Newspapers / The Concord Daily Tribune … / Oct. 10, 1923, edition 1 / Page 41
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Home Demonstration Work (By MISS CATHLEEN WII,SOX, _ We are cognizant of the fact that Ag riculture is the basis of all wenlth, pros perity and luxury. If only the tillers of the soil are free, everybody will or ought to be free and prosperous. Happy is the land where those who cultivate the soil own it. Patriotism is born in the woods and fields, by the lakes and streams, by the craigs and plains. But where there is no social life regnant among rural folks, wheat education is neglected, where social Contact is pro hibited by an unadjusted individualism, where all is left to chance, accident and mistake. Everything will be done in the wrong way and the result will be work and waste, weariness and want. The women of Cabarrus county are waking to the realization of this- great fact and they have set their hands to the task of training the younger generation on the farms today, with girls and boys clubs, home-economic clubs and other efforts.. It Ls my privilege and pleasure ns Coun ty Home Demonstration Agent, to be as- i sociated with them in this wonderful un- - dertaking. > \ Change For the Better. Before home demonstration work be gan in North Carolina our rural popu lation wits isolated, like a group of des ert dwellers harboring their old customs and superstitions, their individualism and suspicions, their ignorance and fear. This is not untrue even now, but a great change is taking place. To link up the country with the town and city, to infuse into our rural folk a true spirit of social contact and co-oiieratiou in the solution of their mutual problems, to make home life on the farm more beau tiful and attractive in every way is the aim and mission of home demonstration work and the efforts of the women of Cabarrus county. Began in 1010. Home demonstration work began in North Carolina in a very meagre way in 1010. Since then all projects show a gradual shifting of emphasis from the more practical ljues. For example, from phases of work in food preservation and preparation have unfolded the foods and nutrition program, which relates itself to the whole science of healthful living. No longer is clothing considered as a means only of meeting the immediate needs of the family wardrobe, but rath er as a permanent help to the farm wo man in handling with efficiency hei* whole problem of clothing the family, as this relates itself to economy, comfort, beau ty and health through a mastery of the clothing -budget. There is an old aoage to the effect that one-half our people do not ever know hdfc the other half live. There is much truth in the statement. Bight here in Cabarrus county when I organized a woman's club in a certain community and informed the women we would meet in the homes, one woman asked for the club to meet with her and another wo uhft spoke up, “I am so glad for the club to meet with you. I have never been in your home.” One feature of the club MULES AND HORSES ' CONTRACTORS FOR HEAVY HAULING We trade and sell Mules and Horses for every ♦ A XTrk nn XT „ " use “especially farm mules.” \ AND GRADING If you are in need of a good farm mule then Estimates Cheerfully given on tleavy Hauling come look over our stock before buying. ■ and grading. We are prepared for the business. SATISFACTION ASSURED 1 RELIABLE AND REASONABLE CML WADSWORTH a 2X Means St, H. A. GOODMAN, Manager Concord, N. C. (THE CONCORD DAILY TRIBUNE—FAIR AND INbbSTRIAL EDITION Home Demonstration agent.) work is the social hour, another is the study of the different phases of home making, such as foods and nutrition, clothing, home improvements. In foods and nutrition a study was made in food selection, a better balanced diet, school lunches, food preservation and at each meeting a demonstration of some kind in the preparation of a dish was piade. In clothing we took up design, color lines and actually did sewing. Also made paper dress forms. All day meet ings in the Fall and Spring were held fdr each woman to make a hat, about one hundred hats were made. When it comes to arousing community interest and pride there is nothing which will accomplish this more thoroughly thnn the community fair. At these fairs all of the judging is done in the open. The people are interested in knowing why the decisions are made, and as only women trained in judging are asked to act, it is not hard to give reasons. Score cards are used in all judging. Kitchen Campaign. Our home improvement program was carried on in a countywide kitchen cam paign. This campaign began April Ist and ended with a county club rally on May 20th. I’rior to this time in prepa ration for the campaign, Miss Martha Creighton, the district agent, and I made talks in various sections of the county, the subject being the “Better Kitchen.” At this time cards-for enrollment in the campaign were given out. These cards were filled out and returned to hie. The first week in April, Miss Creigh ton and I visited the kitchens, scoring them as they were without au.v improve ment. To each woman we made suggest ions as to how she might lighten her la bor and save steps by rc-arranging her equipment, making each working surface the right height, and doing many other little things to make a kitchen more at tractive and efficient workshop. The women then had until the last week iu May to work. At that time they were Visited when the final score was made and the prizes awarded. Twenty-five kitchens were entered iu the contest. The improvement made in them was most surprising. Cray kitch ens and white kitchens seemed most pop ular. They were really the most at tractive rooms in the lipuse. One little girl remarked that since her mother had improved her kitchen every other room in the house seemed shabby | and that now she -would have to make them as 'beautiful. One of the women who entered her kitchen in the contest said, “Miss Wilson, I am not going to j stop with this kitchen-, but am going clear j through to the front of the house." Perfect Kitchens. Three women, Mrs. Goodman, Mrs. Petrea and Mrs. Itiunple, had