Bridgeton pioneer., August 08, 1912, Image 2

About Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919

Image provided by: Rutgers University Libraries

                
That Hole in
the Fence
By Grace Kerrigan
Wopyrlght, 1912, by Associated Literary
Press.)
j "Now, then, my dear, tell me all
About It."
Aunt Hetty had arrived from Michi
gan on a visit to her sister, and this
[was the second day after. She had
asked her niece, Miss May Clyde, to
jtake a seat with her under the bios*
jBoming apple troe, and she had put
ten arm around her as she said the
[Words.
"All about what?” was innocently
asked.
"Stuff! Don’t pretend you don’t
|know. You are twenty years old and
haven’t had a proposal yet. Why
not?”
rm too homely.
"Shucks! If I had you out In Mlchl
Aan I’d have you married oil in a
(month. The fellows around here must
be working for about a dollar a day."
“Do you want my reasons in chrono
logical order, aunty?” May asked
After a sigh had escaped on the blos
jeom-laden air.
1 “We don’t have that word out In
Michigan, but you can go right ahead."
■- “Well, at the tender age of sixteen
2 fell in love with a boy that drew me
jon his hand-sled. I found he was also
jdrawing other girls, and I banished
(him from my heart.”
r- “That was what we call goose-love,"
jaall Aunt Hetty.
"Well, at seventeen I climbed a tree
And couldn’t get down. Great chancy
(for romance, but It didn’t come. The
(grocer’s boy got a ladder for me, but
charged 25 cents for his services. Un
der such circumstances I couldn’t give
'him my heart, could I?”
: "Of course not. I’d like to have
that boy out in Michigan for a few
(weeks!”
“At eighteen I was in a field picking
(daisies when a bull took after me."
! "Lands alive!”
"I ran screaming, and a young man
in the road stopped and—”
"He scaled the fence and broke that
(bull’s neck,” finished the aunt.
"No. In running after me the bull
tumbled and broke his own neck, and
■y...j**1 * ■
Miss May Went Wandering Along
That Fence.
ithe young man went on without our
having spoken a word to each other.
Wasn’t it a shameful case?”
. "We’d surely call it so out in Michi
gan.”
“Then at nineteen, at a summer re
sort, a canoe upset with me.”
“You don’t say!”
“Yes, aunty. I was paddling around
and showing off before a lot of peo
ple when I got the flip-flop. Canoe
just turned over and left me in the
water.”
“And it was a mile deep?”
“I thought so.”
“And you couldn’t swim?”
“Not a kick. Of course the people
all saw it, and of course I screamed.”
“And a dozen young men fell over
each other to plunge in to rescue
you?"
“No, aunty. All the young men had
gone to a game of ball, and the only
man present had a wooden leg and
was bald-headed. He couldn’t come to
my rescue, but he hollered to mo to
wade ashore.”
“But how could you?”
“Oh, the W'ater was only two feet
deep!”
“It wasn’t, eh? I’d like to have that
Jake out in Michigan just one summer,
and the old peg-leg with it!”
“And last fall I got to be twenty. I
Was riding out with a girl friend when
the horse ran away. She jumped out
and left me to be smashed up.”
“The cowardly wretch!”
'After half a mile a young man
dashed out into the highway and cried
lut that he would save me.”
, “And I’ll bet a cookie to a cent that
he was from Michigan!” exclaimed
Aunt Hetty. “There ain’t a young man
In our state who wouldn’t do it.”
“Maybe he was a Michigander,”
■ighed Miss May, “hut I shall never
know. He stubbed his toe and the
horse and buggy ran over him, and
father had to pay a $40 doctor bill for
him. Nothing has happened since, and
how am I to get married?”
“Don’t they have spelling-schools
around here?” was asked.
“Never heard of any.”
"Nor camp-meetings?”
“No.”
“Nor ’lasses candy-pulls?”
“No.”
“What a benighted country! Why,
how does a girl get a fellow?”
"I don’t know. Tou asked why 1
wasn't married, and I’ve been telling
you.”
“Well, we wouldn’t put up with such
things in Michigan a minute. We give
a girl a chance out there, and some
body’s getting married every minute
or two. There ain’t an old maid nor
an old bach within 20 miles of where
I live.”
“But do you think my time will
come some day, auntie?”
