xt70rx937t9n_486 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4.dao.xml unknown 13.63 Cubic Feet 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items In safe - drawer 3 archival material 46m4 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Laura Clay papers Temperance. Women -- Political activity -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- United States -- History. Women -- Suffrage -- Kentucky. Women -- Suffrage -- United States. Woman's Era text Woman's Era 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_17/Folder_4/Multipage20874.pdf 1910 February-March 1910 1910 February-March section false xt70rx937t9n_486 xt70rx937t9n ETDITED BY
MARGARET ELSIE CROSS, M. A.

 

 

REFORM ISSUE
The Meaning of Human Infancy
The Playground Movement
One Kind of Child Labor

Contagion and (Disinfection
Prison Reforms

 

  

 

 

 

 

WHAT THEY SAY.

The magazine is readable and stimulating, broad
enough in scope and treatment to interest readers of
either sex. The articles are well written and the whole
is well edited. -New Orleans ltem.

It is not within the ken of the writer to recall a more
promising output for a first magazine number.——New
Orleans Times Democrat.

The magazine is splendid and will I am sure do
much for the woman's cause. May it have great success.
—-Annie M. Knott, Boston, Mass.

Womans Era is a beautiful magazine, wish for it
the success it surely deserves—Elizabeth J. Hauser,
Vice Chairman Press Committee, N. W. S. A., New York
City. I

Womans Era gives promise of being the greatest
woman's magazine in America; after careful perusal it
impresses me as filling a long felt want.——-Mrs. Thos. M.
Fleming, President, Womans Club, Fairmount, W. Va.

1 have looked through your publication and am
satisfied there is a large and growing field for such a
periodical—Charles C. Boynton, Attorney at Law, San
Francisco, Cal.

Allow us to most heartily congratulate you over the
the splendid magazine that you have published. It is
certainly high class and deserving of support.—Rountree
Publishing Co., J. H. Rountree, President, Birmingham,
Ala.

It is by far the best Woman's Magazine 1 have ever
seen. — Rev. Elmer Gilchrist, Pastor First Unitarian
Church, New Orleans, La.

A splendid magazine—Charlotte Perkins Cilman,
New York.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

HE words of the Talmud, writ-

ten more than two thousand

years ago are true to-day:

“The world must be saved by
the breath of the children”. An im-
portant part of our work in social re-
construction consists in more perfect
appreciation of the dignity, possibili-
ties and divine rights of childhood,
and a more determined effort to se-
cure equality of opportunity for every
child in the healthy environment of
love, childish joy and productive self-
activity.

from “The Meaning of Human Infanéy. "

 

  

 

 

 

{.5 $1 . ‘ '11...x1;.4 Iyalw.‘1..i.:.xx.l.l..1|xlw...fllld ‘

 
 
 

  

 

 

f .

VOLUME 1. MARCH, 1910 NUMBER 2.

(Enntents '
PAGE

Frontisplece . g . g
The Smelting~Urn---P0em - - ~ Grace G. Watts 82
Prison Reform — - - - Maud Ballington Boot/z 84

With Photograph ,
One Kind of Child Labor - ' ~ ‘ ~ . Florence Kelley 89
The Case of Mrs. Schell - — — L Alice Hubbard 92

With Photo ra h
The PlaygrouridpMovement in the U. S. . -. - By Grace Parker 95

Illustrated '
Contagion and Disinfection - . 1 — _ , - Estlzer C. Polzl, M.,D. l02
The Meaning of Human Infancy i- - Margaret Elsie Cross, M. A. “)7
‘ PERMANENT DEPARTMENTS ‘

Reviews and Illustrations.

Arts and Crafts - g- - Ill; ‘ I-Ethics - - - - Pig};
EcOnomics - ~ - - 120 Professional and College Life l40
Civics - - — , a - l22 The Woman Movement ,- l43
Literature ‘ - - - - l26 Editorials - - - - l47
Club Work - - - - l30 Feminine Philosophy ‘ - l52
Music - - - - I33 Wit and Verse - - - l53

 

Publis/zed Monthly [2y WOMANS ERA PUBLISHING C0.

