The San Francisco call., 1910-02-13

hawk, queer gnarled branches, funny
cartoons somebody has sent, on the
other walls and In the corners. Next
to the living room is my bedroom pa
pered with comic supplements over
all a half story attic with plenty OF
beds makes the jolliest sort or dorrni-
tory for vacation visitors who come
enjoy, marvel and fit.
What is necessary to joy and success
in the outdoor life for woman are
fearlessness and a love for nature. II
she is afraid of the dark or lonesome
in wide silences and has not genuine
love for animals or birds or bees or
flowers (and books; she should love
a few book friends very much), 1t will
be fruitless toll and torture, for unless
you love you won't understand any of
them, and if you don't understand
them they won't thrive. Even when
you begin brimming with love and zeal
you have to learn the business by
patient industry and the surmount-
ing of many difficulties and discourage
ments and some failures; but you learn
stacles develops strength and courage,
and the work brings such big returns
on small outlay and through every
minute of every day there's such abid-
ing joy.
To illustrate, take the hens. They
flew over the fence and destroyed the
garden, and when 1 clipped one wing
after them and he caught two. Pole
cats can dig under and get through
the littlest places, but the trapping
and killing of five sort of demoralized
their organization. Meantime the hens
molted and grew a new pair of wings
that matched and they will not again
be deprived of natural means of evad-
ing an enemy. That seems to be at
the center of all things to be learned,
to work along with nlture, following
natural laws I have cut down many
a sapling not knowing which way it
would fall, in terror lest one would
catch and pin me down and I'd have
to burrow out from under, before /
learned to notch upon the side where
you want it to fall and then chop upon
the other side. This insures landing
them where and how desired after the
chopping is done. Observers have been
mean enough to say the stumps Of
trees felled looked as if they had been
gnawed off, but there are quite a good
many stumps and perhaps some i'm
proyement visible between the first
and the most recent.
Clearing is hard work, but the bon
fires are beautiful, and the sense of
achievement when you see a field of
clover, though it be but a tiny one
where year ago was useless scrub and
brush is very satisfying. And it is such
a healthful WEAKNESS one brings to a
restful bed; such wholesome sleep fol-
lows -
Another joyful thinZr4s the necessity
the life lays upon l5ne for constant
change in occupation. so that every
muscle and every faculty must be called
into activity somewhere in the days
work, and none at any time taxed to
the point of exhaustion. Often | must
leaVe my tending of the vines to go
L
uced yesterday, or cows will be in the
corn. And in fence building, after you've
learned to drive the nail with couple
or swinging blows with a loose hold
and long helye, and decided whether
10 or II penny is necessary or q six
VIII do (for where everything has to
De packed" six miles every nails
weight counts), you have to consider
what slant will hold best, what will
Spit your board or-oh, there's a lot to
learn. But when l hammer NV fingers
I've acquired through much practice.
lacll1ty In expression that approaches
perfection.
one strangely interesting feature of
country life, especially in new country
is how much money you can get along
without. Fresh meat is a rarity when
Venison is out of season, and feed being
none too plentiful, / concluded to
slaughter cow brute" Ca local term
embracing the entire beef tribe from
weeks old veal calf to the steer that
will dress 600 pounds). Mine was a
steer | reckoned on selling three
quarters of it. The first neighbor. when
asked II he didn't want to buy quar-
ter said no, but he'd like to borrow
quarter intended to butcher in about
three weeks himself Number two said
we could use the meat but we ain't
got much money; got plenty of hay or
potatoes; could you use them?" Of
course, either was good as money
better, in fact. for in the things which
to him come easy and natural the
farmer Will give fair and even generous
measure, but in cash deal a good
many are "leetle near" So there
was the second quarter gone, and by
the time I'd reached number three my
own trading sense was aroused and L
said. Don't you want quarter of
beef, and how much time on my line
fence will you give for it?' "A week"
'All right" And it's all done, and l
go home hugging myself to think of
getting out of him the equivalent of
cents pound, whereas the intention
had been to ask but cents. Nobody
ever outlives the love of real bar
gain.
Then there was that matter of the
washing machine Available cash, oh,
how little! had been apportioned to
cover the must-b bes, so and so for feed,
for food, etc, including the item OF
winter wood. for while a woman can
handle saplings, the big trees require
strength and skill and experiences.
woodman, in fact And / just could
not manipulate the miserable account
to include the machine. Plenty of clean
clothes is one luxury I didn't propose
to learn to do without. and much of
the work is so dirty that plenty of