WARSAW HORTICULTURAT. SOCIETY. .367 



tellectually studied and widely discussed than in the rush and wliirl 

 of city life; and for convenience, comfort and heauty, our homes 

 comjiare favorably with theirs. 



But let us look for a moment into these country homes, iind at 

 these country people, and as the father is the head of the family and 

 one of the lords of creation, we shall first notice him and his rela- 

 tion to the home. Many of them have <j;aine(l what education they 

 possess hy their own etiorts: have battled with pinchin<2: jxjverty, 

 lack of educational means, prejudice of class, and many other lions 

 which stand in the way, and Avhile never for a moment despising the 

 lal)or by which they gain honest bread, are not disjiosod to consider 

 that working, eating aiul sleeping are all that are worth living for; 

 that so many bushels of grain, so many head of cattle, so many 

 pumpkins, carrots and jjotatoes, so many pigs to butcher before 

 ("hristmas. so many tons of hay to be housed before the fourth of 

 July, all that the year holds in store for them. But each of these 

 carefully attended to. and their daily labor honestly and intelligently- 

 performed, they feel themselves to be free citizens in the empire of 

 thought in which men take rank according to what they essentially 

 are, quite independent of their condition. They do not neglect to 

 cultivate the little graces of life, to surround their homes with the 

 little elegances of refinement which, trifling as they may seem, con- 

 tribute so much to the enjoyment and the cultivation of the tastes 

 of wife and children. They do not leave the entire care and train- 

 ing of their children to the mother, minister, and sabbath-school 

 teacher, but feel that a responsibility rests upon themselves; that 

 they have an influence over them in certain directions which no one 

 else can have: a j)()wer to inspire them with a moral heroism which 

 will make them ])roof against all the seductive influences of vice 

 and iiumorality, unmoved under the dignified consciousness of recti- 

 tude. He adores neatness and the display of good taste in every 

 thing ])ertaining to his home, is fond of good dinners, an honor to 

 his ])rofession, is proud of his farm, obliging to his neighbors, and 

 in love with his wife. 



Next the country woman, if the father be the head of tiic 

 family, the mother is surely the heart of it, and when head and 

 heart work well together we may look out for good results. The 

 country woman troubles herself very little about woman's rights. 

 She would never elaim a seat in the halls of legislation as the place 

 in which to display her talents, nor the scene of carnage as her field 

 of glory, but conscious that she moves in a sphere which requires 

 equal strength of intellect with the other sex, she never feels that 

 her position is one of inferiority. A few woman, very })eeuliarly 

 endowed, may find hajjpiness in other spheres, but generally it is 

 only in the diversified experience of a wcdl-ordered home that a cul- 

 tivated woman can find exercise for all her taleuts and afTection. 

 She realizes tliat our social wellbeing rests upon our homes, and that 



