The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 16, 1917, Page 8

arm Woman’s Page - When the “Thrashers” Come s 0 T 00 = =R Farmers’ Wives Are Hostesses Towards Men Who Garner the Grain BY A FARMER'S WIFE HEY can talk as much as they please about the ‘“thrashers” being hard worked, breaking the ice to wash their hands and faces at a tub under the pump before breakfast and eating their supper after dusk, but there is one place where the “thrashers’get consid- eration. That is at the table. Oh, maybe they don’t everywhere, but they do as a rule. Few people know what a matter of pride it is for the women of the farm to be prepared to give the “thrashers” a royal welcome at mealtime. Although they are hired men for the time being, they are also our guests. Each one of us wants them to remember our dinner table as the brightest spot in a season of hard work. The successful housewife is the the one who succeeds in that. It is a good deal like a big old fashioned visit, the kind that was pre- pared for weeks in advance and en- joyed for several days with everything that a farm home can bring forth to prove its hospitality. There must first of all be plenty of everything. That means that for several days before “thrashing time” the cookies are baked, the coffee is ground, and there is laid in a special supply of sugar, bacon, crackers, butter and fruit. Sometimes this fruit is especially prepared from whatever is freshest at that time of the year, and that place but if the farmer’s wife resorts to ‘“store” canned goods for that busy time surely the “thrash- ers” will not complain. They have no idea of the amount of organization and downright hard work it takes to get ready for them. KITCHEN HUMS WHEN THE RUSH BEGINS It means that the whole family must get up an hour earlier than usual, and that the big kitchen with the warped board floor must be steaming and bust- ling while the men are still sleeping in their bunks or in the hay mow. It means that piles of dishes must be placed on the long table, and loads of things made ready to be rushed in the minute the first feet are heard tramp- ing into the dining room. Then the coffee must be served hot, the mugh must come piping from the ‘big kettle, and the ham and eggs must be just out of the frying pan. When there are pancakes to be served there is just a little extra strain on everybody who works in the kitchen. You have all noticed how the waitresses hurry and bustle in the restaurants, especially when the crow@ is at its height, and everyone has caught glimpses of the pell-mell doings in the- kitchen between-swingings of the doors. But just think—everything in the restaurant kitchen is on a sys- tematic basis. They don’t have to wash dishes by hand. There are cooks to prepare the meats, and flunkies to do the odd jobs. Someone else carries out the big trays of dishes, and the tables, silverware, and everything is in a state of preparedness, Not so in the farm- er’'s kitchen. SPILL SOUP BECAUSE THEY’'RE NOT ORGANIZED There the small space is overcrowd- ed. The dishes have to be partly bor- rowed. The neighbor girls who help, or the extra hired help for the occasion, have never been trained to team work. Sometimes they run into each other Jjust because they aren’t organized, and \ maybe the sacrifice has to be made up from something that was being set aside for the next day. The excite- ment of a restaurant kitchen is noth- ing to that in the farm kitchen at “thrashing’” time. Then after the rush is over every- body is almost too tired to eat. The dining room tables look like a wreck, and it takes one's appetite. But there is little time to sit around and philo- sophize over how big a job it is to feed mankind. The potatoes must be peeled for supper. Beets must be boiled and put in the vinegar for the next day’s pickles. The cottage cheese has got to be made out of milk soured from yes- terday, and fresh bread must be made for tomorrow, as the bread box has scarcely come through the raid with a decent supply for supper. Beef has to be boiled and there must be some other vegetables, like cabbage or carrots or turnips. And then the pastry. No American “thrashing” crew would think it was treated fairly if there were not cakes and pies and sauce, and these must come right along every meal. Neither would the farmer’s wife feel she had Kitchen conveniences ought to include such utensils as this aluminum kettle with a spout, like a coffee pot and a self-clamped cover. acted the part of hostess if she should set her men down to a single meal without them. In hot weather there must be some cold drink as well as hot tea and coffee. And just remem- ber this—that if the “thrashing” crew gets iced tea or lemonade it is getting something that took a big effort on top of everything else that goes to make up the regular staple food. ‘When a woman has gone through a hot August day with the responsibility of satisfying 20 men with three meals, and can assure herself after supper 15 over that she succeeded, she has ac- complished just about as much as the man who bosses the crew out in the field. If then she happens to overhear gome of the men praise the cake, or even if she sees them take two pieces of pie, it is some recompense, for never forget that the farmer’s wife has the interest of a hostess in her dining table at “thrashing time.” HOSPITABLE SPIRIT BORN IN GIRLHOOD DAYS But there are offsets to all this hurly- burly. When we were children, 1t was one of the most exciting times of the year, We caught the spirit- ef pre- ADVERTISEMENTS R Mention Leader when writing advertisers FARGO'S FASTEST GROWING STORE’ 1IEKE R’s Wholesale to Consumer Every department is now open—Every item at a low price FOR CASH 25 Ib. Sugar $2.20 paration days before they came. It was like getting ready to go to the circus. The excitement even stimulated us to help mother without being bored to death, and we had no idea of the big problems she was trying to solve. The climax came when the big puff- ing engine, jolting and sweltering in a cloud of dust rumbled through the gate and trailed the faded