kitchens which scored perfect at the end of the campaign. They did not receive prizes, however, because of the fact that they did not have so much improvement to make. Perhaps the most interesting ,MISB CATHLiEEN WILSON Home Demonstration Agent. kitchen was that of Mrs. D. B. Mabry, who won the first prize, a beautiful four burner oil stove, donated by the Stand ard Oil Company, of Charlotte. The first visit to her home showed a very meagerly furnished kitchen. The owner of the farm from whom Mr. Mabry rent ed had built the house as cheaply as pos sible. Bough unpinned lumber was used for walls and Mooring, and there was no screening. The kitchen was also used for a dining room as the house was too small to make a separate dining room possible. Mrs. Mabry lmd said she would enter the campaign provided the landlord i’ould ceil the kitchen and put down an other floor. A few weeks afterwards she visited my office and almost in tears told me .she" would have to drop out be cause the landlord would not ceil the kitchen and she knew she could not paint fthplancd lumber satisfactorily. After we made a few plans she went home de termined to improve her kitchen. • On the second visit to the kitchen it would never have been possible to recog nize the place as the same kitchen of six weeks before. On the floor was a lino leum rug in blue and white tile pattern. The walls had been whitewashed. The little kitchen stove had been polished and put up on bricks to make it the right height. Back of it hung pots and pans bright and shining. A wood box, also whitewashed, sat close by on rollers so that the children might fill it up with wood for mother. A whitewashed barrel stood in one corner on a stool. It had a tight cover and was kept filled with water by the oldest boy. For a sink Mrs. Mabry had taken an old soap box, made it waterproof, attached to it a pipe leading out .into the yard. She painted the sinfl blue Oh the outside, and with several coats of white enamel on the inside. * On a shelf nearby was a clock and a vase of flowers. One corner of the room was made into a dining room. The table aud chairs had been mended' and were enameled blue and white. The bench for the children liad also been painted in the same way. On the table was a snowy white table cloth and a vase of flowers. An old safe had been renovated with the same blue and white enamel and converted into a most at tractive china closet. At the wiuuuws were dainty white cheesecloth curtains. The windows and doors had been screen ed by Mrs. Mabry with the help of her husband. With the exception of this, she liad done it all alone. The result was that she had as pretty a kitchen as can be found anywhere in the land a a very small cost. The linolenm was the most expensive thing in the room, and the price of this had been covered with the egg money. Make Farm Life Attractive. All this and more, the women of Ca barrus county are trying to do for the uplift of rural life. We are preaching the doctrine that farm life must be more attractive and we are demonstrating how it can be done. We are working to add the comforts of the town to the beauty of the fields. The sociability of the city we are trying to render possible in the country. This gap between the rural people and the city must be filled in. Farming has been made repulsive. Farm ers have been unsociable and their homes have been lonely. They have been waste ful and careless. They have not been proud of their business. I am happy to relate that we.have made some progress. But there is much more to be done to educate our rural popula tion to the point now enjoyed by our city friends. When the life of thlie farm er and his wife and children is such as I have described, the cities and towns will not be filled with want; streets will not be crowded with wrecked rogues, broken bankers and bankrupt specula tion. The fields will then be tilled and Hie villages almost hidden with trees uud vines, filled with a happy and indus trious people. Happiness should be the object of lfie and if farm life can be made'really happy, the children will grow up in love witli the meadows, the streams, the woods and above all, the old homestead. Around the old planta tion will cling forever the happy memo* - ries of delightful years. Concord Marble Works Do Large Business The Concord Marble AVorks, owned by A. D. Frieze and H. T. Utley, is one of the best known firms in granite aud marble monuments, headstones and tab lets in the statte, doing a state-wide bns ihess and having a reputation for artis tic work. The best qualities of marble quarried are used exclusively, a large 'stock being carried on hand at all times in the building owned by the firm on South Church Street which is 35x100 feet, giving plenty of working room. Mr. Frieze is a member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, a Knight of Pythias, a’ AA'oodman of the AVorld and attends the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Utley is a AA'oodman of the AA’orld, married, with seven children, and at tends the Presbyterian Church. Monuments of the Concord Mfikble AA’orks are to be found over the graves of many leading citizens of Cabarrus as well as in most of the cemeteries of the 'state. To be dissipated is to use the first half of your life to make the second half miserable. Believe it or not, the least fatiguing thing in life is work. THE COMFORT OF YOUR CHILDREN \ • V( ■ s' ‘ ' ' ‘• 3 V .• i ' • > At the New Concord High School has been thoroughly and adequately provided for by the installation of modern heating and ventilating equipment installed by a reputable firm of engineers and contractors, Heating is perhaps the least showy part of any public building, but it’s importance cannot be underestimated. „ We appreciate the confidence reposed in this firm by the people of Concord acting through their Board of Trustees. . - * # Dermott Heating Co. ENGINEERS AND CONTRACTORS „ Durham, N. C. PAGE FORTY-ONE .
The Concord Daily Tribune (Concord, N.C.)
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Oct. 10, 1923, edition 1
41
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