The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-03-19
LIFE WORTH WHILE
Farmers House Has An Mod
ern improvements.
Son's Ambitions and Effort.
Encouraged by Parents.


plenty Of successful farmers who do
not hesitate to look after the COM
fort Of mother and the children. They
are the real successful farmers-they
live while they work.
Ono Of them IL J. C. Rathbone, who
lives 2 mile east Of Waveriy. Al
though the past season was hot ana
dry and there was not much Of q crop.
his wife and family have not been
denied the comforts of life. Mr.. Rath-
bone had to learn how to succeed in
farming by his own mistakes but he
learned
when nrst started to farming years
ago." he said to q correspondent re-
Gently. my father and I were from
Virginia and were accustomed to See
Ing negroes in the fields. We put In
q crop in eastern Kansas and then my
father went to town and hired all the
negroes in the county to come out and
hoe the corn. 1t was a picnic for the
negroes. They had all they could eat
and they soldiered Just as they do in
the south. But we were accustomed
to that and thought it all right.
Knew When 70 Drop the Old Ways.
Il kept books on our farming opera
lions. though. and at the end Of the
season I found the cost Of our laborers
and their keep was about $500 more
than the crop had come to. So de-
cided to adopt modern methods in farm
ing right then. We have always had
modern conveniences in the home and
when We bought this place five years
ago. promised my wife she should
have new library and water in the
house."
The first thing Mr.. Rathbone did after
building his addition to the home was
to put in a bathroom and water in the
kitchen.
II don't know Of anybody who needs
the bathroom more than the farmer,
he said. He is apt to look upon these
conveniences as something no one but
| a city man c.- have. but it is not
much expense to put them in the home:
Mine cost me about $500 to install. I
| use an engine. but II had 1t to do
over would put up a windmill. There
are few days in Kansas when the wind
and on cold days in winter the engine
will not spark we'll Our tank Is In the
cellar and IL operated by compressed
air.
Mr.. Rathbone had the luck to go deep
enough to strike mineral water. His
well is 200 feet deep and the water
possesses saline and lithia qualities
rheumatism. But that was an accident.
Son an Independent Worker.
The Rathbpne family believes in
| good literature and possesses a library
of fifteen hundred volumes. to which
they are constantly adding Mr..
farm and takes the gardening under
his special charge, as the farm is rent
| ed on shares to his eldest son, who is
intensely interested in the work.
| MY father tented me the farm five
years ago." nd explained, "and made
it worth my while to stay ON the farm.
came straight here from high
| school, and believe there il no &C.
cupation like farming for young
man. My mother was accustomed to
comforts in her parents home and
we are going to see she always has
them for her. There are farmers
around here who have been more sue
cessful in money line than we are
for we believe in living as we go
along. rather than putting all our
money in the bank"
Mr. Rathbone. jr.. believes in less
| corn and more small grains and al
falfa on the farm, although he insists
| that wheat is not good crop for his
part of Kansas.
Wheat Pulls Chinch Bugs.
The chinch bugs flock to the
! wheat he said, land when the wheat
Is cut they stay and dine on the corn
and whatever other crop comes along.
do not believe much in the theory Of
DR.. Snow about the fungus that kills
the bugs. I understand that idea is
about exploded now"
The Rathbone home Is kept up in
every detail, exactly as a city home
| would be. The lawns are cut regu-
larry, the walks are Of cement, kept
| white and shining and the barn yards
show the result Of q carefully studied
| system of work and planning. The
living room 10 bright with palms and
potted plants, while the cut glass and
old Sheffield plate-family heirlooms
sparkle as brightly on the sideboard
in the dining room as they would If
they were owned by any city house
wife.
FORGETS ALL FOR LITTLE TOTS.
School Teacher Little Mother Walked
Mine Miles in Snow.