1882.] THE HOMES OP OUR FARMERS. 243 



niin to multitudes and financial disaster to the nation. A great 

 peril to the land to day conies from the swelling throngs, ranging 

 from the reckless tramp to the fashionable idler, who are ever 

 devising expedients, foul or fair, to get a living without work. 

 The disparagement of country life has been one of the worst tenden- 

 cies of the times. 



There is protection as well as education in the fervent love of 

 home. Patriotism itself hinges on the domestic sentiments. When 

 one's home, like that now hallowed ground at Mentor, becomes the 

 Eden of taste and interest and joy and love, those healthful local 

 ties are formed which bind him first and most to the spot he 

 has adorned, and then to his town, county, State, and country. 

 Said Garfield to his neighbors, as he last looked upon his beautiful 

 Mentor home: "You do not know how much happiness I there 

 leave behind." His history shows that whatever adorns one's 

 home and ennobles his domestic Hfe, strengthens his love of 

 country and nurtures all the nobler elements of his nature. On 

 the other hand the nomad with no local attachments, can have no 

 genuine patriotism. As content in one place as another, and truly 

 happy nowhere, he is like a tree planted in a tub, portable indeed, 

 but at the expense of growth and strength. The home should be 

 the first place to develop a love of flowers, vines, and shrubs by 

 cultivating them, and thus early foster a taste for the beautiful in 

 nature, in art, and still more in character. 



All the utilities, beauties, and grandeurs of nature culminate in 

 the formation of character. As the human face, beaming with 

 kindness and intelligence, is the most beautiful of all visible objects, 

 so, of all objects of thought, character has challenged the highest 

 admiration and prompted the profoundest investigation. Now 

 character is formed mainly in the home. The Hebrews always 

 magnified the home, and it has been the home, in every age, in 

 the face of civil disabilities and of persecutions unparalleled, 

 that has magnified that marvelous race. Archdeacon Hare said: 

 "To Adam, Paradise was home, to the good among his descendants, 

 home is Paradise." Says Goethe: " He is happiest, be he king or 

 peasant, who finds his happiness at home." 



It has long been my aim to improve the home life of our farm- 

 ers and of all our industrial classes and to help them realize that 

 the highest privilege and central duty of life is the creation of 

 happy homes. The best product of Christian culture is a refined 

 and kindly Home. 