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HUGHLETT HOLLYDAY. Special Advertising Representative.
Yearly subscription $1.50 in advanc ; single copies 15 cents; Canada, $2.00 yearly.
Copyright 1910 by Womans Era Pufilishing Co.

Entered as second-class matter January 22, 1910, at thepostollice at New Orleans, La.,

lunder the act of March 3, 1879.

 

i

 

 

  

    
     
 
   
         
     
     
      
      
  

AWHMANE‘X‘MSOW‘fip

This Book , , ' ~ g ’ ‘. 1p Write
Sent ’ V i I ‘ ' For
ToYou

H.
FREE TO DAY

  

DRESSMAKEPo
IN BUSINESS
fok HEIISELF

MEIER w
1 (ll 1 {at
1th EV
Mum

  

 

  
  

YOUIG LADY
GRADUATE DOING
i HER OWN SEWING

 
  

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You can start in business foryoursclf. Many women nowadays are earning $100 a week-
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- $10, 000 a year. Salaries of $25. 00 to $50. 00 a week are common. Become a Graduate Dress-
; maker. The regular Diploma of this College is Issued to all who complete this course oi lessons. These
' Lessons will teach you how to malle your own clothing and enable you to dress far better at one-third the usual
cost. They teach you how to design, draft, cut. fit, make, drape and trim any garment, including
children's clothing. This college is endorsed by leading Fashion Magazines, MoC-ull's. Pictorial Review. etc etc.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS COURSE HAS A GOOD POSITION
Only a law years ago. Miss Pearl Morwin, now sup- Horhimer, N- Y-

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5

 
 
     
 

doing such sewing as came to her, as a result oi the answer at once. NO- lam “0'- IOOI‘ITE ID? a PHIUOD
merits of her work. A college-bred woman herself. as I I15"! a very 800d one F'WW- WIII be glad 10
she conceived the idea of putting her knowledge and receive letters from 8"Y OI tne dressmakers, an
experience into the hands at those less favored by WISI‘ ‘0 thank You IOF your kIaneSS- I am gIBd that
crystallizing it into a series of lessons which could be I enrolled 53 3 student Of 3'0“" college and am very
successIuIIy taught and easily learned by maiI. I'Ier mUCI‘ PIeafied With the ”5‘9"“ I'- I5 5“ that “- r'E’PW‘
advertising may be seen in all the leading magazines. sents itself I-° be. Yours ”“va

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out the country. She has "come up out of the ranks" WHAT ARE THESE LESSONS WORTH?
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nine endeavor.—'"I'Iuman Lila." Dec. 1907- made 25 waists (six silk ones) aII perIect fits."

 
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
  

   
 

The Book illustrated above will be sent to you FREE. At an ex—
pense oI thousands of dollars this College has published 100.000 of these copy- ‘
righted books to advertise the American System of Dressmaking, and—‘ ’
while they last—will send you a copy FREE. Write for it today. '
- ‘ ' 61 I I" .
7 American College of Dressmakmg, Kauai-f: 3331,63

*‘i*J‘HJ'I'M'I'!'J‘I'i’i'lsm‘)IIiL1:1;w:NJWA.'ILI:WNW? .,

 

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(llAn article dealing with the per-
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Mrs. Gilman’s known ability to‘write‘ i.

on this subject insures its interest

and benefit.

 

 

omans ra

 

  

1 Economics

NE of the striking social phenomena of the last twenty
years is the fall of the birth rate all over the world.
Considered from an economic standpoint, there is a strong ar-
gument in refutation of the much-discussed theory of race sui-
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and figures which are not intended to advocate anything what-
ever, but, taking the ultimate: good of thezéhuman race as the
final end 1n View, leave us feeling that we are justified in§being
optimistic.

 

 

“FQ 01)__1{41. U55}- THE CHEMISTR Y
0F F0 01)”

‘1] Prof. Harriet Boyer, head of the

Department of Domestic Science of

 

the Isidore Newman Manual Train-
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written a paper of unusual import on

this timely subject, for our next issue.

