OUR HOMES. 81 



I have thought that Farmers' Clubs were institutions better calcu- 

 lated for such a course of action, than an association covering a 

 larger area ; and that some plan of this sort is worthy the atten- 

 tion and the experiment of these new practical schools. In these 

 social clubs, sufficient zeal ought to manifest for the success of a 

 cause so worthy, without the stimulus of money premium. A 

 club of earnest men and women thus enlisted would not fail to 

 produce samples of homes worthy of general imitation, and be a 

 means of hastening on the better time when American homes shall 

 present an aspect of general comfort, which at present is rather 

 the exception than the rule. 



It was my fortune to make this suggestion at the l^te session of 

 the Board of Agriculture in Lewiston, and from the favorable man- 

 ner in which the idea was received, I took courage to tiy to keep 

 the thing in sight. To this end I applied to a gentleman* — the 

 one best qualified in the circle of my acquaintance — for a definite 

 plan of action. 



This was subsequently furnished in an appropriate letter cover- 

 ing the whole ground, making the points and suggestions suffi- 

 ciently clear and full for our purpose. With the permission of the 

 gentleman to use his ideas any where for the good cause, I only 

 regret that his entire letter cannot be put into the hand of every 

 person in the State. The force of some of his sentences will not 

 be destroyed if we read them out of the connection, as follows : 

 "How can the farmers of Maine, large and small, learned and un- 

 learned, rich and poor, be led to make their homes more attractive, 

 and thus check in some degree the out-flowing tide of bone, 

 muscle and brains (our young men and women) — a continuous 

 stream — to enrich other States by their indomitable energy and 

 acknowledged ability ? How can all men and women, boys and: 

 girls, be led to see in this their true interest and profit?" 



Hoio to do it. 

 " Repeat it in lectures wherever an audience can be gathered •, 

 and see to it that a good proportion of your listeners are females. 

 I have much faith in what the women and girls can do when they 

 set about a thing." "Preach it from the Board of Agriculture. 

 Teach it in the Agricultural College. Publish it in the news- 

 papers. Talk it in Farmers' Clubs. This is the first thing,— talk 

 it up. Let it be seen ; make it popular — fashionable." 



* Hod. Samuel F. Perley of Naples, Maine. 



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