LECTURES AND ESSAYS EEAD AT INSTITUTES. 353 



road four miles long is practically shorter than one of two miles made of mud, 

 ruts, and stones. To the farmer whose business requires him to go to the 

 neighboring village twice a week, a distance of three miles, it makes quite a 

 difference whether he drives these 600 miles per year with ease and rapidity, 

 over a fine track, or plunges and jolts over continued obstructions. Good 

 roads enable the country resident to take his family to lectures and places of 

 worship, and favor the dissemination of useful knowledge in many different 

 ways, thus becoming important agents in promoting education in the commu- 

 nity. They are in short, one of the surest indications of a civilized and pro- 

 gressive people. Good roads will be a necessity in the agricultural millennmm. 



Improved Jiomes are another mark of progress. First, the home surround- 

 ings, the buildings, orchards, garden, lawn, all denote the character of the 

 owner. Krom a useful standpoint, the orchard and garden are profitable as 

 well as full of pleasure. They afford material for nutritious, healthful food. 

 The house and its surroundings must be credited as a profitable investment of 

 capital, provided that it be constructed with reference to the health and com- 

 fort of its occupants. A farmer, above all others, needs health and strength, 

 and very much is due to the dwelling in which he lives and spends half his 

 time. Dr. Kedzie will tell you that the farmer's home should be the healthiest 

 of any class of people. The necessary sanitary conditions are easily obtained. 

 Pure air is plenty, all that is necessary is to inhale it. No need for sewer gas 

 here. The farmer is not obliged to be a victim to his neighbor's negligence in 

 sanitary matters. 



The barns and outbuildings are also an indication of the thrift of the owner. 

 Of course, a barn is no warmer to be painted and ornamented, but it adds to 

 its preservation to paint it, and a reasonable ornamentation increases the 

 beauty and value of the surroundings. At a recent dairy meeting one speaker 

 asked the question, does a cupola on the barn make more milk? and answered, 

 no, but it makes better milk ; meaning, no doubt, that the farmer who had the 

 enterprise and taste to build a barn worthy a cupola and put one on it, would 

 also take better care of his stock, and consequently produce better milk. 



JtJut the home must not only be made useful and comfortable and healthy; 

 it must be embellished and adorned within and without with taste and refine- 

 ment. Farmers must realize that their highest privilege and central duty is 

 the creation of happy homes, the best product of an enlightened culture. 

 Every influence should be combined to foster home attachments ; patriotism, 

 itself, hinges on the domestic sentiments. When one's home, like that now 

 hallowed ground at "Mentor," becomes the Eden of taste and interest, and 

 joy, and love, those healthful local ties are formed which bind him first and 

 most to the spot he has embellished, and then to his town, county, State, and 

 country. Whatever adorns one's home and ennobles his domestic life, 

 strengthens his love of country, and nurtures all the better elements of his 

 nature. On the other hand, the nomad with no local attachments can have 

 no patriotism. As content in one place as another and truly happy nowhere, 

 he is like a tree planted in a tub, portable indeed, but at the expense of 

 growth and strength. To Adam Paradise was home ; " to the good among his 

 descendants home is paradise," is an old saw fit to be ever new in its realiza- 

 tion, like Goethe's saying '* he is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds his 

 happiness at home." If our cliildren were taught to love the beautiful, the 

 next generation would have prettier homes than the present; and we ought to 

 decorate our homes, and encourage the youth in caring for trees and flowers. 



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