LECTUKES a:ND ESSAYS BEAD AT INSTITUTES. 395 



however elegant, is very inadequate. Tliis classes it with the uest of the bird, 

 the den of the fox, and the cave of the hyena. In the humblest cottage there 

 is much which the eye does not reach. Bench, table, and bed are not the only 

 furniture. The hearth has another fire than that which warms the body. 

 Fancies and impulses are there working through the inspiration of love. The 

 heart cannot live in a place purely material. The animal man is not to be 

 tamed and fed only: but the glorious spirit within him is to receive its share of 

 life and culture from the economy which surrounds him, and mature itself for 

 its awaiting destiny. 



Although much of home happiness depends on the externals of home, the 

 construction of houses, adaptation to climate, arrangements for heating, ven- 

 tilating, cooking, bathing, and all that has to do with animal life ; these 

 things must be left to the tender mercy of architects, and to the length of the 

 bank account. A few hints, however, on such of these topics as most affect 

 the inner life of home, may be given. Farmers possess a great advantage over 

 most other classes in owning their homes. Fcr this reason home topics ought 

 to be especially interesting to farmers. The possession of real estate confers 

 upon a man dignity and an air of substantialness. • "Whotrusteth a man that 

 hath no house, and skippeth from city to city? Lo, the wary landlord asketh 

 him to pay in advance ; and if he seeketh private hospitality, behold man 

 turneth him over to the police as a beggar and tramp." There is greater 

 respectability in one's own house twenty feet square and built of logs, than in 

 a rented mansion. Little houses may be the abode of refined people, who 

 choose to surround themselves there with the comforts of life, rather than let 

 happiness shiver on the cold stair of ideality. It is a good, healthy idea, that 

 any one who can afford to marry can afford to buy a home. 



There is more danger of having too large a house than too small a one ; 

 and farmers are quite as liable to make this mistake in planning a new house 

 or re-building an old one, as other people. They forget that the Tower of 

 Babel on the plain of Shinar, was planned on too grand a scale; that the con- 

 tractors couldn't pay up, and the workmen struck; and we, of to-day, experi- 

 ence some of the disastrous results of that strike, when trying to communicate 

 with Scandanavian, or Teutonic, or Hibernian help. It wasn't disappoint- 

 ment in love that made Solomon cry out in anguish, ''Vanity of vanities! 

 All is vanity." It was the expense of that gorgeous edifice 



" On Mount Moriah 

 Hard by Jerusalem." 



France was thrown into bankruptcy by Versailles, and George Francis Train 

 rendered impecunious by his magnificent tavern in Omaha. It is infinitely 

 better to build snug cottages and save snug sums for furniture. Let extrava- 

 gance and ostentation yield to comfort. A similar mistake is often made in 

 furnishing. In many houses the parlor is the only well furnished room. The 

 chamber, the dining-room, and the kitchen are expertly defrauded for show — 

 simply to please a few morning callers or evening visitors. A happy, healthy 

 domestic life demands, above all, that the home arrangements should have 

 reference exclusively to the family. It is the family dwelling, the family 

 world. He is a fool who mortgages fireside and table and slumber to the 

 omnivorous public. Welcome friends to your homes, and honor them with 

 generous hospitality, but let fashion, etiquette, and society be subordinate to 

 home comfort and home-bred excellence. 



When real comfort and happiness can be had for a small price people are 



