Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-10-29
The Experiences of a Farmerette
By MISS ALICE Fl. RICE
rs Shiprisht Street, Annapolis, Maryland

with them and this was always CRATE
fully accepted for our appetites were
never lacking Far from il! IL was
my lot TO go for several days TO what
we called the Swamp" and set out
celery plants. The place was formerly
marsh which had been drained off
and cultivated. The soil was very
fertile and quite black in color. It
was always wet when we began work
in the morning, and the moist soil
would stick all over us. We had to
work on our knees all day long, and
those awful rows of celery seemed
endless. Talk about getting close to
mother earth, | began to feel well ac-
quainted. II was awfully tiresome
work. but we stuck it out After a
/ few days | could work on my knees
! for eight hours and not mind il bit
/ But planting celery was only one of
the many things that we farmerettes
were called upon TO do. | hoed cab
bage, sprinkled fertilizer, shocked
wheat and oats, punched hay. moved
away" pitched oats and barley, cut
down peas, drove the house pork, thin
ned apples, thinned corn, dug out bor-
ers from the trees, weeded carrots,
layed tile in a ditch. Other girls took
part in threshing, MIXED cows, plow-
ed, cultivated, operated all kinds of
farm machines and worked with bees.
Indeed farmerette is ready to tackle
anything that the farmers put her to,
at least such has been my experience.
My last job was laying tile, and rather
tough work it was, too. Two of us
worked regularly for several weeks at
this, and we generally put in nine
hours. A big ditcher was employed
for the digging, and it was our bust
ness to ride in a little cage behind the
machine and lay the tile as we went
along This wasn't bad when things
moved along smoothly, only it was de-
cidedly back-breaking at best, but
when we struck rocks then the fun
began. And we hit several, some so
large that they had to be dragged out
by tractor. We would be running
along quietly when suddenly without
a bit of warning we would be violent
ly pitched up in the air and then land
with a jar and bump. II was exciting
to say the least, and more than once
did | get my head banged against the
iron sides of the car while bending
over. A ditcber seemed to be a new
thing in that part of the country, for
an interested crowd of farmers we're
always in evidence lounging about and
taking it all in. Thus while working
al dn1 Oh.
for character study.
Farmerettes indeed lead a strenuous
life, but there is plenty of play as well
as work. Besides having a tennis
court, we were fortunate to be not
far from beautiful Lake Seneca. which
was the scene of many picnics and
good times. Often we worked at
places right on the lake, and at such
times it was ours to go for a row or
swim at noon time. We gave a couple
Of entertainments in nearby towns,
and in both cases drew a large audi
ence and thoroughly enjoyed our
selves. ! marvel now when / think Of
the very short time we had to rehearse
Tor these shows, and how successful
we were. l never before enjoyed any
vacation as / did this one, and all the
more, too, because was really doing
important work. Anyone who has once
been a farmerette will want to repeat
the wonderful experience. / am sure
that we all came back home more ply
sically fit and satisfied that the time
spent in oyeralls was greatly worth
while