 

 

a for April

 

  

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 :rs

 

 

 

 

 

”(751112 §melting~lflrn

The heart of the Rose its fragrance holds:
The heart of the Diamond Light,

The heart of the Earth its fervia’ fires,

Ana’ the heart of the Oalz its Might:

But the heart of the woman holds all. of these
Like a wonderful Smelting-Urn.

The breath of Balm is for hearts that bleed

Light, Flame anal Strength, for the Valient Deed,
Each serving its special turn

Anal each strong as a Shibboleth;

But their fusioned Power, in a Crucial hour,

Is stronger than Life or Death.

---Grace G. Watts.

 

 

  

 

 

ngton Booth

Maud Balli

Mr

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‘AAA-fio p.,gnn'fif‘

J.

«to;

 

 

 

 

 

51‘16 ... 1.513” ‘11:?“ .4431: “sin Raina!

 

 mnmans first

Vol.1. , MARCH, 1910. ' No.2.

 

PRISON REFORM

By MA UD BALLINGTON BOOTH

filto wr1te :of it briefly as must be the case in this article. All who
have known anything of my work must have heard that it is a
subject very near my heart. Sometimes the Ieadings of Provi-
dence seem strange and unaccountable to us. When my husband and
I, for conscientious reasons and because we could no longer approve the
policy or methods left the Salvation Army, stepped out of that move-
ment which we had built up in this country and began all over again
from the foundation up in a new work, theway seemed hard and difficult.
We had to face heartache and disappointment, ingratitude and misun-
derstanding from those we had served faithfully and loyally. Now as
we look back, I realize that had we not taken that step fourteen years
ago and started the Volunteers of America, I should never have been
free for the wonderful new field Cod opened before me within our prison
walls. One of the most important branches of work though by no means
the only one under the Volunteer standard is that known today as the
Volunteer Prison League, and it is from its close association with thou-
sands of prisoners all over the country and from my constant visits to
all our larger state and federal prisons, that I feel able to write from per-
sonal experience on this great question.

It should always be remembered that prison reform must be closely
allied with prisoner reforming. It is not enough to improve our prison
buildings, change our prison rules and regulations, to see the proper
feeding and clothing, medical attention and education are given to our
prisoners. We must also seek to reach the man as an individual, to ele-
vate his standards, to fill him with new hope, to bring if possible a touch
of human sympathy and the realization of Divine help to the very heart
of the problem.

During the last ten or twelve yearsI have seen vast improvements
and advances all over thecduntry, not only in the management and
equipment of our prisons, but also in the new awakening of interest and

ER'ISON reform: IS so wide a subject that it seems almost impossible

 

  

 

 

 

 

85 Womcms E m.

change of sentiment manifested by the public in every state. Public
interest is a most valuable aid in bringing about improvements within
prison walls for if the public moves earnestly enough, the legislative
bodies are stirred also and much that our prison officials desire to see
done is not in their hands but has to be brought about by an improve-
ment of the laws. It must not be supposed that these good changes
which have revolutionized many of our prisons have come chiefly from
outside interference. I am in a position to know and to appreciate highly
the splendid work accomplished by some of our experienced prison men
—--wardens, superintendents and others--—who have closely studied the
question of prison reform as no outsider could and then have gone bravely
to work and carried out advanced ideas despite all sorts of unkind, nar-
row and foolish criticism from the outside world and even from the public
press.

The clean of our wardens, a splendid whole—hearted Christian man,
is Warden McClaughry of Leavenworth, the great Federal prison. He
is building this magnificent new prison which will be when completed
the finest in the world. He has done and is doing splendid work in prison
reform and his opinion on the question is infinitely of more value than
that of any penologist or criminologist on the outside for he has had some
thirty years of close contact with the prison world as warden. You will
find criminologists and penologists speak very hopelessly about the re—
form of the criminal. Their research in musty books and records brings
them in touch with crime and criminal tendencies, but not with the heart
of the question. I know of few prison wardens who have not hope, con—
fidence, and real human sympathy for the men whom they learn to know
as individuals.

