336 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



a structure reared. The living, acting, feeling, or enjoying part was still to 

 be supplied. The inmates came. In honor they were not stern and chaste. 

 In forbearance they were not disciplined. Christian charity they knew not. 

 They were not faithful in love. Impatience manifested itself at the slightest 

 occasion; indeed, she seemed to sway the sceptre, and they became her willing 

 subjects. Words unkind, often severe, resounded from those beautiful walls. 

 Unrest, unquiet, everything foreign to a loving, peaceful, home entered there, 

 and was nourished and cherished until love was turned to hatred, and they 

 went out and left the beautiful house, because no home was there. Could 

 gold have bought it, it would have been purchased at a great price and borne 

 to the rich mansion and prized above all other treasures. But alas, they 

 knew not how to obtain it. They knew not, if only both would stretch forth 

 the hand, and lay hold of what was within their grasp, and bring in the spirit 

 of forbearance, sympathy, and love, it would have been to tliem the choicest 

 spot on earth, a haven of rest, a harbor affording protection from the storm, 

 strife, and turmoil of outer life. 



From the above illustrations, we find that house is not all there is of home. 

 Happy is he or she who understands this, and when the home is built is able 

 to furnish it with just what will accord to them the comforts and delights of a 

 genuine home. Could these be catalogued, and all we liad to do was to select, 

 order, and pay bills, the amount of social happiness would be greatly augu- 

 mented. Could there be rules given that would bring us direct to this coveted 

 goal, how many an anxious student would be found pouring over them, full of 

 hope and bright anticipations? Are we then left as a mariner without a com- 

 pass, driven hither and thither, without any knowledge of our bearings; 

 counting ourselves lucky if we reach the haven, and it as only one of the 

 incidents of life, if we are left to be tossed about as long as we live? Ah ! no, 

 the good Father knew and cared for this want in our nature. His golden 

 rule, his oft repeated instructions to love one another, to bear with one another, 

 will cover the entire ground. But as many a student in mathematics will 

 read again and again a rule, and yet with befogged mind, fail to know how to 

 apply it to bring the desired result, so we read these blessed precepts over and 

 over. We listen to our pastor's beautiful lessons drawn therefrom, we hear 

 them demonstrated, see them illustrated, and yet do not allow them to control 

 our lives, our acts, our homes. 



Again, we repeat, the first great quality of a perfect home, is the love the 

 inmates bear each other. If it is found in father and mother, it is sure to 

 exist in brother and sister. A circle whose members are all engaged in the 

 interchange of the offices of love, cannot be an unhappy one. I remember a 

 professor telling his class in mental philosophy, that it is a law of our being 

 that those to whom we show kindness we learn to love, and those whom we 

 injure, we learn to hate. Is not this then, the strongest argument for acts of 

 kindness, daily and constantly in the family circle? If each tries to be 

 unselfish it will be an easy matter. Study to know what will produce happi- 

 ness; what will produce misery. Indulge the one and avoid the other. 



I have no sympathy with the many articles found in our papers, which 

 make almost the entire weal or woe of a household depend upon the wife. 

 The care of the house is her especial province ; not so the happiness of the 

 home. It is true, very much of the latter depends upon the former. A house 

 in disorder would be but a poor place for social enjoyment and culture. A 

 house untidily kept is a poor aid to cultivation of manner and personal appear- 

 ance. A house poorly supplied with daily food will not best tend to evenness 



