148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



handled, and will no more wantonly injure what he admires 

 than he would purposely upset his bowl of bread and milk 

 when he is hungry. If he has not had the benefit of this 

 early training, he can only be kept within the bounds of 

 decency by the nurse, the older sister, the father, mother, 

 and both grandmotliers. But as the good old lady, protest- 

 ing against the destruction of her favorite theological dog- 

 mas, declared she would never give up her "total depravity," 

 so there are people who cling to their parlors as their sole 

 title to respectability. 



They must have a room fifteen feet square, with darkened 

 windows, a Brussels carpet, half a dozen hair-cloth chairs, a 

 marble-topped black-walnut centre-table with horribly de- 

 formed legs, a " spring-seat " sofa, a worsted rug with an 

 abnormal dog on it, a " whatnot " in one corner, and a 

 bunch of dried grasses in the other, or the young ladies, 

 poor things, cannot entertain their friends in good style, and 

 the consequences will be fearful. 



Truly it is a serious question, one of the legitimate side- 

 issues in a discussion of the planning of farmhouses; for 

 our home-life does depend to a wonderful extent upon the 

 character and plan of the house we live in. 



If, for instance, there is one large, cheerful sitting-room, 

 which contains all we have for general use in the way of 

 comfort, beauty, luxury, — a room in which the best thought 

 and the best work of the household finds daily exercise and 

 expression, — it will soon be found that another room for any 

 sort of company is a sheer waste of resources. 



On this great command hang all the law and the prophets 

 of domestic architecture : our houses should be built to live 

 in ; not for show, not for company, not for fashion, but to 

 furnish to the occupants the greatest amount of comfort and 

 enjoyment all the time. Nothing should be so fine that it 

 may not be seen and heard and enjoyed every day, nothing 

 so poor and mean that we must hide it from our visitors. 



And it will follow, as the day J:he night, that the home 

 which is most freely and largely enjoyed by its inmates will 

 be the most delightful in the hospitality it affords to kindred 

 and friends. 



Sydney Smith mentions a young lady who could fill a large 

 book witli the things she did not know. It would be pos- 