Then there is Honorable C. V. Collins, of New York, superinten-
dent of the three great prisons in that state. He has built mess halls for
the men who used to eat out of tin cups and plates in the cell where they
slept and lived; he brought in the school system through which the illiter-
ate can have a splendid course of education instead of working in ignor-
ance and degradation and going forth just as they came in; the abolishing
of the lock step, the stripes, the short hair cut, was also due to his manage—
ment and the introducing of the honor mark system which gives the men
privileges for so many years of good conduct.

In Iowa, Warden Saunders has done wonders at Fort Madison,
despite foolish attacks from the ignorant and prejudiced. In Louisiana,
in the past seven years, an absolute revolution has taken place in the
treatment of prisoners. The old lessee system has been abolished.
Louisiana no longer hires out her prisoners to men who have only their
own interests at stake. Beautiful farms have been purchased and upon
these farms the men are worked in the open air. The levee camps have
been most carefully organized so that only the men who are atrong enough
and able physically for the work are employed there. Their sleeping

quarters are clean and bright and airy and yet other improvements are

 

 

 Prison Reform, 86

contemplated. Had I the time, I could go on from state to state and tell
you what I have noted as the years have passed.

I feel we have much to rejoice over though we cannot rest satisfied
for there is much to be done. Our jails in many parts of the country
are a shame to a civilized land. The difficulty returning prisoners find
in getting honest work to do, however anxious they are to retrieve the
past, is a revelation of the lack of Christian forgiveness; and the destitu-
tion in which wives, mothers, and children of prisoners are left on the
incarceration of the breadwinner, is a matter that calls for earnest legis-
lative help. --

It should always be remembered that in the choosing of officers as
guards within prison walls, it is of paramount importance that they be
men of sterling good character, sober, honest and intelligent themselves.
It has been one of the curses of the past that for political reasons or be-
cause the state would not pay high enough salaries, brutal, incompetent,
and evil-living men were employed to care for the prisoner. It is from
that the brutalities, cruelities, and mistakes of the past have largely
arisen. All officers should be chosen because of their aptitude for the
work.

When dealing with the prisonerfwe should remember that there
are three thoughts ever to be borne in mind---his past, present, and future.
We must help him to forget the past, we must make him believe that its
faults, crimes and weaknesses, have not wrought utter ruin, that they
do not mean that he is chained to a bondage of crime for the present and
future also. Then we must make him believe the present is worth while,
show him that in it he can lay the good foundation for the future. If
he is ignorant, during his imprisonment he must be trained and edu-
cated; if physically defective or sickly, now is the time to operate on him
or to treat him with such remedies or methods as will send him out with-
out the handicap of bodily ailment. If he has never worked or realized
the value of industry, now is the time to make him a useful worker,
giving him the incentive to work well and thus adding to his life the gift
of an equipment to gain an honest living which will mean everything on
his discharge. Above all, we should make him realize that now within
the prison walls the reform and change of heart and life must come to
him if he is ever to make anything of himself for the future. There is
such a tendency to put off the turning of the new leaf until the day of
liberty to which he looks forward somewhere in the future.

Then comes the future. We must point him ever toZthe better days
that are in store inspiring him with hope, assuring him of the possibility
of a good, honest, happy life; he must be man enough to overcome dif—
ficulties and earnest enough to give up the evil things, the unwise friends,
the old haunts that in the past led to destruction, and to this end we must
appeal to his manhood and preach from the text "work out your own
salvation," backing it up with the assurance that God’s help may be his
for the asking.

 

  

 

87 Womams Era.

I have not space here to tell of the results that have come to us in
our own special work. We started thirteen years ago a league within
prison walls in which we have already enrolled over sixty thousand men;
we opened homes to shelter discharged prisoners who were homeless and
friendless and through two of these already over eight thousand men
have passed to a happy useful life. We are all the time increasing the
circle of our sympathy in practical help to wives, mothers and children
of prisoners all over the country. We have opened a Home where the
women can work by the day and a beautiful nursery where the babies
can be sheltered. We also receive the women paroled from prison and
have a very good work among them, but we can hardly pause to count
all that has been accomplished for there is so much more to be done and
it needs doing so desperately.

