182 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTUKE. 



wrong. In discussing any proposed action, the first consideration usually is, 

 " Will it pay?" and the second, " How will it look?" Any economy which we 

 are obliged to practice must be carefully hidden from our neighbors as though 

 it were a disgrace ; and if a person come who is wealthier than we, every effort 

 is put forth to give him the impression that we live in the same style that he 

 djoes. 



The grange has done much for farmers, and we see with joy that many of 

 them are becoming more independent and self -asserting than ever before. Why 

 can we not rise above the idea of trying to do just as some one has done, estab- 

 lish our homes and lives upon a solid basis, and striking as broad an average as 

 we can afford, never vary from it, though a foreign prince should call upon us. 

 How much work and nervous excitement this would save, while allowing us to 

 extend a broad, true hospitality. Our guest would go away feeling that he had 

 not thrown the household machinery out of order, and though an honored or 

 dear friend, the family held best of everything in the house as well as the 

 heart. 



We would have farm-homes filled with all the beauty and comfort their own- 

 ers can afford, but would have nothing purchased for display. Tlie use of 

 beauty is to refine ; and this it cannot do except by daily contact. 



AVe have thought that a useful lesson on the jjower of beauty to attract might 

 be learned from the proprietors of saloons and theaters, who spare no pains in 

 decorating their walls with pictures and procuring sweet music, to fascinate the 

 eye and charm the ear. Were parents as zealous in making home, with all 

 its influence for good, as attractive, there would be fewer wrecked lives and 

 fortunes. 



In many farmers' homes there is a scarcity of reading matter ; yet no investment 

 pays greater interest in pleasure and profit than good periodicals and books. 

 But great care should be taken to have them of the best. No thinking person 

 can doubt that much wretchedness and many crimes are Ijut the fruit of 

 thoughts which first gained life from the i)rintcd page. No stronger proof of 

 this is needed than Aaron Burr gave when, an old man, looking forward to a 

 hopeless future and backward over a blotted past, he said, "'If, in my youth, I 

 had read Voltaire less and Sterne more, I should have known the world was 

 large enough for Hamilton and me." 



It is said that Cassar's influence over his vast armies lay in the fact that he 

 did not stand and cry "Go!" but stood in their front and said " Come !" We 

 are none of us Ca?sars, but we each have some influence, which, though it may 

 not be strong enough to send, can certainly lead. So let us, by daily watching 

 and thought, bring, as far as possible, into harmony, our lives at home and 

 abroad, — live more for those we love, and less for those we entertain, — and by 

 so doing gain a self-respect which can not fail to help ourselves and others. 



" True worth is in being., — not seeming : 



In doing, eacii day that goes by, 

 Some little good — not in the dreaming 



Of great things to do by-and-by; 

 For whatever men say in blindness, 



And spite of the fancies of youth, 

 There's nothing so Ivingly as kindness, 



And nothing so royal as truth." 



Some very excellent and practical remarks were made in a general discussion 

 of the topics treated of in Miss Hall's essay, but here, as at Armada, there 

 being no short-hand reporter, we cannot give the discussion in this report. 



