The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-05-12
REFLECTIONS OF A
THRESHERMAN'S WIFE
Written By Herself

1NN OPNANN5 iS TIC
, makes it's call as irresti5'e as tn
tabled sirens music of old?
1t is hard, dirty, filthy work, tn
hours are long, and the money mad
out of it is not big-so. it can't b
any of these that makes it so entic
! ing.
Big money and soft jobs with M
work attached always seem to at
tract the multitude but threshing, a.
| said before, is neither of these.
Z But if a t~hresherman you are once
I a thresherman you always remain
|, and the heart quickens, the pulses
leap when the engines whistle and
the soft whir of the separator wheels
announce the start of the seasons
run.
Oftimes you work all night putting
in repairs so that you're ready for the
next days job, without having lost
any of the daylight's precious hours,
or you ride endless miles across
country ver rough, hilly dirt roads
in a dinky little "jitney," going after
repairs. You make the trip direct to
the factory, yourself, because you
can't wait for slower transportation
by mail or express.
Next day you tackle your job,
fresh as the morning dew-as full of
'tpep" as a boy of ten!
But if friend wife had taken you
to some society affair" or you had
lost only a snatch of sleep being up
with or of the kiddies because
they'd eaten to many unripe apples,
you'd have been dead on your
feet" Why is it? Can you explain
it?
On Sunday, when other righteous
folks rest or keep the Sabbath prop
erly by attending church, or at least
stay at home with their families, you
spend the day washing your boiler or
swabbing your fues. Is it from
choice or necessity?
There are two sides to this story,
just as there are to any other, and if
the thresherman heralds the season
with unbounded delight, it is quite
the reverse with the little woman left
behind to carry on the burden of the
alone during the long weeks of
midsummer.
When the Riddles get sick and
go wrong generally, as they
do when once they start, she
wishes very %fervently indeed that
every threshing rig was in Hades!
The cares of farm life for her are
increased tenfold, for along with the
Usual routine of the summer-fruit,
poultry cares, gardening,
.tc., etc., she must milk the cows,
stock, in fact, be farmer,
armerette, mother, father, house
carpenter, hired-hand, and :.
things combined but too E
to mention.
Then when the cattle and horses Z
,reak out through that bad place in :
he pasture fence, as they do periodi- :
ally, especially when it's b~listering :
it's quite exciting I'll admit, but :
ust a bit too strenuous to be classed :
S a pleasing diversion! e
They've been in the corr and some Z
f them show signs of founder. She :
astens to call a veterinary for she :
to remain blameless should Z
nything happen. Night comes on-l=
he kiddies are safely in dreamland,
an she help getting a w~ell-develop- z
d case of the ~blue-devils because she z
alone and lonely as she makes z
pecifed trips regularly from house :
0 barn. Some of those animals need :
ledicine, you know, and she keeps 4
over the sleeping kiddies, too. &
Is the game worth the candle? =
lost emphatically not-she is sure =
f it-yet does anyone know or care e
hat her opinion is? e
Life isn't so enticing, she doesn't e
eel as fresh as the morning dew or z
5 full of pep" as a girl of ten
ather as weary as an old lady of E
E
But grain must be threshed, for e
-ithout our beloved thresher folks e
he world would soon ~starve, and e
.yone is u%nutterably selfish to e
just because it discommodes z
i'm just a trifle. Now don't you e
link so? e
But when you get to thinking, as e
sometimes do, of some of the e
S~cellent farm-housekeepers who re- e
Use to allow threshermen crews to e
eep in their house, because they are e
20 dirty, and of others who hate to e
led them and who scheme around e
way or other to get out of it, e
: shift it onto the other fellow" Il