1882.] THE HOMES OP OUR FARMERS. 239 



the groundwork of our usefulness and happiness. Here are 

 found the motives which most strongly stir the human soul, 

 which form the characters of men, enlist their energies, and deter- 

 mine their history. In the affections, most of all, are found the 

 impelling forces of human nature, the best dynamics of the 

 mind, prompting its most healthful activity, without which 

 the mind is like a well-furnished factory, with no propelling 

 power — its cards and jennies and looms all still as the 

 grave, while the engine is cold. But kindle a fire in the 

 furnace below, and lo ! a thousand spindles and shuttles re- 

 sound with the choral din of industry. So, kindle a glow in 

 the sensibilities, and all the springs of mental life are at once in 

 motion. Without this vivifying pov/er, the intellect is like an ice- 

 berg, resplendent indeed, but only with a cold and sterile bright- 

 ness — so the cold and selfish soul is sterile in heroic virtues. But 

 the affections dignify homely drudgery, make tough toils pleasant, 

 painful sacrifices easy, and perils and privations cheerfully en- 

 dured. There is often a genuine heroism in the home, unsur- 

 passed if not unequalled by any wliich the world loudly lauds on 

 the battle-field. 



I know well there are those who deem such talk of home affec- 

 tions effeminate and unmanly. "While woman may feel, it is the 

 glory of man to think and reason, is the shallow sneer of the cynic, 

 and unfortunataly not his only. The notion is common as it is 

 mischievous. Our educational processes aim too exclusively to 

 train the intellect and ignore the sensibilities. The two so neces- 

 sarily influence each other that neither can reach its full strength 

 alone. Even the lower emotions, such as the grand, the awful, 

 the terrible, the ludicrous, and especially the beautiful, feed the 

 activity of the mind. Still more our social, moral, and religious 

 affections, our emotions of gratitude, reverence, humility, and love 

 are to the mind what air is to the lungs. The culture of these 

 sensibilities is essential to give man individually or socially his 

 fullest development and power. Character is molded more by 

 feeling than thinking, or rather by thought only so far as it awak- 

 ens emotion, and thus moves the will. Says Brown: "By our 

 minds alone we are mere spectators of the machinery of the uni- 

 verse, by our emotions we are admirers of nature, lovers of man, 

 adorers of God." 



These principles of our social nature should be cared for in early 

 life, and so influenced as to form habits of courtesy and kindness 