“Get to, dear—got to. Don’t you
despair. Put on your hat and go up to
the woods I see over there and see if
you can find me some wintergreen
berries. We Michiganders are mighty
fond of ’em.”
The woods were half a mile away
down the road, and were not fenced In.
When one had penetrated them about
200 feet, however, there was a barbed
wire fence, and it was on the far side
of this fence that Miss May saw the
red berries. Even a queen can climb
a rail fence or clamber over a stone
wall, but there isn’t a lady the whole
length of Fifth avenue that can ne
gotiate a barbed-wire fence. It takes
a brave man and a long-legged man.
Miss May went wandering along that
fence until site found a place where a
hog had crawled through, and bent
one wire up and another down, and
6he sank to her hunds and knees and
tried the same game. The barbs
caught and held her, and she was still
there at the end of three long hours
and after she had shouted herself
hoiirse. . ...
Paul Ascott had come down from
the city to revel in the balmy sunshine
of early summer. He had promised
to kill a few squirrels for a taxider
mist friend, and it was on this very
afternoon that he was out with a gun
In search of the little fellows. He
scented the wintergreens and picked
some and sat down to eat them and
rejoice in the stillness around him. By
and by a succession of queer sounds
caused him to rise up and advance to
wards a certain point.
Poor May Clyde! The young man
came face to face with her. He gave
a start and rubbed his eyes. Never
j before had he seen a girl caught in
the hog-hole of a fence, and he had
to have time to recover. In two or
three minutes he was unfastening the
barbs caught in her shirtwaist and
prying apart the wires, and when he
finally gave her a hand to reach her
! feet she had to have his support for
a time. She had almost lost her voice,
but she managed to whisper:
"Did—did you ever do a fool thing
like that?”
"We all do at times,” he laughed.
"I think you live in the village, and
you must let me see you home.”
There was no talking on the way—
at least from Miss May. Mr. Ascott
uttered a few words of consolation and
left her at the gate, and she went in
and had a good cry before she could
make whispered explanations to her
mother and aunt. It was the next day
before her voice was strong enough
to ask of the aunt:
“Wasn’t it the awfulest kind of aw
ful ?”
"No, sir. It wasn’t!” was the prompt
reply.
"But you see—”
‘‘I see that he’ll call here this after
noon to laugh over the matter with
you, and that It's going to lead to love
and marriage. May, every girl has
got to be found before she can be
loved. She may be found up a tree
—In a cave—down the well—on a hay
stack. You was found in the hog-hole
of a barbed-wire fence, and if that
isn’t romantic enough to bring about
a marriage then I don’t know how
to put up pickled peaches.”
Mr. Aspptt Js a frequent galler at
the Clyde house, and the family cook
has winked at the butcher’s boy and
hinted that there was something do
ing.
MODERN MAID IS WIDE AWAKE
Altogether Different Type From the
Pictures That We Have of Her
Grandmother.
It is a common occrurence nowa
days for ayoung girl to lose her heart
as soon as a good-looking, jolly, good
natured young fellow comes along,
only to find out that she has been part
of an experiment because of a young
man’s fancy has turned lightly—pirou
etting, ar it were—round thoughts of
love.
The sadness and madness of it—the
trivial tragedy that is enacted every
year, in every suburb or provincial
town! and there should really be no
need of it.
The wheel of Fortune brings some
j strange changes, and the girl of today
is entirely different to the great-grand
| mother who shivered in short sleeves
| and low necks under a drooping tree
! while she waited for her young man to
offer himself to her.
The girl of today has learned her
lesson, and man had been her teacher.
The youth whose thoughts turn but
lightly to love, may walk on the other
side of the street for her. She is face
to face with the battle of life on her
own account, and the man who derides
her for a right good comrade through
life cannot do better than to let it be
divined that in one of the innumerable
pockets of his waistcoat there lurks
an engagement ring.—Exchange.
Three Essentials.
The most essential thing for a na
tion is that it should have right ideals;
i the next most Important thing is that
: it should have favorable conditions of
health; the third is that it should ac
quire wealth.
Pays Better.
“The bridegroom is a pleasant man
—he has that certain something—”
“I’d rather have a man with some
thing certain.”—Satire.
CULTURE OF THE ASPARAGUS
Excellent Remedy for Killing off
Green Slugs Is to Dust Dally With
Air-Slaked Lime.
