Winter Meeting. 335 



he placed a single spray of the lily of the valley in my hand, saying, 

 "This is the most beautiful among 10,000. Return; bring your friends 

 and help yourselves; these are for all those who love the beautiful." 



The other is the home of Miss Mary Clark of Michigan. At six- 

 teen she bought forty acres adjoining her widowed mother's farm, and 

 tenants proving unprofitable, she took the entire management. -She is 

 a practical farmer, has made a study of the chemistry of the soil, and 

 thoroughly understands the rotation of crops. She cuts and rakes 

 twenty tons of hay, milks ten cows night and morning, and once a 

 week sends the milk eight miles to the creamery, where her check aver- 

 ages $50 a month. She nets $25 a month on 200 hens. Her porkers 

 bring fine prices, and every year she has two thoroughbred colts for 

 sale. A fine orchard of apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes and 

 smaller fruits adds materially to her income. She keeps her lawn like cut 

 velvet. The stones banking the flower-beds and outlining the driveway 

 are as white as alabaster from her frequent applications of lime. Flow- 

 ers border the grain fields and blossom among the vegetables. She is 

 never too busy to cuddle a motherless chicken, care for an ailing kitten or 

 an injured colt. 



Another such a home as this I know of personally in Ohio, cared 

 for by two ladies. It is a beautiful place, with its lawn, trees, shrub- 

 bery, vines and flowers. On the north and west of the home is the 

 farm and the neat farm buildings and orchard. Beyond these the 

 grand old trees. On the south and east are the beautiful hills, dotted 

 with farm houses all highly creditable to the fair occupants, and a de- 

 tailed account of their farming operations would be both interesting and 

 instructive. We find the third and last picture to be very similar to the 

 others as to the outward. But in this we will enter the residence. It is 

 not grand nor imposing, but large and commodious. Doors and blinds 

 stand invitingly open, sashes raised and snowy curtains waving in the 

 flower-scented breezes. All seems to tell you this is home. Books, 

 flowers and music are there, and the music that greets your ear as you 

 step upon the piazza — words of greeting, joyous and loving with happy 

 laughter. If we stay a while we see how the husband's eye is ever on 

 the alert to save his wife and family from excessive toil ; to detect a 

 sign of trouble that he may soothe it ; to see where he may bestow hap- 

 piness and give pleasure. We see how the wife looks up to the hus- 

 band in such perfect trust and confidence. The children show the in- 

 fluence of a happy home, a good mother, a noble father, both kind and 

 loving. 



The influence of a true, pure woman can make a bad man good 



