2 26 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



and competence bring. Almost our first thought of a country home is one of pure air, 

 green earth, gentle breezes ladened with the breath of many flowers and whispering 

 pleasure, and where every shade promises cool and sweet repose. The thought of a 

 rural home is full of promises of the fond ideal and of cherished meditation. Every 

 person of sentiment reverts to the country with pleasant anticipations; it is a feeling 

 inbred in our very natures. Fields, meadows and groves, singing birds and fragrant 

 flowers, running brooks and grazing herds, are ever the delight of mankind. 



Money-making is not one of the incentives of a country residence upon which a 

 practical or a sensible man builds ardent hopes; nor does a man of sound judgment 

 seek a country home upon which to foolishly squander the fortune his industry and his 

 economy have enabled him to accumulate through years of toil and sacrifice and 

 self-denial; but it is the place where he can realize the cherished tastes of cultivated 

 thought, refinement and study — the place where his fond ideals, long anticipated, 

 become the real enjoyments of rational realities — the quiet abode of retirement and 

 domestic ease — the place of rest — the place where the altar is sacred to the affections, 

 and where love radiantly reigns supreme, and peace spreads over the frugal board, and 

 joy is reflected from face to face, making home happy; where freedom and independence 

 proclaim the man king, the woman queen, and their darlings princes and princesses in 

 this rural kingdom. Here the greatest fortune is the wealth of domestic affections and 

 the sweetest sounds the cadences of loving hearts; it is the bower of retirement and the 

 home of the family. 



Our rural homes should be as beautiful as our purses and tastes will enable us to 

 make them. If our means have provided ample space for a comfortable house, it should 

 be surrounded by lawn and ornamental grounds, planted with fruit and shade trees, 

 shrubs and flowers; a well-appointed garden filled with the choicest vegetables for the 

 use of the family; and if our resources and tastes permit us to keep a horse, we ought by 

 all means to keep a cow, as the care of keeping both will add but little to a man's labor 

 who cares for the grounds and the garden. If the family is large and horses are kept, 

 a good cow will be a comfort and a pleasant feature of the place at but little expense. 

 ***** How much of the happiness of rural life depends upon the care 

 bestowed upon the house, the grounds, the garden, the fruit, the flowers, the horse, the 

 cow and the birds by ourselves can only be estimated by him who has bestowed that 

 care and who reaps the pleasure flowing therefrom. 



Thus writes the Record z-wA advises city people to go about establish- 

 ing Rural Homes, and all the inducements held out are certainly within 

 reach of every one within the sound of my voice, although I have some 

 doubt whether I am addressing a single retired merchant or banker. If 

 such a one is here, may I be allowed to congratulate him on his happy 

 condition. 



Let us sing with Whittier : 



Give fools their gold and knaves their power. 



Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall ; 

 Who sows a field, or trains a flower, 



Or plants a tree, is more than all. 



For he who blesses most is blest ; 



And God and man shall own his worth 

 Who toils to leave at his bequest 



An added beauty to the earth. 



And, soon or late, to all that sow 



The time of harvest shall be given ; 

 The flowers shall bloom, the fruit shall grow. 



If not on earth, at last in heaven ! 



