Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-04-03
The Women Of tho Farms.


mas been asking questions Of farmers
wives in all parts Of the country. In
substance it wanted to know what
they thought Of farm life anyway
Parts of replies are published and fill
many page Of a government publica-
ton. From these excerpts We gath
err that, as a whole. the farm women
are sensible enough to prefer their lot
to that Of their sisters in any other
lot of life: they would not be willing
to change places with city women:
they see many things to improve and
will never be satisfied until many
changes are ade-first general recog-
milton of equality in calling and So
cial conditions with any working class,
and complete eradication Of the sense
less ridicule of hicks" and hay
Seeds" The women of the farms also
demand better roads, better telephone
service, and more and better circulat-
ing libraries.
But not all of them are contented
in their lot; some complain and seem
to forget. or not to see. the progress
in recent years. Here is an excerpt
from the letter of a Maine woman:
Our schools have educated our children
away from the soil; Our ne%sp papers
legislation has been unfavorable to him.
The wife is more sensitive to the idea
that the farmer is in an inferior class,
dren 90 to the cities and become unlike
her. The rural woman has lost her
neighbors; all around her are abandoned
farms and empty houses that. a little
while ago. were happy homes.
If woman wrote that as appears n
U. S. D. Of A. report No. 1903, she s
not a woman of the grange, or wo-
man who is in touch with the schools
or the newspapers of the day. 1t is
long since real newspapers ridiculed
the farmer or his calling. The scoools
are not educating away from the soil.
On the contrary, agricultural courses
are multiplying tremendously. The
number of students at agricultural COL
leges and universities are increasing
amazingly. Everywhere mail courses
in agriculture are burdening the pos
tai facilities. A Maine Ex-Governor is
just taking an agricultural course at
the State University. Men from all
professions in eastern states are buy
ing plots Of land and are studying
earnestly while making the most Of
the experience of their farmer neigh
bors.
A visitor to the rural sections of
Maine, as a striking example, would
DC dumbfounded by the intelligence Of
The people he would find on the farms
College professors, ministers, law
yers physicians and editors have
turned from the grind of their pro-
fessions to seek change in association
with dumb animals and joining their
labor with the gifts of Nature to see
what the soil will return. Many Of
these people court the solitude which
seems to pail upon such as the woman
quoted. But nowhere do they hold
themselves aloof from their farmer
neighbors. They are tired of the city
and it's froth and pretense. They
have measured it up and disapprove.
They seek the simplicity and indie
pendence of the farm. They bring city
ideas Of sanitation and labor saving
devices. They exchange the CLEAN
ings of study and wide reading for
practical hints of the farmer and his
wife and children.
The farmers wife is not, in these
days, losing her neighbors but is gain
ing them-if her husband will sell
some of the farms he has acquired.
We hope the farmers wives and
daughters of Maine will secure these
government reports and read what the
wives of farmers in other parts of the
country say. There are many val
liable suggestions Here is a speci-
men extract from a Wyoming letter:
"a few women of this neighborhood
conceived the idea of meeting afternoons
at the house of one and then anotner.
Each in turn reads aloud while the others
work. This has lasted several years: The
results are surprising. some OF the
women had never read book through
before this was started. At first only one
woman would read. They have now gone
through hundreds of books. They all now
read in their turn. They are fairly
familiar with current literature. Their
taste has improved to the point that they
read the best books. This idea should be
organize such a reading club should be
warned not to commence with standard
works, but with books with exciting plota
sufficient to hold the attention Of people
whose brains are not trained to think
long on any one subject and to whom
literature will improve by practice, but
an effort to start off on a high plane VII
probably result in failure"
Here Is one from the state Of Wash
ington, written by a man:
ITO my mind one Of the crying need,
il to improve the social condition Of tht
Improve conditions along this line can bt
had here in our own community. Ono d
me great obstacles Of the farm womeE
9etting together is the lack Of suitabl,
Recommendations, and many women. be
cause they are not situated SO they cal
Intending the community gatherings Il
given at private homes. This problem Il
nractically solved in the community wes
81 u In what is known as the Highlands
This is an orchard district. where thu
holdings are small and population neces
a.. oVsS