724 BOAUD OF AGRICULTURE. 



US and our work can remain uudisturhed. All these above meutioned 

 couvenieuces are very necessary and If when building, the house-wife will 

 Insist upon having them, they will be forthcoming. Thus woman should 

 learn to perform her work the easiest way, that Avhlch is most beneficial 

 and essential to herself and those al)out her. As to the other rooms in 

 the house, if you will make your sitting-rooms and parlors art galleries, 

 a museum, a furniture Avarehouse, a toy shop and a World's Fair. I 

 think a great many of our adornments only increase our care and work, 

 say nothing of the e.\pense, my idea of a room is very few "bric-a-brac," 

 in fact a very limited amount of furnishings in each room. 



I have in mind a home where every nook and corner is filled with 

 pictures, cushions, toys and ornaments of most every description. I 

 heard a young lady say who had made quite a visit there, that it took 

 about twice as long to SAveep and dust that house as any other tAvo ordi- 

 nary ones. All such things make perfect harbors for spiders, dust, etc. 

 I do not mean by this that our Avails should be bare, our chairs cushion- 

 less, Avhat I mean is to do aAvay Avith such an elaborate amount of such 

 things. Therefore do not come around the "den" of man wailing that 

 "woman's work" is neA'er done, and that you have no time to read or for 

 .self improvement, but go to the mirror and make faces at the responsible 

 person. (Make just as SAveet and comely a face as you can; your children 

 Avill enjoy it. Supt. of Insts.) We see many pleasant country homes 

 Avith long verandas, Ave get occasional glimpses of lace-curtained windows, 

 but for the most part the blinds are all down; there are pieces of porch 

 furniture, but alas! no one sits there. We notice that the dwellers live in 

 the back part of the house, I presume to keep the flies out in summer and 

 the coal dust in Avinter. Occasionally the house-mother is seen boiling soap 

 in the back yard in spring time or stirring apple butter in early fall— all 

 this is Avell meant for they wish to be saving, but does it all pay? 1 

 think not. Whatever is too good to use, I do not Avant to buy. I believe 

 in enjoying what we have. The farmer and his family can be the hap- 

 piest of people while at eventide they can gather about the hearthstone 

 and by means of the many good books and magazines seek that refinment 

 which will bear fruit for God and man in the great future. 



My subject says couA^eniences in and about the house. There is so 

 much to be said about in the house I fear I Avill not get very far outside 

 the house. There is one building outside I would haA-e as close, and as 

 near on a level Avith the kitchen door as possible, and that is a cold-stor- 

 age room or sawdust cellar as commonly called. I have had some experi- 

 ence with the use of them and can not speak enough of their value, for 

 milk and butter in summer and for fruit in winter. The construction of 

 which is familiar Avith all. There are many things that could be said 

 about Avalks, etc., and the surroundings outside, but time will not permit 

 When we get discouraged and think our work hard and monotonous, just 

 look back a score or so of years to the time of our grandparents, when we 



