The nonpartisan leader. [volume], August 16, 1917, Image 8

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
BY A FARMER'S WIFE
THEY
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 mu^h
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.
Tou have all noticed how the
waitresses hurry and bustle In the
restaurants, especially when the croWfi
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,
Bilverware, 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
just because they aren't organized, and
armWoman's Page
When the "Thrashers" Come
BMIIIIIItllMMIMIIIIIIMllllBllOIIMimillMMniMiailMIMM
ADVERTISEMENTS
I E E
ft
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.
Wholesale to Consumer
Every department is now open—Every item at a low price
FOR CASH .... .- •...
25 Ik
Sugar
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
Is 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 overbear
some of the men praise the cake, of
even if she sees them take tyro pieces
of pie, It is some recompense, for never
forget that the farmer's wife haa the
Interest of a bostess hi her d4ning table
at "thrashing time."
HOSPITABLE SPIRIT BORN
IN GIRLHOOD DAYS
But there are offsets to all this hurly
burly. When we were children, It was
one of the most exciting times of the
year. We caught the spirit
erf
$2.20
Mention Leader when writing advertisers PAGE EIGHT
pre-
Farmers' Wives Are Hostesses Towards Men Who Garner the Grain
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
tliey 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
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. Freshly hulISd corn is far more
delicious 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»
trttious food, suitable for children and
adults. The food value of hulled corn
to'
Mrs. Alberta Toner
DO WOMEN FEEL THIS WAY?
To the Woman's Page Editor:
One time a man started a paper. Being a man he thought he took
a broad view of things. 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 how 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.
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 afe 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 miiir, 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.
Water .74-1 per cent
Pat .09 per cent
Mineral Matter 6 per cent
Protein 8.3 per cent
Carbohydrates .....22.2 per cent
Calories, per pound ..490
There is an undeniable tendency .to-:
revert to the delicious' and wholesome
foods of the last century and in this
hulled corn is rapidly becoming most
popular. The hulled corn vendor is re
appearing on the streets and in thf
markets of southern cities. Many
women are finding in its preparation
Freshly Hulled Corn {A Delicious Food)
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.
a gainful occupation,, for they
easily sell it to their neighbors at
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 quarti
of shelled corn and keep slightly below
the boiling temperature, until the hulls
have started to break. Then put into A
large, pan of cold water and rub witH
the hands thoroughly to loosen thai
hulls. Take off the hulls and scuni
from the water and. add fresh water
several times during the 'simmering/
Stir well with wooden spoon. Change
the water five or six times and wash
and nib until the corn Is white and
ofcan. Keep it in cold water over night
then wash four or five with hoi
fcater.
SAVE GARDEN SEED
Those in a position to louow say
t$at there i» liable to be a shortage
Of garden seed. Saving .the garden
aeed trill be a good way to make sure
4 a supply of good seed for next
•prlng.