No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 321 



be found wanUng, whatever his position. Kather, may we seize 

 these opportunities and by our cliarity, loyalty and devotion prove 

 ourselves true to our nei<j;hbor, our IImi; niid our God. 



HOME INFLUENCE. 



BY ALMA CALHOUN, rarkwood, Pa. 



READ AT PARKWOOD INSTITUTE, INDIANA CO., DEC. 4, 1900. 



Home is the corner-stone of all civilization. Influence is the moral 

 power moved by physical power operating by unseen law, or force to 

 act on, and affect the mind or will. 



These directors of our lives turn us either in the right channel 

 or in the wrong. The influence of our home is often thought to be 

 a trivial part. But take if you will the gulf stream as it sweeps 

 through the great Atlantic and see its influence on the surrounding 

 lauds. So is the stream, called influence, which sweeps through our 

 home, with its many branches, and winds w'hich waft the impres- 

 sions on its inmates. 



Influence is the prerogative of home to make the first impression 

 upon our nature. It uncovers tlie moral fountain, chooses the chan- 

 nel, gives the first impulse, sets the first seal, gives the first tone 

 to our desires, and furnishes the first ingredients that wdll either 

 sweeten or embitter the whole cup of life. Impressions made by 

 the influence are like boring into flinty rock, to erase tliem w^e must 

 remove eveiy strata of our being. 



Near Saratoga stands a square marble block on which is engraved 

 the form of three heroes of the American Revolution. The fourth 

 side, a plain Why! That place once held by the traitor w^as lost and 

 stands as a lesson to us to keep burning in our homes the pure, calm, 

 deep and noble stream of light, which shall strike its roots deep 

 in the human heart and spread its branches wide over our whole be- 

 ing that it may be exerted amid the most trying storms of life, and 

 restrain the wayward passions and check us in the mad career of 

 ruin. 



Our habits too, are formed under the moulding power of home. 

 "As the twig inclines so is the tree." The tender twig is here bent, 

 the spirit shaped, principles implanted, in fact, the whole character 

 is formed until it becomes a habit. Aslv the strong man in the prime 

 of life whether the most firm and reliable principles of his character 

 were not the inheritance of the parental home. 



21—6—1901 