In-China, as in other eastern countries, it is imperatively necessary,
if women are to be reached, to reach them by women. Though not
absolutely secluded, as in Indian zenanas, a Chinese woman is practi-
cally unapproachable to men who are not near relatives; she does not,
it is true, turn her back and avert her face when a stranger appears,
as a Korean woman does; neither does she veil her face, as a Mohamme-
dan woman would do; but nevertheless she is kept apart from intercourse
with men, and to listen freely to male teachers, though far more possible
in these later days of emancipation than it ever was :before, is still a
difficulty and an impropriety. A Chinaman’s best friend never thinks
of asking after his wife or daughters; they do not appear if he entertains
guests; the higher class women are seldom seen driving out, much less
walking about the streets. A missionary of many years' experience
told me of a breach of etiquette he once made in bowing to a lady whose
husband he knew intimately; she hurried by, blushing deeply, and re-
turning no sign of recognition to so unmannerly a salutation; he never
attempted such a thing again, henceforth ignoring any Chinese lady he
might happen to meet.~--Lady Florence Cecil in the Woman’s Magazine.

 

  

(Ehilh Egahm:

The children in the Poor House
May die of many an ill,

But the Poor House does not profit
By the labor in the mill!

The children in the Orphanage
Wear raiment far from fine,

But no Orphanage is financed
By child labor in a mine.

The Cruel Law may send them
To Reform School’s iron sway,
But it does not set small children

To hard labor by the day.

Only the Loving Family,
Which we so much admire,

Is willing to support itself
On little children’s hire.

Only the Human Father,
A man, with power to think,
Will take from little children
The price of food and drink.

Only the Human Mother-—-
Degraded, helpless thing!
Will make her little children work \
And live on what they bring!

No fledgling feeds the father-bird!
No chicken feeds the hen!

No kitten mouses for the cat-~-
This glory is for men.

We are the Wisest, Strongest Race---
Loud may our praise be sung!—--
The only animal alive
That lives upon its young!

We make the poverty that takes
The lives of babies so.

We can awake! rebuild! remake!---
And let our children grow!

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in the Forerunner

 

 

 

 

  

 

ONE KIND OF CHILD LABOR

By FLORENCE KELLEY

I—IE largest single employers of children in the United States are
the'PostaI Telegraph Company and the Western Union Com-
pany which includes the A. D. T. messenger service. Some years
ago, in the single city of New York, the Western Union Company

had 2,000 boys constantly on its payroll, and engaged 6,000 boys each
year in order to keep the quota complete. The average length of service
of a boy employed by the Postal Telegraph Company in I907 was but
three months.

At one time it seemed probable that the rapid growth of the telephone
service might drive the boys from the field. This has, however, not been .
the case. Both the boys and the telephones find employment.

The widespread vigorous agitation against child labor has, hitherto,
accomplished relatively little for the telegraph and messenger boys. Very
young lads are no longer commonly seen working at night in New York
and Chicago since Illinois and New York enacted statutes prohibiting
the employment at "any gainful occupation" of children below the age of
sixteen years after 7 p. m. The federal government, too, has abolished
(except in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania!) the employment of young boys for
special delivery letters.

In the State of Washington, a boy below the age of I9 years cannot
legally be employed in these services e x c e p t that a boy over fourteen
years may obtain a permit from a judge (not limited to the juvenile court).
These permits are issued in sufficient numbers to give to the passing trav-
eler in Seattle the impression that all the telegraph and messenger boys
in the city are sadly close to the fourteenth birthday, including those
who work at night. I saw a drowsy little fellow on the back platform of a
Seattle trolley car about I I :30 one evening last July. Asked whether he
was often so late in getting home, he answered "I ain’t going home now,
I’m workin’; I’m travelin’ away from home this minute." To a further
question he replied that his work ended at midnight.

Aside from these few wholly insufficient restrictions the companies
are, in general, free to do as they will with the boys, and in most parts of
the country usage sanctions the employment of school boys from ten
years old and upward, out of school hours, on the ground that the work
"is light and easy."

In reality, among the boy-destroying occupations none is so efficient
on so huge a scale as the telegraph and messenger service. As a regular
part of their work and a very large proportion of the Whole amount, they

 

 

 07w Kind of Child Labor. 90

are sent to every kind of vile resort. After three month’s work, they
know, by reason of the work itself, all the evil that can be learned in the
community in which they live. Under the law a telegraph or messenger
company is not free to refuse to serve a customer.

