LE5SON FOR THE FARM HOME 



Published semi-monthly throughout- the year by the New York State College of 

 Agriculture at Cornell University. Entered as second-class matter October 13, 

 191 1, ac the post office at Ithaca, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of Jtdy 16, 1894 



L. H. Bailey, Director 



^ -r. tr ^ / Martha Van Rensselaer, Supervisor 



Course for the Farm Home | ^^^ ^^^ g. Harrington. Assistant Supervisor 



VOL. X. No 9 



ITHACA, N. Y. 

 FEBRUARY i, 1912 



RURAL LIFE SERIES No. i 



READING IN THE FARM HOME 



Martha Van Rensselaer 



" Oh for a booke and a shadie nooke, 



Eyther in doore or out; 

 With the grene leaves whispering overhead 



Or the streete cryes all about. 

 Where I maie reade all at my ease, 



Both of the newe and old; 

 For a jollie goode booke whereon to looke, 



Is better to me than golde." 



[PIE character of the farm home depends in great 

 measure on the woman who keeps it; and the 

 character of the woman depends in good measure 

 on the amount and the character of her reading. 

 A love of the best books gives one a new point of 

 view, and strengthens one's hold on life. 



The mother's literary sense needs the most food 

 while the children are growing, so that she may be an 

 example and a stimulus to her family. He is a happy 

 boy whose mother will sit up and read "Arabian nights " 

 with him, even though his jacket must be mended at a 

 later hour. Better to let the jacket go than to lose 

 altogether the companionship afforded by reading together. 

 Books are better than bric-a-brac. A bookless house 

 has a homeless appearance. A few choice books have 

 lent a charm to a home with furnishings both scant 

 and plain. These books have an element of life in them. The long, 

 quiet evenings in the farm home spent with friends in books have 

 built up many delightful associations. History, biography, and poetry 

 may be enjoyed in the farm home much more than in the village 

 and the city, where there are interruptions to regtilar consecutive reading. 



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