DECEMBER MEETING. 295 



Weilnct^day Eceniag Se^^ion. 

 The first exercise of the evening was the reading of a paper upon 



FAEM ADORNMENT, 



liY MKS. M. r. A. CKOZIEK. 



Probably one of the tilings least thought of by farmers in laying out and 

 cultivating a farm is its effect upon the landscape, its value as a rural picture. 

 Yet just here a little forethought and taste would often be exceedingly valua- 

 ble. With little extra cost, perhaps, and with equal convenience for business, 

 the grounds around the house, the fields, the orchards, and the woodland 

 might bo so arranged as to be much more satisfying to the lover of natural 

 beauty. A little art greatly assists nature in her efforts to please us. I can 

 touch but lightly on this general phase of the subject, where so much might 

 well be said. It is very easy to destroy — it is not so easy to build up. To grow 

 a tree is the work of time. If it is already done for us, let us be considerate in 

 regard to cutting it down, " Woodman, spare that tree," when it will do to 

 spare it, for it is His hand, the Father's th.at "liatli reared these venerable col- 

 umns," and crowned them with the ''verdant roof," It is true that in our 

 beech and maple lauds we must depend mostly on young trees for our door- 

 yards; on oak lands this is not so necessary. The resthetic sense has rights: 

 let us not ruthlessly trample them in the dust. Beauty has uses of her own 

 not to be forgotten in the account of profit and loss. If the value of beauty 

 could be told them in dollars and cents, how many farmers might stand aghast 

 at the amount of the fortune which they have neglected to save. 



"No time for such things," and "no money to spare on them," are perhaps 

 the two greatest bugbears that prevent the prosaic farmer from making his 

 bare, bleak farm that "thing of beauty" which it is capable, with only a little 

 effort, of being made and becoming "a joy forever" to his family. That he 

 "has all the time there is" makes no difference Avith him. He finds time 

 to get a living, time to acquire and run over many more acres than he can 

 cultivate well, time to make money to lay up for his children, time to attend 

 to politics. Though of a frugal class, he has money to expend for rich food, 

 for tea, coffee, and tobacco ; these are necessaries of life to him. If he felt, 

 as perhaps his toiling wife feels, the necessity of beauty in his surroundings, he 

 would find a little money for that also, although it might be in the denial of 

 grosser appetites. I doubt not many a poor woman would willingly live for a 

 week upon corn bread and cold water for the gift of a climbing rose at her 

 doorway, or go without butter for a fortnight for a bed of glorious verbenas 

 before her window, all the long bright summer. If you ask the use, thoughtless 

 farmer, of attention to this matter, there is this use : it may refine your rough 

 nature, it will certainly make your wife and children happy. lias tliis happiness 

 no value in your household? Does it matter nothing to you whether home is 

 bright with glad eyes, and merry with cheerful hearts? I think there is in the 

 heart of almost every woman a strong love of beauty. The manner of its ex- 

 pression is controlled by circumstances. Properly cultivated and given oppor- 

 tunity, it often finds expression in both the external and internal appointments 

 of a beautiful home, and a quiet but charming arrangement of personal attire. 