Stop cutting asparagus when peas
are fit to gather. Let the tops grow
until fall. Keep the weeds down by
applying a thick mulch of coarse ma
nure, rotted leaves or grass. If the
little fly appears, dust early in the
morning with dry air-slacked lime.
Paris green solution may be used in
stead of lime. We have always found
the lime effective if put on as soon1 as
the slugs appear. Use fresh air
slacked lime and dust every morning
until all the worms are killed. As
paragus grown from seed must be
kept clean of grass and weeds, and
the soil mellow and rich. Use diluted
.urine from the stables, or bone phos
phate, one handful to every 40 inches
of row, says a writer in an exchange.
The best remedy for asparagus rust
is to cut the tops off close to the
ground and burn. Then sow a thick
coat of air-slacked lime over the
ro-.vs and give clean culture. All
rust stalks should be gathered up and
burnt. If any are left the spores will
be blown by the wind on to the new
growth. To grow stout plants from
seed, thin out the plants to stand
four Inches apart in the row.
KILL OFF INJURIOUS WEEDS
- * * - ' jgs ..
If Noxious Plants Are to Be Destroyed
Work Must Be Done In Thor
ough Manner.
(By R. G. WEATHKRSTONE.)
The presence of weeds on many
farms demands that more rigorous
measures be taken for their destruc
tion. It is plain that eo long as so
few pastures, meadows and cultivated
crops are used in rotation with grain
the farmers will find it very difficult
to keep the weeds in check.
Summer fallowing may destroy
weeds, but it requires a great deal of
labor during the entire season, when
no crop is obtained from it.
Mustard, wild oats, pigeon grass,
and French weed are among the worst
The French Weed.
weeds with which farmers have to
contend.
It Is to be regretted that bo far as
the writer knows, no simple or prac
tical method has been found that will
surely and completely eradicate
French weed. Some farmers have re
ported methods that have proved suc
cessful with them, but other farmers
have tried the same methods and
failed.
Some few things have been learned
by experiments, however. If this weed
i is to be destroyed, the work must be
i Thg weed produces
seeds so profus'ely that If one plant Is
allowed to go to seed a large area of
surrounding land will soon be in
fested.
If there is one direction in farming
in which thoroughness is required, it
is in trying to destroy this weed. A
slipshod way will not do, and an ounce
of prevention is worth a thousand
pounds of cure. Farmers whose farms
are free from the French weed should
guard against its incoming with the
utmost vigilance and care.
Garden tpnd
Farm Notes
Cut the rye heads out of the wheat.
Keep the cucumbers picked off each
day.
An inverted clover soil is ideal for
beans.
If your onions are running to tops,
break dow'n the tops.
Kerosene emulsion is good—or bad
•—for squash bugs.
Keep the tomato vines off the
ground, on supports of some kind.
The first essential in fighting weeds
in any crop is to keep ahead of them.
There is permanent satisfaction in
the use of concrete equipment on the
farm.
A common rotation for large bean
growdng sections is clover, beans,
wheat.
The small hand-cultivator is handy
and saves much hoe work in every
garden.
Experiments have proved that
beans yield better on old land than
on new.
Hay will be valuable again this
year. Let none go to waste; mow ev
ery corner.
Be sure that rain-w’ater barrels and
cisterns are closely screened to keep
out the mother mosquitoes.
The longer you stick to the culti
rator between the corn rows the more
corn you will have in the crib by and
by.
For cabbage worms use insect pow
der mixed with flour in the propor
tion of 1 pound of powder to 25 of
flour. Dust the plants well after each
V _1 . - ... .l>.V- Til | ■ gtf. . . -- .. -1
TAR M
, ancf
(tAFDFN
ERECTING HOMES FOR BIRDS
Lovers of Songsters In All Parts of
Country Are Urging Protection
for Feathered Tribe.
Lovers of birds In every part of our
land and also the United States de
partment of agriculture are urging
people everywhere to do everything in
their power to attract and protect our
native song birds.
In winter this may be accomplished ■
by feeding the birds when the land is
covered with ice and snow. In spring
Nest Made From Tree Limbs.
people are urged to put up nesting
boxes where the birds may make their
homes and rear their young. In sum
mer these little feathered neighbors
need human protection to shield their
young from the attacks of cats.
