302 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



and commonplace to take the line of least resistance, and relax 

 our efforts to better and brighten daily living. Not so easy is 

 it to act upon the resolve to make a certain amount of labor 

 yield the best results, to select and choose with wisdom the 

 things that are worth onr effort, and set our faces resolutely 

 against senseless customs and fashions that absorb precious time 

 and strength, which turned into more worthy channels, might 

 add to the joy of life and wonderfully renew us for its struggles 

 and sufferings. New lines of thought, new methods of labor, 

 new ways of doing the daily essential tasks, are constantly being 

 thought out by the brightest minds. 



Originality of thought and action is the gift of the few, but 

 it is a gift from these few to the many. 



How much are we the losers if we fail to recognize and make 

 our own the best thought of the present time in the many branches 

 of literature, science, art, religion, industrialism, education, poli- 

 tics, agriculture, in fact, in all departments of life, especially in 

 that department which bears most directly upon our own field 

 of activity, and will help us to bring out the best possibilities 

 of our surroundings. To us, whose privilege it is to live the 

 free life of the country environed, with beauty on every hand, 

 1 tallied in an atmosphere of natural purity and charm powerful 

 enough to awaken the most slumbering religious sense, nature 

 offers the means of life, health and happiness, if the sweat of 

 the toiler is equal to translate these riches into food, shelter and 

 raiment. How much more than these we are to gather depends 

 on the tastes and habits of each one. Close study of nature 

 in the natural sciences, botany, ornithology, or chemistry, re- 

 veals a world of beauty and divine law, that opens our eyes to 

 see with the poet Plerrick — 



"A present Godlike power 

 Imprinted on each herb and flower." 



Tt is very important to cultivate the habit of accurate obser- 

 vation. With it we hold a magic key, admitting us to a fairy-land 

 of ravishing beauty, and yielding a knowledge of nature's perfec- 

 tion in the minutest details, that is most stimulating to the 

 investigating faculty. Once the habit is formed there is no end 

 to the delights and surprises that are in store for the enthusiastic 

 student of natural history, Avho has learned, as John Burroughs 

 so delightfully expresses it, " to read nature's tine print." 



