of the objections often raised to life on the farm is that it is a
life of drudgery, of few conveniences and comforts, of long hours,
hard work, and little recreation. Happily this is not so true as
it once was. Labor-saving machinery, better methods of
transportation and communication, better schools, have done much
to improve conditions of rural home life. But occasionally there
still come statements like the following from some of the women in
farm homes:

In many homes life on the farm is a somewhat one-sided affair.
Many times the spare money above living expenses is expended on
costly machinery and farm implements to make the farmer's work
lighter; on more land where there is already a sufficiency; on
expensive horses and cattle and new out-buildings; while little or
nothing is done for home improvement and no provision made for the
comfort and convenience of the women of the family.

If a silo will help to reduce the man's labor, a vacuum cleaner
will do likewise for his wife. If the stock at the barn needs a
good water system to help it grow, the stock in the house needs it
too, and needs it warm for baths.

You see many a farm where there is a cement floor in the barn,
while the cellar in the house is awful. A sheep dip, but no
bathtub; a fine buggy and a poor baby carriage. On many farms a
hundred dollars in cash are not spent in the home in a year.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HOME

These are not meant as complaints about the purchase of labor-