Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-08-16

home town. She imagines herself
burning with genius for acting. per-
haps. and longs for the glare of the
footlights and the plaudits of the
crowd. or perhaps it is art in one of
its many DISCUSSES that Is calling her
to the artificial life of paved streets
and brick wails.
Occasionally it is the lights. the
music and the pleasures Of swiftly
flowing city life that attract the girl
from the country. but not often. The
girl who is a true daughter of the coun-
try is seldom deceived by the glare of
light whose shadow covers tears and
sorrow or the pleasure that Is but a
mask for pain. We are told that the
glamour of the city life is the force
that draws the country girls to town.
Nothing of the sort. There is little
glamour about the city for the healthy
girl. The first thought Of the country
girl when she finds herself in the city
Is "how dirty or .'how awfully crowd
ed" But Notwithstanding the dirt and
the crowds she often remains. She
stays because she is ambitious to have
career" There Is true hearted
farmer boy back home probably who
would be glad to take her into part
nership But in the past the girl has
seldom been taught to look forward
with pride to becoming farmers wife
or to regard a life on the farm as be-
ing career worthy Of her ambition.
This Is the natural outcome of the
conditions for the quarter of cen
fury when farmers were selling their
produce below cost. The lot of the
farmers wife was one of almost un-
relenting toll. as was that Of the
farmer himself. There was little to
tighten the monotony of the ceaseless
grind OF housework. Her horizon
was limited by the kitchen walls. and
her highest ambition was to keep the
boys out Of the ''best ROOM" 1t is
little wonder that she hoped for some
thing better for her daughters. She
saw unfolding in them her own girl
hood. and she dreaded to see them
spend their lives in the hopeless task
of keeping body and soul together as
she had done.
Her idea of city life was vague.
Most of the city women she saw
were well dressed. unwrinkled and
seemingly happy. They were living
the kind of life she would choose
for her daughter The toll of the
wives of the poorer laborers she did
not see. One of the main reasons
that all through this period the coun-
try looked up 10 the city aud the city
looked down on the country was that
country people saw only the best side
of the city and the city people saw
only the worst side of the country.
The change that has come about In
country l.fe in the past decade and
half is so great as to be almost I'M
believable. Many of the country
people themselves refuse to believe 1t.
They read the reports Of high prices
scientifically. and not until the produce
is sold and the money in their hands
will they really believe their good
fortune. Even then they will shake
their heads and say that prices will
surely so down. before they have an
other crop ready for market. They
have so long been content with q
small return for their labor and no
allowance at all for interest on their
money or for the fertility which they
are selling away from their land that
they can hardly believe that the time
has come when the farmer Is getting
enough for his produce to enable him
to put farming on a business basis.
Probably this change has affected no
one ON the farm more than the women.
The country girl mas different idea
of career now. She lives In mod
ern farm home, or If she doesn't she
knows that such homes exist and are
well within the range OF possibility for
her. She has had her longing to see
the world satisfied by visits to city