706 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



As we wander back in liistory, let us note tlic dilleience in home. 

 Go back with me to colonial days. Look into a new England home. 

 See the I'liritau maiden as she sits by her spinniuj,'-wheel. Look 

 about the room. It is a homely i)lace. The spotless Iloor is car- 

 petless. The furniture is the plainest we can imagine. Everything 

 about the house shows the same simplicity. We notice it when 

 those about us speak. They know nought of grandeur. Is it home 

 we ask? Yes, 'tis an old-fashioned country home, and a happy place, 

 around which w'e love to linger. We pass by a few years and enter 

 other homes. We leave the simple homes and habits of the Puri- 

 tan and enter a modern mansion. All shows wealth and beauty, 

 we are dazzled by the grandeur. We are pleased for a time, but 

 we do not care to linger. Amid all the beauty there is not joy. Hap- 

 piness is a stranger here. What makes the home we ask? The 

 answer comes, loving hearts. The true home is always a happy 

 home. The most illustrious statesmen, the most distinguished sol- 

 diers and the greatest men on history's pages, owe their greatness to 

 the influence of home. Lincoln said he owed all his success in life 

 to the memory of his mother. Napoleon felt the influence of home 

 when he said: ''What France wants is good mothers and you may be 

 sure then that France will have good soldiers." Who can tell of the 

 influence of the home? Whether it be the hut or the palace, the 

 city or the county home, it is the i)lace we love best. 



Our city friends cannot see the charms of country life. To us the 

 country home is the best place on earth. What are its advantages 

 you ask? We point you to the noblest characters on history's pages. 



Whore are most of our great men from. Our answer is from the 

 country? Why is it we ask, are country boys brighter than city 

 boys or do they have greater advantages? To both questions we 

 must say no. Neither are their temptations so great. Their life is 

 necessarily more quiet. They give more time to thought. When 

 were the most beautiful thoughts of Robert Burns penned? Was it 

 not as he followed the plow on his father's farm? Most of the men 

 who have carved for themselves a high name have been country boys. 

 Who would give up the memories of the old country home for the 

 pleasures of the city? 



Where can the artists find a picture equal to it? The vine-clad 

 house, the old spring shaded by the giant oak, the fragrant flowers 

 and singing birds. 'Tis a place where the careworn traveler longs to 

 rest and 'tis a feast for both artist and poet. 'Tis a place all enjoy 

 and the best type of Heaven old Mother Earth affords. 



WHAT BOOKS AND MAGAZINES SHOULD WE READ. 



By MRS. MARTHA II. MOKUOW, Timusta, Pa. 



The history of humanity is one of progress. The trend of the 

 human race is upward, but its progress toward the ideal has not 

 been by giant strides. Sometimes there has been a faltering in the 

 onward march; at other times it has been, at best, but a snail's pace; 



