no grocer will buy
bursted cabbage. Often the last of
the peas or the beans are picked and
found insufficient for the large family,
SO into the basket they go along with
beets and green corn. Very often in
driving through the country one may
see rows of beets and cabbage, as we'll
as other vegetables, left out, because
the family has heen supplied, for
frost to destroy. There are many
poor people who would be glad for the
things the farmer throws away, and
:ttrcrnsr---r- -------s--'zzE'- "
At butchering time a little of the
bone meat goes to the old people, and
they are always delighted with such
pieces as rich folks would refuse to
look at in market. Backbone, liver,
pieces of the head and neck, and
scrap meat can be frozen and kept for
weeks. OF course this farmers wife
gives away ribs and sausage and fine
pieces of beef occasionally, but the
scrap meat is always welcomed. In
many country homes thechickens get
the scraps, or they go to waste.
Meat is good for chicken, but it seems
too bad that many worthy old people,
who seldom taste anything but the
poorest fare, should not be fed as we'll
as the farmers chickens.
When eggs are cheap, remember
your humble friends with dozen or
two. You who have such an abun-
dance of good things can scarcely
know what it is to live on CORN meal
and potatoes and hominy or other
cheap foods constantly. An old wo-
man who received large fresh loaf
of bread with a pat of sweet, new
butter sat down to cry over her luxu-
ry. She had been living on corn
bread made without eggs and cheap
molasses, so it was no wonder the un-
accustomed treat brought tears.
Get into the habit of giving, and it
is wonderful what you can find for
your humble friends. The basket on
the shelf is a mute reminder of those
less fortunate than yourself, and one
after another the good things will find
their way to it. The cottage cheese
that was left from Saturdays dinner,
the cool lettuce that every one is tired
of, the radishes that are hurrying to
seed and must be eaten at once, the
half-dozen s-shaped eggs that could
not be sent to market. the little pail
offresh buttermilk, the few struggling
shoots of asparagus, and any one of
a dozen other things will make the
basket brim over and furnish Sun
day dinner very much appreciated by
appetites tired of the same things day
after day. Don't stop to say the old
people should be supported by their
relatives, or they should have saved
money when they were young, or it
is too much trouble to pack basket
each week, but give yourself the lux.
ury OF sharing your blessings with
others. 1t need not cost you penny,
but it will bring in rich returns in the
way of gratitude and the thought of
your duty done. .-Hilda Richmond, N
Country Gentleman.
TWO OF A KIND.
A tall man, impatiently pacing the