Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-25
THRIFT AS DEMONSTRATED IN AGRICULTURAL
 LIFE

LlE (Written Specially for The Bulletin.)
 Thrift, thrift, thrift" It's the text |, of hundreds of sermons and thousands | of heart -to-heart talks. In most of these it is spoken of, mainly, as synonym of economy or frugality.
 While it does have that meaning, 1t is not narrowly restricted to just that My dictionary defines it as "A, thriv- l ing state or condition; good husban- ] dry; economical management in regard ! to property; frugality."' Also, Sue i cess in the acquisition of property gain; prosperity
 Good husbandry," you'll notice is | one part of thrift. And "husbandry" is defined as '"Care of domestic affairs; domestic economy; management. IL might also be well to note, in order to | start off clear, that domestic as used in these definitions does not mean solely kitchen or even indoors affairs. ] It includes everything which pertains 1 to the home the residence, the family. 1 It means the getting of supplies, which is usually mans outdoor work, as much as the handling of those sup plies inside the home, which is usually Woman's indoor work. Thrift" therefore, while it means frugality, also means industry, and good workmanship, and prudence, and efficiency in present labor, and fore sight in future safeguarding plans It means economy, 'whGh is quite as or ten the wise spending of money as the ! mere hoarding of money. It means, also, energy and efficiency in getting money or other property It means, also, the judicious and productive use | of money or property already obtained. l It means, also, such a discounting or | the future as shall insure its user against the largest possible number of to-be expected chances. That is, it
 implies foresight and foreplanning; 1 just as canny and careful preparation 1 for coming needs and coming emer- gencies as past experience teaches is ] practicable and probably desirable, I "WeIi, what of it?" you may ask. 1 Don't we farmers have to be eco- 1 nomical: don't we have to be indus | trious; don't we have to be careful in | our use of money; don't we spend a l good half of every recurring year in l planning ahead and getting ready for | the other half? Why talk to us about
 doing the things we do and have to do and don't need teaching about?
 | Verify, brethren, it seems to me that | constant prodding is needed along this El line for the exact reason that there are H a whole lot of US very farmers who do II NOT do all these tEingsi
 II Some of us do.
 II And some of us dcn't
 ;r1h hor vryl10 | had 8. rather better crop of hay than
 usual, last summer. He also had a rather bigger number of cattle to carry
 over winter than usual. You and
 would have figured that. if we had a quarter more hay than the year before
 and a quarter more stock to feed, we'd
 need it all. But th1s neighbot didn't. He has found, past winters, that his big mow full of hay. with some corn
 stalks and other forage. just carried
 him through So he filed that now
 and sold the rest of his hay. Conse- quence, his hay now is now more than half emptied with the longest and worst half of the winter yet to come, and he faces the necessity of buying hay at $15 a ton to replace that which he sold for S10 a ton or of selling off some of his stock. He asked me what I thought. I told him, bluntly and un-
 compromisingly. that it was just six months too late to do any tflinki1!J,
 along that line. The time to have used ; his think machine was last July, when he was haYing: not this January, when , the snow is two feet deep on the level l and the thermometer a mile or so be- low zero.
 Another neighbor complains that he ,f' . la l.,
 ed ont one good stove and had to buy new one.
 No wonder.
 He hasn't a stick of seasoned CT even . dry wood around his house. He wal lows off to the woods through inter minable snowdrifts, cuts and hauls g ! lot of green wood. saws and splits ii and tumbles it into a sort of conica pile out back of the Kitchen door, The t next snow promptly buries it, and the
 housewife has to dig it out from under
 this snow blanket, wipe or brush il :. l off, dry it in the oven before it vii 3 even burn at all, and then burn SC much, with such an output of steam q and gas, as to warp any stove tha . ever was made out of condition 1T
 short order. t = It isn't the weather that is to blarn, for this mans and his fani1y's dis n comfort, nor for, his having to buy r new stove. It's his own lack of thrift g l. c., good husbandry just as the othe e mans shortage of fodder is due to hi e lack of thrift, i. e., prudent foresight
 know another family which is pay
 ing twelve cents pound for it's suga
 and Is ablc to get two pounds weel - at that. Yet, this very family wa , offered the chance, last fall, to lay i $ it's full and ample winter supply c [. sugar at seven dollars and a half e hundred-sGyen cents and a half :s pound. This. before any shortage C II sugar was announced and before NJ ,u Hoover had ever been appointed t IL control any food situation. But no while they expected to need about tw q e.l hundred pounds for the winter, ''$1 : seems such a lot of money to use a '. for sugar at one time" Now they'r Io getting along with two pounds (
 sugar q week instead of the five pound
 a week they normally use and al ,n paying almost double price for thos st short commons.
 l. To keep on multiplying instances D. There is another family near m ch which all the time lives from han as to mouth" No sooner does 8 do in lar come into the home treasury tha
 l hoe, k1 -irrI,k oaI-