The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-13
CONDITIONS OF LIVING IN RURAL ALABAMA DISCUSSED BY MIR. HOBDY,
 STATE AGENT OF RURAL SCHOOLS
By FLORA MILNER HARRISON

 reported that in their homes there was running water in the kitchen. Of these reporting, 59 said that water was carried through pipes or through troughs to e | lot and stables and that 1t was carried to the kitchen by hand-and we know who has to carry the water to the kitchen and who would have to carry it to the barn. Only two reported the reverse. that Is that water was carried to the kitchen through pipes, and to the stock in buck cts. Three hundred and nine reported that water was carried to the kitchen by hand and very few indicated a we'll on the porch.
 "The handling of the kitchen water sup ply is by no means a small consideration when we are brought face to face with the fact that for an average family 1t requires at least four two-gallon buck cts per meal or 24 gallons a day, to be rrrawn from the well, carried s1 feet to the kitchen and handled at least three diff ferent times, making a total of 13l tons handled during the year. If these fig ures are too high, the water for the weekly wash. added 52 times, will cer- tainly make them conserva tive. Most of this handling is done by the farmer s wife and it is only a small part of the country wife's occupation through 365 days of the year.
 
 might be had in every home at compara- lively small cost, the reports show that 150 of the 349 have only sAe of them, g. have two, 53 have three, 31 have four, Il have five, and two families have seven oe these devices. The average number oS the nine labor saving devices and con- verienees, including sewing machines, is one and two-thirds to a family.
 Answers to a similar question rela- tive to seven improved farm imple- ments and labor saving devices for the farm work showed that there was an average of four and a half hours for each fathers use. In other words. where the woman had one convenience for her work, the man has four.
 "Of the 215 who reported washing done by their mothers, 134 stated that 1t was done in the open without the protection of shelter; 72 said that they had overhead shelters, only five reported specially prepared rooms for washing, and five failed to answer the question.
 "Of 349 replies, 324 indicated the dis tance from the home to the church as being from 100 yards to nine miles. The average distance was a mile and three quarters. A large per cent re ported church services once each month The average number of services in the churches mentioned Is 21 per year, and the mothers averaged attending 13 services a year
 Good Roads Needed
 About two thirds of those who re- piled to the questions regarding the roads said that they lived on d good road or within quarter of mile of one; 125 reported an average distance of six and half miles from a good road, and seven said that there were no really good roads in their counties,
 Summer Holidays
 "The boys were asked how many holidays they had during the months past summer, and 175 of them gave re plies. Of this number 137 gave an av- craze of less than half day a eek. 32 of the 137 reported only one day during the entire four months, and nine of them reported not a single holiday. The inference is that they spent every working day of the summer in work on the farms or at other places, after having spent the winter in school or a { work.
 Fairgrounds and Recreation "Of S05 replies, POS indicated that 1 there were no especially arranged play | grounds at the schools last attended, | 97 said that they had school play l grounds and the answers as to wheth CT 1 tit ltdCntI ito VI PditiNipdttu III tiit l games or took a part were equally 1 divided
 "One hundred and ninety two of the | 349 said that there was no kind If ] organized recreation in their communi- = ties for children under IA years of age. | The others said that the children of 1 that age are sometimes assembled for some simple out of door recreation. Less 1 than half of them said that there were I social entertainments in their respec- 1 tive communities for boys and girls 1 between the ages of 14 and IS, more than half answered to the contrary. l Still fewer said there were social en- tertainments for young men and women | and more than 200 said there was noth- ing of the kind in their communities. 1 "The girls were asked what kind of | farm work they did, Ninety three said l that they hood. S1 picked cotton. six | plowed. 1 did farm work other than | that named above, and four did every | kind of work that Is done on a farm. 1 These. you will remember were rural ] and county high school girls and sup | posedly came from the better class of | country homes
 | Seventy said that their homes were | screened throughout, 100 that theirs l were partly screened, and 160 that they had no screens.
 Many of the reports indicated that the only well on the place was Tn or near the horse lot. This Is no doubt | convenient for watering the stock, but it is of necessity insanitary.
 | Reading Matter
 Considerably more than half reported some kind of home library. 66 answered that they had no books at home, 29 said that they had only a few books, and 5- made no reply. The average number of