Are you going to Join the ranks of
the bird protectors of this land? If
you are now is the time to show your
loyalty to your feathered friends.
Make some nesting houses and get
them up at once. The song birds are
worth protecting and should be pro
vided with places to build their homes.
It isn’t difficult to make nesting boxes.
Once the birds have discovered them
they will begin -to collect material
with which to line them and make
them soft and "comfey” for their fam
ilies.
Any small wooden box may be con
certed into a house. Use thin, smooth
boards for the roof. Place a board
beneath the house to keep the cat3
from climbing up to the birds’ home.
A good house is made by hollowing
out a large tree limb and cutting a
hole in it for a doorway. For blue
birds make the entrance hole about
the size of a quarter. If the box is
intended for wrens make It smaller.
Protected Against Cats.
■When doors are larger than the sizes
mentioned sparrows are apt to inhabit
them. Blue birds are among the most
desirable tenants and they have been
known to utilize as houses tin cans,
old shoes, large funnels, or any other
receptacle that is nailed securely to a
post or wall.
How to Use Feed Roller.
Never use a roller immediately
after a heavy rain. But it should be
used as soon as the surface becomes
dry enough to pulverize easily with
out packing tightly. The roller should
be used in dry seasons following the
harrow to keep the moisture Tn the
soil. Of course it is not possible to
use the roller to any extent after
plants are well up but it can always
be used to great advantage in the
preparation of the seed bed. Very
often one rolling will not mash all the
clods and if the ground is particular
ly rough it should be harrowed and
rolled and harrowed again until the
soil is thoroughly pulverized.
Staking Tomatoes.
This is a comparatively new prac
tice, but it is working out fine, and
even market gardeners are adopting
it on a large scale. Up to recently its
chief use was by village people in
their small backyard gardens, but is
now used by growers who are sup
plying a No. 1 trade. Its advantages
are that more tomato plants can bei
grown on a given area; they can be
started earlier because they can be
'easily protected in case of a danger
from frost and that more and better
tomatoes can be grown on the plants.
Fence-Post Problem.
Cement will solve the fence-post
problem for those who have a grav
el pit nearby. It would almost seem
that with concrete posts and woven
wire a fence could be built that would
be as permanent as the farm itself.
yv. - yi
STAND AND ALIGHTING BOARD
Rough Lumber Will Do for Sides and
Ends—Care Must Be Exercised
to Have It Level.
A good bottom board which can be
easily made is here illustrated. One
can make It of rough lumber for the
sides and end, and old box lumber
will do for the bottom. In setting it
the only care necessary is to have it
level on top.
I make mine with a %-inch bee
space at the back end which slant3
to a %-inch space in the front, says
a writer in the Farm and Home. En
Hive Stand and Alighting Board. j
trance in the summer is left full ^
inch deep and the width of the hive.
In spring and fall entrance stops are
used to close it to a scant % inch by
3 to 8 Inches, according to the
strength of the colony
To make It, cut two 4-inch strips, a,
with the top or short side the length
of the hive and the bottom 4 Inches
longer. Cut a strip the same width
for the back and long enough to reach
across the hive, less the thickness of
the two sides.
Nail strips inside of side pieces at
the right height to bring the bottom
up to where you get the desired bee
space. Another board should be
nailed across the front to come flush
with the bottom boards and form an
alighting board. A Is side with cleat
in position, b is bottom board com
plete, c, entrance stop.
SOME SECRETS OF TOMATOES
Runners or Shoots Should Be Pinched
Off, Allowing But One Main Vine
to Establish Growth.
In choosing tomato plants for grow-,
ing prize tomatoes, do not select tree
tomatoes, as they are not prolific, but
pick out some good, smooth, meaty
variety. Set the plant on the south
side of the stake, about four inches
from it, and train same to stake as it
grows, tying with binder twine or
cloth strings, which are preferable.
Many times when the vines are very
tank two branches will start to grow
from the top, but clip one off, allow
ing only one to grow to a height of
five feet, then clip the tops, and keep
them clipped, which will hasten the
ripening, and convert all the strength
of the vine into fruit.