old pink separator out across the stubble, with the stacker bringing up the rear drawn by a team' of horses. That was before the day of blower stackers of course. Some “thrashing rigs” had to “buck” the straw away with teams. Men may think girls don’t like machinery, but they don’'t know how girls’ spirits thrill with the hum and buzz and whizz and rattle of the “thrashing machine.” We lined up along the fence and watched them come in and then we fidgeted at every little job mother had for us to do and were on needles and pins until “thrashing time” was over. Next to seeing the big machine pull through the yard, was waiting for the grand rush to dinner. To see the team- sters trot their jingling horses to the stable, and to see the men striding along towards the house was almost as good as waiting at the bank corner on circus day for the sound of the Edited by Alberta B. Toner caliope. It was exhilerating to us just to hear their jokes and laughter and the shuffling and trampling as they all tried to get through the dining room door at once, And now that we are grown up we still participate in the big excitement of “thrashing time,” and maybe it is because as girls we used to feel it was so much like a celebration, that we as housewives now can key ourselves up to the extra strain and responsibility. That may be why the farmer’s wives always have a lurk- ing sense of hospitality towards the “thrashing crew,” and why their grown up pride makes them take more inter- est in their share of “thrashing time” than merely feeding a lot of hired men. A handy form of aluminum stew kettle, with screen lid for draining vegetables _without spilling them. ; DO WOMEN FEEL THIS WAY? To the Woman's Page Editor: One time a man started a paperv a broad view of things. Being a man he thought he took He wanted his paper to cover everything and appeal to everybody. Of course he had to have something about politics, market news, crop conditions, livestock boosting, ‘and a lot of other things. Then he wanted something “to appeal to the women”. Being a man, the first thing he thought about was something to eat. So he established a “woman’s corner”’—I am sure it must have been only a corner—where he could talk about things to eat. Ever since that papers have had woman’s corners, or woman's pages, or departments, or columns. And Low refreshing they are! Recipes for making cookies, the best way to dry dishes quick, and how to keep the pots and kettles bright. I think there ought to be a “man’s corner” in every paper too. In it he ought to be told how to make an ox yoke, how to flail oats without scattering it, and the best kind of polish to take the rust off of machin- ery left in the field all season. The farm women could tell a lot of things that ought to be in a “man’s department” in the paper. Really, don’t you think the women get a good deal more advice than they bargained for when they took the pledge to “love, honor and OBEY ?” If they invent all these little kitchen and household schemes that they are told about in the papers (goodness knows no man ever worked in a kitchen long enough to find them out) don’t you suppose the women have sense enough to use them? Then, don’t make us read about them every time we pick up a paper with a heading supposed to “appeal to the women”, To tell the truth, I suspect that all this “appeal to the women” containing cookery tips, in women’s departments is MAN’'S APPEAL after all. Men do appeal to the women all right—so much so that a good many women take it on themselves to cook for men all their lives, and sometimes milk the cows and hoe the garden, and pitch bundles. g Now Mr. Editor (or Mrs. Editor) don’t stop publishing a woman’s page. You know I'm only “kidding” you a little, but think this over. We women are dilligent readers and are certainly proud to get special recog- nition. I guess we are going to get more recognition now, for I have read that there is going to be another appeal to the women—an appeal to win the war by saving bread crusts, sour milk, and the rinds of cheese. Keep on publishing the woman’s page, but why not try a man’s page, and see how original you can be? (MRS.) M. B. W. Freshly Hulled Corn (A Delicious Food) .In Grandmother’s mother’s house freshly hulled corn was a most popular breakfast and supper dish, and it is now being prepared in many . homes and meeting with a very generous wel- come. F¥reshly hulled corn is far more deliclous than any = commercially canned, for freshness is as essential to hulled corn as it is to June peas. It is usually eaten in milk and is a most . wholesome, economical and nu- tritious food, suitable for children and adults. The food value of -hulled corn n Water ..cesceccced T4l per. cent Fat ,.oooeee « .09 per cent Mineral Matter » .5 per cent- Proteln ............ 2.3 per cent ‘Carbohydrates .....32.2 per cent . Calories, per pound ..490 There is an undeniable tendency.to: revert to the deliclous and wholesome foods of the last century and in this hulled corn is rapidly becoming most popular. The hulled corn vendor 15 re=- - sappearing ‘on the streets and in the markets of southern citie. Many women are finding in its preparatiot PAGE EIGHT & gainful occupation,, for they can easily sell it to their neighbors at a good profit. Dissolve half a ten-cent can of good lye in a quart of water and dilute to three gallons with more water in & large iron kettle, Put in four qu of shelled corn and keep slightly below the boiling temperature, until the hully vo started to break. Then put into & .pan of cold water and rub with the hands thoroughly. to loosen the _bulls, . Take off the hulls and ‘scum, from the water and add fresh water soveral -times during the = simmering.’ Stir well with wooden spoon. Change the water five or six timés and wash. and rub until the corn 1s white and gqan. Keep it in'cold water over nigh en wash four or five times with ho: SAVE GARDEN SEED Those in a position to kuow say, that there ig liable to be a shortage of garden seed. Saving ithe garden seed vill be a good way to make sure of a supply of good seed for next