198 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



they talked of poetry and philosophy, the economy of human life and manners, 

 the enlargement of the mind, historical events of their own and other coun- 

 tries, and such subjects. 



Ah! the art of conversation is not now cultivated as it was in the days of 

 "Rare Ben Johnson," of Sydney Smith, and Charles Lamb, and others of Uiose 

 favorite authors who shone as brightly in the social circle as in any of their 

 written productions. How came it to be so? They prepared themselves for 

 company, not by dressing the body in faultless habiliments merely, but by 

 carefully preparing the mind as well. Woe to that man or woman who at this 

 day goes into society with garments cut in the obsolete style of a year ago. 

 Woe to the man or woman who went into society with an empty head in that 

 day. We look to the wardrobe for help to make us shine in company; they 

 looked to the library. 



Study is necessary to a good conversationalist, and is as much the product of 

 sowing and cultivating as corn is. We must scour our faculties and sharpen 

 our wits, and if we would only be content to do it, our faculties would shine and 

 our wits cut. 



The grange has done much for the farmer and the farmer's wife, to draw 

 out thought which has been garnering up the results of experience in many 

 nooks and obscure corners. This interchange of thought has had its awaken- 

 ing influence, until we look to the farmer to lead off and become the controll- 

 ing force in the procession of active endeavor. 



Societies for literary purposes, clubs of women and the Chautauqua circle, 

 exist in very many localities, and have changed small villages and dull towns 

 into centers of bright, intelligent, awakening work. They are disciplining and 

 cultivating thousands of minds all over the country, and inspiring them with 

 the same reaching out for a better and truer life. 



These associations are often found in the most exclusive society. Jenny 

 June says that "recently nineteen young girls, the flower of New York's finest, 

 most exclusive and wealthiest circles, formed themselves into a modest associa- 

 tion, for the purpose of self-cu'ture and general development. They subjected 

 themselves to the strict discipline of parliamentary rule; elected a chairman 

 at each meeting, proposed questions and had debates, in which speakers were 

 limited to time, and kept to the question by the chairman. We know there is 

 nothing original in these methods, but the fact that they voluntarily p'aced 

 themselves under parliamentary restrictions, and the character of the questions 

 and discussions make them noteworthy. Two of the questions given for dis- 

 cussion were as follows: 'Is true courtesy consistent with perfect sincerity?' 

 and 'What two qualities are most essential to the develo[)ment of a noble 

 womanhood?' Such gir's are laying the foundation for future usefulness, 

 and will perform their duty if they can find out what that duty is." 



But "it is easier to train the flexible twigs than to biul the twistel wood of 

 the matured tree into symmetry." 



A lady asked her physician when she ought to be:^in the education of her 

 child, then three years old, and the answer was : " Madatn, you iiave lost two 

 years already." It is impossible to begin too early to teacli children to observe 

 the amenities of life, and regard the riglits and feelings of others. This njeds 

 the cooperation of both father and mother, for not to the mother only does 

 the responsibility of the home training belong. 



The boy or girl that is bred in the refining influences of a well ordered home, 

 whose early mind is shaped and pruned and directed by cultured parents, starts 

 in actual life a long way in advance of those who find themselves at maturity 



