Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist

by Stephen Hines

  June 28, 1913

  Editor’s Note.—At a time when women across the seas are marching the streets and demanding votes for women, when the law gives the woman in shop or factory a nine hour day it is interesting to note that the Missouri farm woman is making no demands. Her lot is a fairly happy one and she wisely realizes it. Yet it can and must be improved, and Mrs. Wilder who is herself a farm woman here makes some suggestions which should be helpful even to the wife of the tenant who has but little to call her own.

  When so much is being done to better the condition of the laboring man all over the world, it is good to know that the work of farm women is receiving its share of attention. Thinking persons realize that the woman, on the farm, is a most important factor in the success or failure of the whole farm business and that, aside from any kindly feeling toward her, it pays in dollars and cents to conserve her health and strength. Women on the farm have not as a rule the conveniences that city housekeepers have and their work includes much outside work, such as gardening, caring for chickens and gathering as well as putting up fruits and vegetables.

  Farm women have been patient and worked very hard. It has seemed sometimes as though they and their work were overlooked in the march of progress. Yet improvement has found them out and a great many helps in their work have been put into use in the last few years. Farm homes with modern heating, lighting and water equipments are increasing in number and, although the majority have not yet advanced so far as that, a great number have passed the stage of the bucket brigade from the spring, or the hand over hand hauling of water from deep wells. It is getting to be quite the common thing to have the water piped down from the spring, raised up from the spring with a ram, or forced up from the bottom of deep wells by the compressed air pump. So, many steps have been saved the women folks, for they did most of the water carrying. It is so much easier to turn a faucet when one wants a bucket of water and the time and strength saved can be used to so much better advantage in other ways.

  Cream separators are taking the place of the troublesome setting of milk; gardens are being planted in rows so that a horse will do in a few minutes what would be a work of hours by hand; home canning outfits are lessening the labor of canning fruits and vegetables; kitchen cabinets are saving steps in the kitchen and bread and cake mixers save tired hands and arms. Just the change from heavy iron ware utensils to granite ware and tin has made more difference than one would think at first. Vacuum cleaners have almost done away with house cleaning time, for many farm women. In place of the above-ground cellar there is the simple little hanging cellarette. Several shelves of convenient size, either round or square are fastened together the required distance apart. A close fitting case or cover, of two thicknesses of burlap or bran sack is made which completely encloses all the shelves and is closely buttoned down one side, for the door. The “cellar” is then hung from the ceiling in some convenient place; a leaky bucket full of water is hung above it so that the water will drip on it, keeping all the burlap wet; a pan is set under it to catch the drips and there you have a handy cellar for keeping cool the butter and milk. One will save many a trip up and down cellar stairs or perhaps down to the spring. This hanging cellar is kept cool by the evaporation of the water from its surface.

  A friend of mine was unable to stand the heat of the cook stove in summer, so she bought an inexpensive oil stove and a fireless cooker. Anything which required long cooking she started on the oil stove, then placed in the fireless cooker, finishing off, if necessary, when the time came, by a few minutes browning on the oil stove. The combination worked perfectly. There was only a little heat from the oil stove; none at all from the fireless cooker; time and labor of carrying in fuel and keeping up fires; of taking up ashes and cleaning up the dust and dirt all saved and no increase in the running expenses, for the wood, on the farm, sold and bought the coal oil for the oil stove.

  Another labor-saving idea is the use of a small work table on casters, which can be easily moved from place to place. If cupboards, stove and table are some distance apart this is a great step saver. At one trip it can take from the cupboard to the stove all the things necessary in the getting of a meal. The meal can be dished up on it and all taken to the dining table at once. The dishes can be taken away to wash upon it.

  It was while recovering from a serious illness that I discovered the uses and value of a high stool. It is surprising how much of the house work can be done while sitting, —ironing, washing dishes, preparing vegetables and dishes to cook or bake and even such cooking as frying griddle cakes can be accomplished while sitting. There should be a foot rest on the stool so the feet will not hang and it should be light so it can be easily moved. The movable table and the high stool form a combination for saving steps and tiresome standing that is hard to beat.

  Ideas for using the things at hand to make our work easier will come to us if we notice a little. For instance if we keep some old newspapers on hand in the kitchen the uses we find for them will multiply. Rub the stove over with one when washing the dishes and the disagreeable task of blacking the stove can be delayed much longer. The paper can be burned and our hands remain clean. Put papers on the work table to set the pots and pans on while working and the table will not have to be scoured. When the men come to a meal, with their work clothes on, from some particularly dirty job, newspapers spread over the tablecloth will save a hard job of washing and ironing.

  Time and strength saved by the use of one help makes it easier to get the next and the time saved gives leisure to meet with the neighborhood club or to talk with a neighbor and find still other ways of doing the work more easily. Talking things over is a great help as is also the planning of the work so that the whole family can work together to advantage and without friction. As in any other business each one must do his work well and on time so as not to hinder the others in what they are trying to accomplish.

