102 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



cows may not be surprised to have it suggested that it might be 

 well to see if their children are getting balanced rations. Possibly 

 you say that the feeding of children is the work of women, and that 

 if you had known anything was to be said on that subject, you 

 would have brought your wife along. I am sorry you did not. 

 She might have enjoyed the outing as well as you. Possibly in a 

 year or two we shall have a Housekeepers' Conference Farmers' 

 week that will make it seem worth while for her to come. But, in 

 the meantime, I am glad to have an opportunity to speak to you 

 men, and suggest some things that you can do for the home. 



As I have been in different parts of the country, I have noticed 

 that, on the average, men on farms are more interested in the de- 

 tails of their homes than are men in the cities. Certainly their 

 pleasure and their recreation depend more on the home than that 

 of men living in more settled communities ; therefore, I feel sure of 

 an interested audience. I have been in this State but four months. 

 I have not yet had the privilege of going into a Missouri farm home. 

 Therefore, if any suggestions I may make to you are not applicable 

 in this State or to your particular home, you may sit back comfort- 

 ably and congratulate yourself on your progress. What then do I 

 suggest? 



First, if you get so rich following the suggestions made in this 

 conference that you decide to build a new house, be very careful in 

 making the plans that you put more money into convenience than 

 you do into size. Many a prosperous farmer, on rebuilding his 

 home, has felt rich enough to make a house so large that his wife 

 has not yet found time enough for its proper care. Not only are 

 there more square feet of floor to be swept, but the steps necessary 

 to do the ordinary routine work of the house have been multiplied 

 many times. Perhaps in the old home the family ate in the kitchen. 

 Now there is a dining room, and the dining table, the china closet, 

 the pantry, the work table and the cook stove seem suddenly to 

 have taken a dislike to each others' company. Perhaps the bed 

 rooms used to be on the first floor ; now they are upstairs, and be- 

 cause it occurred to no one when the plans were made that it would 

 be much harder to heat a large house than a small one, they are 

 cold in winter weather, and it is hard to persuade the children to 

 stay in them long enough for proper bathing or tidy dressing. And 

 the wife, who used to be bright and fresh of an evening to help the 

 children with their lessons or to join them in a frolic, is now tired 

 after her much walking back and forth and up and down. She has 

 no energy left for her family, and certainly less for a party in the 