When the plants are eight or ten
inches high, little runners or shoots
will appear in the forks. Here, writes
C. P. Bowlesly in the Farm and Home,
is where the whole secret lies. These
runners sap the main vine and turn
all the strength into vines instead of
tomatoes. When they appear pinch
them off and allow only one main vine
to grow. The fruit buds or blossoms
will also appear in the same fork, but
do not disturb them. Keep clipping
out the runners every time you find
any or when you cultivate them. The
fruit will be nice, early, clean, handy
to pick, a great improvement over the
old way.
MAKING HEAVY WAGON JACK
List of Material Required for Simple
and Extremely Handy Implement
Is Quite Small.
Four pieces of wood, three bolts,
two screws and one piece of wire
completes the list of material re
quired for a very simple and handy
wagon jack, says the Homestead.
One piece of 2 by 4 hardwood, 2
feet, 6 inches long for the main up
right; one piece of 1 by 4 hardwood, 2
feet long for lever, one piece 1 by 4
hardwood, with notches.
One piece of 2-inch stuff 10 inches
square for the base.
The lever is secured to the upright
with half-inch bolt 3% inches long.
The piece with the notches is fast
ened to the lever with a half-inch
A Heavy Wagon Jack.
bolt, and the piece of wire that
holds the notched piece In place Is
fastened to the upright piece with
screws. ,
Succession of Vegetables.
Be sure to plant a succession of all
the vegetables best liked by the fam
ily as well as those intended for mar
ket, thus prolonging the season when
they may be enjoyed at home or sold.
Potato Rot.
If we would avoid rot In potatoes
I we must spray at least three times.
rawoft
True Mourning.
Down in Georgia a negro, who had
his life insured, died and left the
money to his widow. She immediate-;
ly bought herself a very elaborate!
mourning outfit.
Showing her purchases to a friend;
she was very particular in going Into
details as to prices and all incidental
particulars. Her friend wae very!
much impressed, and, remarked:
"Them sho is fine does, but, befo’
Heaven, what is you goin’ to do wid
all dis black underwear?"
The bereaved one sighed:
"Chile, when I mourns I mourns.”
Wide Awake. ~ v
Sammy Mammasboy—Going to
move, Tommy?
Tommy Tufnut—Yep.
Sammy Mammasboy—Why, how did
you know? *
Tommy Tufnut—Ah! how’d I knowl
Didn’t m’ mother lemme break a cel*
lar winder t’ other day an’ didn’t sayj
nartin’? How’d I know? A-a-h, you!—*
Puck.
Made Him Sad.
“Wot’s de matter wit’ Mooney Wag
gles?”
“Aw, don’t notice him. He thinks!
he sees things.”
“Wot kind o’ things?"
“Aw, stacks o’ soap an’ loads o’
bath-tubs.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer.
There Are Others.
Larry—I like Professor Whatshis*
name in Shakespeare. He brings!
things home to you that you never
Baw before.
Harry—Huh! I’ve got a laundry*
man as good as. that.—Jack O’Lan
tern.
' —————————— ——
A NEW PLAN.
Claude—I found my automobile at
great comfort when I first came to
Ihis city, a total stranger.
Clara—That so?
Claude—Yes; It enabled me to run*
up against a whole lot of nice people.;
Sparing Himself.
The umpire when the game la o’er
Doth walk alone, for fear
Hard language from a fan who’s sore
May fall upon his ear.
Meat and Drink.
Will—The sight of an old school*
mate Is—er—well, It might he called1
both meat and drink.
Bertha—Yes; that’s what you men;,
usually do in the circumstances.
Will—Eh?
Bertha—Meet and drink.
Imperfect Air.
"So your airship was wrecked in the
blizzard. I thought you considered it
perfect?”
“The ship was perfect,” replied the
inventor stiffly. "The air was at
fault.”—Tit-Bits.
Kindness.
“Do you ever go out of your way t®
do things to make other people hap
py?”
“Yes. I crossed the street this morn
ing to avoid meeting a man who owes
money to me.”
Real Swift.
"Haven’t you forgotten something?”
asked the maid, with a blush.
"Oh, that’s all right,” replied thd
swain, as he opened the door to go
out. “You can keep the rest of thq
candy.”—Puck.
Why She Yielded.
Bella—He said he would kiss me 01^
die in the attempt.
Della—Well?
Bella—He has no life insurance and
I pitied his poor old mother.
Brave Also.
He—I can tell a woman’s age ncf
, matter how old she is.
j She—What a brute you mug$ bft