  The combination of capital or business interests forms a trust, the joining together of union forces makes a labor trust and each does much better for his own interests than though everyone worked alone. Why not join the household forces and make a family trust all working together for the same objects? In order to do this successfully there must be system in the work and each one must know what is expected of him. In this way more and better work can be accomplished. It takes careful thought and planning to have the household machinery run smoothly and to the minute, with meals on time so that the farm work will not be hindered and the woman who can do this and the outside work connected with the house has proven her executive ability and business talent.

  While system is a great help in the work it is best to get a new light on it once in a while, so we will not get in a rut and do things a certain way because we are in the habit, when we might make some improvement. It helps in finding the little kinks that need straightening out in our work, to notice if there is any of it that we dread to do and if there is, then study that thing and find some way to do it differently. Perhaps just some little change will be a great help. A woman’s work on the farm is very interesting if thought and study are given it and in no other business can a woman so well keep up with her husband in his work. The more the farm is studied with the help of good farm papers and the Experiment stations, the more interesting it becomes and the woman on a farm may, if she wishes, become such an expert as to take the place of a farm adviser. Work in which we are interested can never become drudgery so long as we keep up that interest.

  One thing is most important if we expect to keep rested and fit to do our best and that is not to worry over the work nor to try to do it before the time comes. The feeling of worry and strain caused by trying to carry the whole week’s work at once is very tiring. It doesn’t pay to be like the woman of years ago, in old Vermont, who opened the stairway door at 5 o’clock on Monday morning and called to the hired girl: “Liza! Liza! Hurry up and come down! Today is wash day and the washing not started; tomorrow is ironing day and the ironing not begun; and
the next day is Wednesday and here’s the week half gone and nothing done yet.”

  Better for a little while each day to be like the tramp who was not at all afraid of work, yet could lie down right beside it and go to sleep. Slipping away to some quiet place to lie down and relax for 15 minutes, if no longer, each day rests both mind and body surprisingly. This rest does more good if taken at a regular time and the work goes along so much better when we are rested and bright that there is no time lost.

  Change is rest! How often we have proved this by going away from our work for a day or even part of a day, thinking of other things and forgetting the daily round for a little while. On coming back the work is taken up with new interest and seems much easier.

  If it is not possible to go away, why not let the mind wander a little when the hands can do the task without our strict attention? I have always found that I did not get so tired, and my day seemed shorter when I listened to the birds singing or noticed, from the window, the beauties of the trees or clouds. This is a part of the farm equipment that cannot be improved upon, though it might be increased with advantage. Perhaps some day we will all have kitchens like the club kitchen lately installed in New York, where everything from peeling the potatoes to cooking the dinner and washing the dishes is done by electricity, but the birds’ songs will never be any sweeter nor the beauties of field and forest, of cloud and stream, be any more full of delight, and these are already ours.

  Good Times on the Farm

  It’s Easy to Have Fun if You Plan for It

  February 5, 1914

  Distances are long in the country, and although it is very pleasant to go and spend the day with a friend it takes a good while to see many people in that way. Women who have been rather isolated all summer need to be enlivened by seeing people, the more the better. There is something brightening to the wits and cheering to the spirits in congenial crowds that is found in nothing else. Why not form a neighborhood club and combine the pleasure of going “a visiting” with the excitement of a little crowd and the joy of entertaining our friends all together when our turn comes? It is less trouble to entertain several at once than to entertain several times; besides there is a great saving of time, and as the club meets at first one house and then another, the neighborhood visiting is done with less of work and worry and more of pleasure than in any other way.

  NEEDED BY COUNTRY WOMEN

  It used to be that only the women in town could have the advantages of women’s clubs, but now the woman in the country can be just as cultured a club woman as though she lived in town. The Neighborhood club can take up any line of work or study the members wish. Courses of reading can be obtained from the state university or the International Congress of Farm Women, and either organization will be glad to help with plans, advice and instruction. Bits of fancy work or sewing may be taken to the meetings and the latest stitch or the short cut in plain sewing can be learned by all. Recipes may be exchanged, good stories told, songs sung and jokes enjoyed.

  The serving of some dainty refreshments would add to the pleasure of the afternoon and keep the social graces in good practice. Women in the country as well as those in town need these occasions to show what charming hostesses and pleasant guests they can be. If the men folks want to go along, by all means let them do so. They might gather by themselves and discuss farm matters. They might even organize and have a little farmers’ club of their own, if they have not done so already; then they would be even more willing to hitch up and drive to the meeting place.

  NO TIRESOME MEETINGS

  There are so many ways to vary the meetings and programs they need never become tiresome or dull. Now and then the meeting may be held in the evening and an entertainment given by home talent. Sometimes the club might go in a body to a lecture or some amusement in town, or for a little excursion to the nearest city. A regular organization with the proper officers, a motto, and membership badges will add to the interest, as will also being an auxiliary of some larger organization such as the International Congress of Farm Women.

