706 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



young. Yet one does not need to be a careful observer to readily see 

 in those features a look of intelligence, and in the eyes, that glitter of 

 determination, which plainly show that the raw material is stored within 

 that baby boy's 'thin unimportant little self, to develop when the proper 

 influences of life have come to have their effect, into the bright and 

 useful man which the world now sees. 



But suppose we now consider what wrought tliis wonderful change 

 in the life before us. What taught him? How was he led? To what 

 conditions was he subjected? What transformed liim from, we might say, 

 a. youngster of practically no use into this useful specimen of manhood 

 that Ave look Avith sincere admiration upon? Noav as the result of our 

 iuA'estigation to knoAv Avhat great influences affected this young life and 

 brought about such remarkable development Ave will find that the greatest, 

 if, in fact, not the only one, may be expressed by the single Avord, environ- 

 ment. And yet, to reach the just stated conclusion it is not at all necessary 

 for me to throw aside such readily apparent and time-proA'en sayings 

 as, "A man must be born to rule ere he can be a ruler," that is, before he 

 can do a thing he must have some natural capabilities to do. Although 

 this be so, on the other hand appears the plainly and too often illustrated 

 case of one who was born with the powers to do yet never became a doer 

 from the fact that the above-mentioned essential, "proper environment," 

 Avas not the condition under Avhich the capable but unfortunate lad had 

 been reai-ed. "Such are the flowers that are born to blush unseen, and 

 waste their sweetness on some desert air." 



Noav, the truth and importance of the facts set forth in the preceding 

 statements, are Avell appreciated and heeded by most all conscientious 

 parents in the rearing of their children. But the question on which 

 depends the successful completion of their task to the desired end is found 

 in this: What makes iip a suitable environment— one that Avill thoroughly 

 develop in the youngster those essential qualities to make of him a suc- 

 cessful and useful man? Where can such a set of conditions be found? 

 This is the great question, Avhere? The answer Avhich Avill give most 

 uniA'ersal satisfaction may be found in this: Place tlie young life amongst 

 the conditions to be found in a rural liome. 



Why, Ave know that even in the beginning, Avhen God made the 

 heavens and tlie earth, and placed thereon the being in the likeness of 

 himself, that he prepared for liim a home in a Avild natural garden, 

 Avhere.greAV beautiful plants and flowers with the beasts of the land 

 playing amongst them. In slicn-t, the abode of man on earth as prepared 

 for him by God, as the best place to cultivate and develop his powers, 

 was amid a perfect paradise of nature and her doings. 



What God saAV best for man Avill certainly exist, in a sense, forever 

 the same. The only difference is that perhaps if the same occurrence 

 should take place to-day Ave might use a more modernized term of the 

 same significance and say, instead of Paradise, that Adam was given a 

 perfect "country home," in Avhich surroundings he Avould naturally so live 



