1882.] THE HOMES OF OUR FARMERS. 237 



follow and to add attraction as well as information. At frequent 

 intervals the year round, and regularly in the winter evenings, this 

 genial influence should Cheer and instruct the circle around the 

 family hearth. A pure taste may thus be formed, which will ex- 

 clude the flash literature so tempting and mischievous to those not 

 trained to appreciate the good and noble in thought and style. 



Cheerful conversation should be one of the daily attractions of 

 the home — conversation on what they daily see, and do, and read. 

 Conversation is an art which now needs to be specially cultivated 

 in the home. Properly practiced, it becomes a prime educator, 

 awakening curiosity, sharpening perception, cultivating attention, 

 quickening both the memory and imagination, and developing ver- 

 satility, tact, and vivacity. To learn how to talk well should be the 

 constant aim of both home and school training. 



The farmer's home should he social and sunny. Guizot said : 

 "There was nothing France needed so much for its regeneration 

 as fireside diversions." The isolation of the farmer's dwelling 

 should suggest the special necessity of his favoring home amuse- 

 ments. Children are active, restless, eager for occupation, which 

 should be both work and play. They need amusement, as truly as 

 sleep. Play helps the mental, social, and physical growth. It is 

 the dictate of Nature. The young of all animals play. For the 

 children's sake, appropriate amusements, sanctioned and some- 

 times shared by parents, should occupy fit intervals for recreation. 

 All men need recreation in some form. To move constantly, like 

 a machine, in well-oiled grooves is not the secret of mental or 

 moral health. The greatest and best men love at times to unbend 

 to an innocent sportiveness. Gloom and goodness have no natural 

 affinity. "A merry heart doeth good like medicine." Certainly 

 to the mental health of children, cheerfulness is as essential as 

 water to the fish. Joy quickens the moral as well as mental pow- 

 ers, for goodness does not more certainly make men happy than 

 true happiness tends to make them good; while gloom chokes out 

 the very life of the soul. A heart without hope is like a ship 

 without sails. No right enjoyment ends with the present moment. 

 One may be ever happier, for having been happy. The pleasant 

 memories of to-day may enter into the very texture of our being, 

 A sunny childhood tends to illumine a life-time, and when the 

 lapse of years obscures other memories, this remains the last that 

 time can ever efface. To formulate the pleasure and pain of each 

 passing period of human existence in the style of Isaac Taylor, 



