Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-10-11
GUMPTION ON THE FARM.

The summer comes and the summer
goes:
Wild flowers are fringing the dusty
lanes,
The swallows go darting through fra
grant rains,
Then, all of a sudden, it SHOWS.
Feed the birds. You'll need 'em
next bug time.
Don't let the apples or potatoes
freeze. Sort out the rotten ones.
Don't speculate. Calculate, regu-
late, hesitate, migrate If you think
you must. but never speculate.
Is the harness tied up with strings
anywhere? Take them off and do
the best job of repairing you ever
did.
Get out some stuff for whiffletrees.
Keep a little on hand all the time,
for you may need them before you
know it.
Have a bottle of rubber cement on
hand and some good glue. Fix things,
and do it while the other work is not
pressing.
Time is saved by doing now much
of the work usually done in the busy
spring, such as hauling stones, clear
ing away trees and brush, fixing the
grape arbor, etc.
Leave the job of climbing the
windmill to some one who is level
headed and strong in limb. Many a
serious accident has happened from
not living up to this rule.
Be thankful every day; don't pile
your gratitude all on one day. The
man who is thankful only when the
governor says he must, never is very
thankful any day.
With the present prices of beef,
which all authorities agree cannot be
lowered, the production of fat cat
tie on farms where the work has long
been forgotten will be found profit
able.
Are all the tools, from screw-driv-
er to threshing machine, snugly hous-
ed for the winter? They should be,
but if not it is not too late to bring
them in yet. Better do it now.
One of the best tools farmer can
have is a good riveter for mending
leather straps of all kinds. One Of
these will save a good many trips to
town and maybe more than one run
away.
Look after the pits where potatoes
and the like are stored, and make
sure that there is enough earth or
litter on them to protect the con-
tents from the coolest weather. Ne
elect may cause serious loss.
You've been working around that
one solitary big rock in a field for
years. Now, split it up, blast it or
get rid of it in some way. A days
work, or perhaps less, makes the
field perfectly clean and smooth.
A tank heater for heating drinking
water for live stock will pay for it.
self, time and again, in one winter,
in the saving of extra feed required
to restore the animal heat lost
through taking in the drafts Of icy
water. y!
Bringing home unexpected guests
right at dinner or supper time is
often very trying to the good wife.
Politeness and hospitality are all
right in their places, but you owe a
duty first to your wife and daugh-
ters. a~:~t
Provide stout sled, warm clothes
and let the children slide, but keep
them off the roads 1t is fun, and
you know it, or ought to; and far
more healthful for mind and body
than dime novel in the barn loft.
1t takes smart man to wait pa
tiently for dinner when the hour
comes. His wife can wait for him a
month of Sundays, but if she is not
right on the tick when he comes in,
there will be trouble right along.
Most things have two sides to them.
Isn't this one of them?
Give the cats and dogs warm,
straw-lined, covered box in a shed,
where proving ours can not get to
them. These bitter nights are cruel
to- our dumb friends; and | never
could lie in my warm bed, knowing
that anything was shivering with
cold. Some men CD and women
can; but ! can not.-Farm Journal.