288 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



" an hour of life is the present good and ill plus the good and ill 

 of all past hours, dimly or vividly reflected upon it." 



We need more heartily to cultivate home affections, provide 

 home enjoyments, and foster home courtesies. In the everv-day in- 

 tercourse of home, there should be a more sacred observance of 

 the amenities of life and a freer interchange of kindly feeling. 

 As flowers seem worthless only to the thoughtless, so the morning 

 and evening salutations in the family may seem little in themselves, 

 but when fitly observed are mighty in their influence. As the sun- 

 beam is composed of myriads of minute rays, so the home should 

 be illumined and brightened by nature's richest hues without, and 

 still more by winning smiles within, cordial greetings, loving looks, 

 gentle words, sweet laughter, and nameless little kindnesses. Such 

 amenities and affections should be the sunshine of home. They 

 refresh and purify the social circle. Like the clinging vine, they 

 twine themselves around the heart, calling forth its purest emo- 

 tions, and securing its most healthful activity. Such a home is 

 worthy the name, Ordmance of God. Such a heaven here will 

 help prepare its members for the heaven above. Such an ideal may 

 be an inspiration towards its realization. 



If parents combine to make the circle of home-life beautiful 

 without and within, they will sow the seeds of truth, kindness, 

 honesty, and fidelity in the hearts of their children, from which 

 they may reap a harvest of happiness and virtue. The memory of 

 a beautiful and happy home, and a sunny childhood, is one of the 

 richest legacies parents can leave their children. The heart will 

 never forget its hallowed influences. It is a fountain of enjoy- 

 ment to which the lapse of years will only add new sweetness. 

 Such a memory is a constant inspiration for good and restraint 

 from evil. If taste and culture adorn our homes and grounds, 

 our children will find the healthful pursuits and pleasures of rural 

 homes more attractive than the pomp and glare and whirl of city 

 life. Such early occupations and enjoyments will invest home life, 

 and then school life and all one's future, with new interest and 

 value, with new significance and joyousness. Life is ever what 

 we make it. We may by our blindness or folly or sin live in a 

 world of darkness and gloom, or we may live in a world full of 

 sunlight and beauty and joy, for the world without always reflects 

 the world within. 



Foremost among the sensibilities to be cultivated in the home 

 are tlie affections. They are the spring of all noble action and 



