HOME SURROUNDINGS. 



Ill 



stay the departing footstep, and return the wanderer. An ini[)i'ovc(l 

 appearanee around farm dwelHngs indieates tlu'ift, and is thrift in 

 itself, for the farm is worth more and will sell for more, on the same 

 principle that farm produce, cattle, and horses, will sell for more 

 when put in a marketable condition. And we are pleased and made 

 better ])y the approbation of others, althougli affectation may seek 

 to negative this view of it. 



After living on a farm for a long time, we do not recognize the 

 presence of unsightly objects that have remained, collected, or 

 grown about us gradually, while a person in passing would take 

 them in at a glance. 



We will look at some of the objects that appear as we pass 

 along the highwav, such as ungraded grounds around the buildings — 

 so uneven that pools of water stand in tlie hollows after a I'ain ; 

 large boulders appear just above the surface, and loose rocks are 

 scattered in all directions ; wood, boards, new and old posts and 

 rails, wagons and carts, broken wheels, a demoralized ha}' i-ack — 

 and tin dishes that look like old friends kicked out of doors by the 

 boots lying there, which in turn have been kicked out too. These 

 are some of the most notable objects in sight, but there are patches 

 of rank weeds which hide many things from view — and perhaps 

 there is a tumble down stone wall close to the house, that was built 

 a centurj' ago. But wait ! here is a flower-bed that the females of 

 the household have struggled with, under difficulties and discour- 

 agements, till it presents one bright spot in striking contrast with 

 the chaotic confusion which prevails ; and it reveals the aspiration 

 of woman for the beautiful. There is a form quite prevalent— a 

 square plot about the size of the house, and generallj' in front of it, 

 fenced, and called a front yard, with flower-beds inside which are 

 nearly invisible to the outside world, l)ut intended chiefly for com- 

 pany. The children are excluded, for fear they may tramp on or 

 otherwise injure something. 



We walk down the road, and here are piles of stone, stove-pipe, 

 broken ware, an old harness saddle, with bushes and weeds on both 

 sides the fence. We go back past the house, along the road by the 

 orchard, which has been well cared for, but the trees are so close 

 together that they shoot upward and lose their lower limbs, which 

 have been cut off and thrown out year by year over an old stone 

 wall, till it requires a close examination to determine whether it is a 

 stone wall or a 1)rush fence. This is partially hidden liy thistles and 



