^' ^^^■^"^^'""'"^" 697 



FARMERS INSTITUTES. 



THE IDEAL HOME. 



MISS SALLIE BARNETT, CATO, IND. 



[Rea i before Pike County Farmers' Institute.] 



Let me paint a pictme of the ideal home, and you view the painting 

 witli me. 



Now 8hall I arrange the canvas and paint, in many beautiful colors 

 and delicate tints, a scene of splendor, or shall it have a more humble 

 appearance? With the mind's eye no doubt we see, on first thought, a 

 stately aud artistic residence. It may be situated in the midst of the busy 

 city, where it is surrounded by many other beautiful homes very similar 

 to its own structure, and where it has the advantage of city improvements 

 and all the modern inventions. Or it may l>e in the country, where it is 

 surrounded by beautiful tiowers and gardens, where the green trees wave 

 their lofty boughs, and many little birds warble forth their songs of 

 gladness in the fresh country air. 



Let the situation of this beautiful home be Avhat it may. we have the 

 painting before us, and we are not to view it through rose-colored glasses, 

 for there is another side to all this splendor. There is always a dark and 

 light side to all things. 



We have noted the beauty of the exterior of this home, now let us 

 enter and see if the intei'ior corresponds with the view which we have 

 taken of the exterior. We find them very much alike according to struc- 

 ture, and considering the structure alone, we have doubtless painted an 

 ideal home. 



But if there is nothing more to be found than this, we realize that our 

 efforts are >'ain, and that we have made a hopeless failure in the painting. 



In order to paint an ideal we must give room for many things which 

 have a tendency to make a home happy, such as music, literature, con- 

 geniality Itetween the inmates of this home, and a mutual interest in all 

 things as far as is possil)le. There must be an atmosphere of intelligence, 

 we must give room for the library, the journals, and the dailies. There 

 must also be social connections with the outside world, and an interest 

 in things l>oth spiritual and temporal. One thing which is of great im- 

 portance is a spii'it of congeniality between the old and the younger mem- 

 bers of the family. The parents should not continually discuss business 

 affairs while the children entertain each other with accounts of the doings 

 of their young friends, tlieir sports, and the many things which they do for 

 entertainment. There should l)e more of a mutual interest in all these 

 things, and by exhibiting this interest you give rise to those round-table 