  Although the fall with its greater amount of leisure may be the best time to start a club of this kind, it need not be given up at the coming of spring. The long, bright days of summer, when we all long to go picnicking and fishing, offer simply a different form of entertainment and social life and should be enjoyed to the full. Perhaps the meetings might best be farther apart while the rush of work is on, but a day off now and then will never be noticed in the work and will do the workers a world of good.

  A Plain Beauty Talk

  Women Can Afford to Spend Time on Their Looks

  April 20, 1914

  “Beauty is but skin deep” says the old adage, and most of us would be glad to know it was as deep as that. Why ugliness should have been made a virtue, in the teachings of our youth, is passing strange. We all admire beauty of character, but the possession of it is no excuse for neglecting our personal appearance. Indeed it seems to me there must be a fault in the character when one is satisfied with anything less than the best she can make of herself. It is not vanity to wish to appear pleasing to the eyes of our home folks and friends, nor is it a matter of small importance. To be well groomed and good to look at will give us an added self respect and a greater influence over others.

  It is more difficult for country women than for those in the city to make a well-groomed appearance, for they usually do rougher work and they cannot go to a beauty parlor and have themselves put in trim as the city woman can. However many barber shops there may be in a country town, there is almost never a beauty parlor for the women. Until we can make a change in things, and have our beauty parlor in town where we can have the same attention that men do at theirs—oh yes, the barber shop is a man’s beauty parlor! They have things put on their hair to prevent its falling and to make it grow, they have soothing lotions and astringents and powder put on their faces. Don’t let any of them tell you a beauty parlor is foolish or unnecessary, or any of those things—until we can have our beauty parlor in town, we must do these things for ourselves.

  We can make a very good job of it, too, with some good, pure soap, a bottle of dioxogen and some orange wood sticks, a bottle of glycerine and rosewater and a good tooth brush. With these aids, we can take care of our complexion, our hair, our hands and our teeth, and with these in good condition we shall have all the skin-deep beauty necessary for practical purposes; and this will help rather than hinder us in making a beautiful character.

  There are a few simple things to remember in caring for the complexion. When washing the face it should first be thoroughly cleansed with warm water, using a good soap, then the soap should be well rinsed off with clear warm water. The warm water opens the pores of the skin and with the soap thoroughly cleanses them; the clear warm water rinses out the soap so it will not clog the pores. The face should then be well rinsed with cold water, the colder the better, to close the pores and tighten the skin to prevent flabbiness. Cold water is one of the best aids in keeping a good complexion if it is used in this way. It keeps the pores of the skin from becoming enlarged and brings the blood to the face, thus keeping up a good circulation in the minute blood vessels; and this makes the skin look fresh and youthful.

  Cheap perfumed soaps are apt to be injurious to the skin and their use is risky. A good castile soap is always good and not expensive when bought a large bar at a time.

  When washing the face the skin should always be rubbed up and outward, because it is the gradual sagging down of the muscles of the face that causes wrinkles. You can satisfy yourself of this by a few experiments before a glass. A good cold cream rubbed into the skin just before the cold water is used, and then wiped lightly off with a soft cloth, will help to keep the wrinkles away and make the skin softer.

  Face and hands should always be well dried after washing. If it is not the skin will become rough. Keep the bottle of glycerine and rosewater close by the wash pan and after the hands are washed and dried, while they are still dam
p, rub a few drops of this over them. Do this as many times a day as the hands are washed and they will keep soft and white.

  Wrap a little cotton around the point of one of the little orange wood sticks, dip it into the bottle of dioxygen and wipe out the dirt from under the finger nails. Then take a little dry cotton on the stick and dry under them. This will do away with the annoying black line, for it cleanses and bleaches and does not make the nail rough, to catch more dirt, as a knife or scissors will when used to clean the nails.

  There are many simple things in daily use on a farm that are splendid beautifiers. Washing in buttermilk will whiten the hands and face. Fresh strawberries rubbed on the skin will bleach it, and rhubarb or tomatoes will remove stains from the fingers. None of these things will do the least harm. Common table salt is one of the best tooth powders, and with a good brush and water will keep the teeth clean and white.

  The hair should not be washed too often, for this will cause it to fall. Still, the scalp should be kept clean. Wearing a little dust cap over the hair while doing the work will help greatly in this, and such frequent washings will not be necessary.

  When washing the hair it is best to dissolve the soap in a little water, making a soft soap. Rub this into the hair with water until it lathers well, then wash it off. Repeat if necessary. When the hair is clean, rinse it well with clear warm water, until the soap is all out, then pour some cold water over the scalp to close the pores of the skin. This will prevent taking cold and also act as a tonic to the scalp. The addition of a little baking soda to the water will lighten the hair and help to make it fluffy.

  A tea made from common garden sage will darken the hair and help it to grow.

  A Homemaker of the Ozarks

  Mrs. Durnell Reclaimed a Farm, Built a House in the Wilderness and Learned the Secret of Contentment