It is a serious defect in the work of our juvenile courts that their
records do not, as a rule show the occupations in which boys have been
engaged before being brought into court. A few courts are now begin-
ning to do this, notably the juvenile courts of Indianapolis and St. Louis
(Mo). Whenever these records are faithfully and intelligently kept,
they will show the effects of this work upon boys. Meanwhile these
ruinous effects are a matter of common knowledge among probation of-
ficers. Indeed, it was upon the initiative of the juvenile court of Pitts-
burg that the Pennsylvania legislature has, during the present year, made
it a misdemeanor to send any minor under the age of twenty-one years to
any disorderly house. This is based upon the observation that the New
York and Illinois laws prohibiting the employment of boys under sixteen
years at night are insufficient because, between sixteen and twenty-one
years, boys are at the age most susceptible to the temptations peculiar
to this service. ’

Here and there a boy has survived the experience of employment
as telegraph or messenger boy with sufficient character to work up into
the position of head of an oflice. But it is also true that some of the young
lads who enlisted for the Cuban war escaped the perils of camp life and
battlefield and returned safe and sound to their families. It is the con-
viction of the writer that the percentage of wrecked lives among the
telegraph and messenger boys is constantly greater than was the havoc
wrought among our young soldiers, which so stirred our country.

There is no possible excuse for the employment of boys in this ser-
vice. All the work should be done by men twenty-one years old or over,
having the same qualifications which are required of letter carriers.
Telegrams are usually more important than letters. Parcels entrusted
to messengers are certainly more valuable than the advertisements
which form so large a part of the burden of the letter carrier and the read—
ing public.

Surely no woman can know of the wholesale sacrifice of young boys
without determining to get a full share of power and responsibility for
electing the officials who make and enforce-«or fail to enforce-—- the laws.
While, however, we are changing public opinion on this point, and get-
ting votes for women we can, as a provisional measure, refuse the ser-
vices of young telegraph and messenger boys when sent in response to our
calls. We can protest to the company whenever persons who are not
grown men bring to our doors telegrams or messages. Thus we can
pave the way for legislation by using the limited powers that we already
possess in our capacity as consumers---patrons of the company and in-
direct employers of the boys.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Alice Hubbard

 

 THE CASE OF ' MRS. SCI-[ELL

By ALICE HUBBARD

drews. He owns four hundred acres of land. This means that
even in Illinois he is not a poor man.
The farm next to his has one hundred acres. Four years ago
the deed of this farm was in the name of Johnathan Schell, a German.

There was a mortgage on this farm and the mortgage was owned by
a rich man in that vicinity.

Johnathan spent most of his time at the saloons in the village. He
drank much beer.

The farm was successfully worked by Mrs. Schell. Mrs. Schell was
the mother of nine children, the eldest of whom was twelve years of age.

The only thing Mrs. Schell could count on Mr. Schell’s doing was to
successfully spend all the money he could get.

Mrs. Schell was wise; she was a mother. Her wisdom caused her to
provide for her children the necessaries of life, and also to have the interest
money ready for October. when the interest on the mortgage became due.
Also to have the tax money ready 1n the spring. And this she always
did.

Mr. Schell 5 part in the family program was that of spender, con-
sumer, owner, arch dictator.

One Saturday he had consumed more beer than usu'al---if that were
possible; at any rate he was a little more drunk than ordinarily, and when
the old horse Zig-zagged along the road and the wagon jolted into a rut,
he fell out of the wagon and broke his neck. ‘

There was a funeral; but after the burial the relatives did not
gather in the house to hear the will read. There was no will.

The owner of the mortgage knew where he could sell the rich one
hundred acres for cash, and so he foreclosed.

When the sale was made and the funeral expenses paid, all the widow
had left was her nine children and the clothing they wore.

Now, Mr. James Andrews knew Mrs. Schell well, for they had worked
side by side in adjoining fields all the springs and summers and falls that
the Schells had lived on that h