Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1917-07-16
Phoenix Girl
Makes Record

peaches, pears, cherries, plums
ground cherries, apples and raspber-
ries, jellies, loganberries, beans and
preserves, chicken, venison, beef and
sausages, tomatoes, carrots and other
things good to eat-this is the record
of sixteen-year-old girl for single
season, And the girl is Leta Stevens,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs S. S. Stew
ems, who live near Phoenix.
The record is an emphatic contra
diction of the statement that there
is little for girl to do unless she
leaves home.
Twice Jackson county has sent
Leta to the state fair at Salem-this
in recognition Of her splendid work.
All this is a result Of everlastingly
sticking to what she had begun. These
results and honors were not attained
by single effort. For four years
Leta has been competing for prizes in
the canning clab contests.
In 1913 her exhibit consisted Of
twelve quarts. At the local fair in
Phoenix she won the first prize, $3.50
in cash. At the county fair in Med
ford she carried off the sweepstakes,
amounting to So. The exhibit was
then sent to the state fair at Salem,
where It was given fourth place,
bringing a check for $3.50 This made
a total of 81 as reward for her
efforts in putting up the dozen
quarts And she still had the fruit.
Also, she was encouraged.
In 1914 she canned eighteen quarts.
At Phoenix she again stood at the
head Of the list Of exhibitors in her
line. The prize. was pair Of shoes.
At Medford she once more carried off
the sweepstakes Of SO, and at the
state fair she was awarded second
prize, with a check of 81.
Up to the year 1915 no prizes other
than small amounts in money had
been offered to the girls who did club
project work and exhibited their
products at the county fair. At that
time, however, 1t was announced that
two girls in the county would be TAX
en- to the state fair and that three
would be sent on pleasure and edu-
cational trip to Crater Lake. Leta
made up her mind that she would be
one of the winning girls. And she
was. Canning ESQ quarts and select
ing the best of them to exhibit, she
was an easy winner for the trip to
Salem
But she die not quit then. Her
stock this year (1916) totaled 1910
pints. This is more fruit than the
family can use at home But Leta
had done the canning for six families,
charging so cents per dozen quarts.
(She does not furnish any of the ma
terial at this price, 81,
She was competing not only with
Others doing the same kind of work,
but her competitors consisted of
girls in all other club projects-sew-
ing, baking, poultry-raising, etc. The
work in any project is scored on the
basis OF 100 points. The two girls
receiving the highest number of
points are awarded the prizes. They
may both be in the same project, or
they may be in different projects. At
the county fair Lea's exhibit was
scored 81.
At the state fair she has always
been handicapped. The fruit, after
being shipped so far, is more or less
shaken up, in which condition it is
scored down.
Leta Is a member Of the ninth
grade Of the Phoenix high school.
Not only does she excel in the line
that she makes her speciality, but is
making many of the boys hustle to
keep up with her in the manual train
ing department. She plans, after
completing the high school course, to
enter the Oregon Agricultural De-
partment. where domestic science and
art. music and manual training will
receive the major portion of her time
and attention.
Several women in our country who
have fame and fortune today began
by making superior article in the
home-preserves salad dressing,
olives, pickles, etc. They did their
work so much better than others had |
done it that an immense demand
grew up for their products. Other
women will find similar openings
Who knows that Leta may be one of |
them? At any rate, she is preparing
herself to be 6 useful and desirable
citizen.