WINTER MEETING, 1882. 29 



110 such advantages, but he hoped that because the advantages had not been 

 accorded him ho was none the less appreciative of the value of this training to 

 the people of Michigan. 



There is no place where culture tells better than in the home; there is no 

 place where good taste makes a better exhibition of itself than in the sur- 

 roundings of a home, and there is no place where tliis culture and good taste 

 have so great an influence for good as in our rural homes. Character, man- 

 hood, and womanhood are born of good surroundings. A boy grows into a 

 better, nobler man by reason of a genuine love of a beautiful home. There 

 are too many country homes without a tree or shrub or vine to which memo- 

 ries of childhood may be linked. He said he loved trees as he loved nothing 

 else in nature. There was nothing that brought up such beautiful associations 

 as a rest upon a hot day in summer under the shade of a noble tree. He was 

 not a landscape gardener, still he could see great improvements in the sur- 

 roundings of Michigan rural homes in the last decade. We have reached a 

 point beyond the carving down of the forests and we are looking rather to 

 their conservation ; we are looking as a people more and more toward the 

 embellishment of our farms ; we are getting to a place where we can look out 

 and feel there is something better and higher than the number of bushels of 

 ■wheat, corn, or potatoes we can raise to the acre ; we see the need of higher 

 types of manhood and womanhood. The men who think are the men who 

 govern, and the means that are used to guide the thoughts into good channels 

 are blessed. He closed with the remark that he did not wish to sweep away 

 all the old notions of thrift, economy, and value of labor, but the rather to 

 engraft upon these ideas that will embellish them and make them more 

 attractive. 



Professor Beal said the remarks of Mr. Moore seemed to lead the way for a 

 little experience and suggestion which he wished to relate concerning 



COUNTEY SCHOOLS. 



Towards the latter part of January I received a letter, the like of which I 

 never saw before. I was surprised at the questions asked. I was much inter- 

 ested in it. The letter ran as follows : 



NoRVELL, Mich., i 

 Januanj 20, 1882. f 

 W. J, Beal, Esq., Lansing, Mich. : 



Dear Sir : — I take the liberty to enclose a rough draft of our school yard, 

 with a request, if it would not take too much of your time, that you favor us 

 with any suggestions that will aid us in making our schoolyard more attractive. 

 At our annual meeting last fall the district appropriated $25 to buy trees to 

 set in the yard, and as now is a favorable time to make up our order we would 

 be thankful for your advice of "how to fix it." 



The yard is located on a burr oak plain, nearly level, soil gravelly loam, in 

 quite a bleak place, with yard fronting south. 



We propose to have everything ready to set the trees next Arbor Day, and 

 with an invitation from our school examiners hope to revive a drooping inter- 

 est in our school. 



Any suggestions you may be pleased to make will be cheerfully received by 

 the School Board of District No. '6, of Norvell. 



Very respectfully yours, T. B. H ." 



