130 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mrs. Jones: How TS'ould you increase tact? 



Mrs. Sbattuck: By studying ourselves; by studying our children, and in that 

 way learn to deal with them rightly. I think we can acquire tact—by study and 

 perseverance, etc. — just the same as we can acquire anything else. We ought not 

 to use too much sympathy — do not allow love to come in and take the place of 

 discipline. 



Mrs. Mary A. Mayo: Don't you think that some people are born with that 

 heavenly gift of tact? Let me give a little instance along this line. The other 

 day I received a letter from a lady— written part one day and part the next— and 

 at the last she said. "Now I must close, for my little daughter is coming to call 

 on me with her doll." I thought mat was a good example of tact. The mother 

 stopped what she probably would rather be doing— she would probably rather have 

 gone on with the letter— but she stopped to entertain her little daughter who had 

 come to call. 



Mrs. Shattuck: This is true that some are born with this gift of tact, and some 

 people are more demonstrative than others— we can acquire this gift of tact if we 

 will. 



Mrs. Jones: One thing more along this line. Is it not true, friends, that we are 

 too apt to judge the conduct of our child from our own standpoint of view after 

 our experience of a good many years, whereas they have had so few years of 

 experience, and if we put ourselves in line with their point of view and ti*y to dis- 

 cover the motive of what they have done we will know better how to deal with 

 them? 



Mrs. Shattuck: I read a story the other day which I thought was a good illus- 

 tration of tact, of a mother who on a rainy day always brought out her desirable 

 work— her quilt patching, etc., those with bright colors— and worked on them. 

 She did not bring out the darning, patching, etc., but worked on something that 

 was pleasant and cheerful to have around, and -would give them pleasure on the 

 dark day, which I thought was fine tact. 



THURSDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 2. 



Session opened by repeating the Lord's Prayer in concert. 

 THE ART OF LIVIXG. 



MRS. ALEX. CUSTARD, MENDON, ST. JOSEPH COUNTY. 



Today, standing on the threshold of the past, we are looking through 

 the open door of the dawning century, seeking clearer light, a broader 

 view, diviner days and fuller sympathy. 



Life is an ecstacy, if lived in knowledge. A succession of lessons w^hich 

 must be jjerfectly learned to be understood and how shall they be under- 

 stood unless the art is taught? 



Art is the skillful and systematic arrangement and adaptation of 

 means to attain a desired end — the practical application of knowledge, 

 natural or acquired. 



That wonderful picture of the Transfiguration is art in its highest 

 sense, yet produced by no rule. It was the ideal that God impressed on 

 the soul of the artist, made visible through the senses, transferred to 

 canvas by intuition rather than by acquired knowledge, for art is the 

 revelation of the invisible reality. There is 



NO ART SO DIVINE AS THE ART OF LIVING. 



Art for humanity's sake. The only art capable of reproducing itself. 

 The embodiment of ideals in flesh. 



