158 STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



Now comes the question how? We will agree that our faces aud lives reflect the 

 sunshine or the shadow of the home; that the homes of any people are the moral 

 indicators of its purity, strength and promise. Threaten the home and you throttle 

 the nation. Blot out the home and vice runs rampant. Better the home and you 

 better social life and the body politic. Bring the home bacli to a normal condition 

 and you dispense with club-room, saloon and brothel. But mind, we can never do 

 it alone. The ballot will not aid much yet, if ever. We must have the support of 

 our best and noblest minded men. Create a public sentiment that shall be world- 

 wide, but begin with men and women in full sympathy with each other, and with 

 one end in view. How can a mother raise her child to be an ideal man or woman 

 with a profane and foul mouthed husband? The creation, education, and maturing 

 of a human being should be above all things pure in contemplation and association. 

 The father should take equal pains and pride with the mother, to keep the child- 

 mind clear. How can we do our best Avork in the face of so many insults? To note 

 one— walk down street, our faces and forms portrayed in half nude or other coarse 

 forms on wares of liquor and tobacco, and other manufacturers. I am glad in places 

 a crusade has begun and I hope it will be supported by every man who loves virtue 

 and modesty in woman, and prizes her person above lust. Let woman be fi"ee to 

 fix her own sphere; let her be able and self-reliant, and enter matrimony from 

 choice, not necessity in any way; let her keep in view the need of an unsullied 

 womanhood. Study how to be better wives and how to encourage men to be better 

 husbands— looking ever forward to improvement of the race by better representa- 

 tions. 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 

 J. J. COVENTRY, Frederic, at CRAWFORD COUNTY Institute, Grayling. 



But with all the labor we talk about, if it is not husbanded, or the results of it 

 not saved, it really does not meet the ends that a person has in view. A person may 

 be ambitious, energetic, blessed with good health and strength and labor hard 

 while the same lasts, but there is an end to all things. 



A successful farmer not only requires a farm, but everything else that belongs 

 to a farm. He needs a good comfortable barn for the preservation of the products 

 of his labor, and the comfort of his stock. The material used in the construction 

 of the same (with perhaps the exception of the timber and lumber) has to be pur- 

 chased, and it takes wealth to effect the purchase. It is true, wealth is obtained 

 by labor, and it is also true that it is preserved by savings and accumulations, 

 and it is also true it is increased by diligence and perseverance. Some have differ- 

 ent ways of saving— some have a barn under construction quite a few years before 

 they make a commencement, but their savings consist in buying shingles, lumber, 

 timbers, nails, hinges, etc., and some even have their carpenters partly paid for the 

 building of the same, before they commence, but when they do commence, they pro- 

 ceed until it is partly finished, and call it their own by its being paid for. It Is the 

 same way in building houses. 



A great many lay all ills to legislation— such rot is tiresome. 



WHAT LEGISLATION CAN MAKE A LAZY MAN INDUSTRIOUS, 



or a shiftless man thrifty, or a spend-all .saving? How many we meet on street 

 corners or in some stores formulating economics for the betterment of our country. 

 Gold standard is what is wanted: or the salvation of the country lies in fhe 16 to 1 

 standard; the public debt can be paid only upon a silver basis— but not a thought 

 given about paying their own debts, nor improving their own social conditions. 

 How many politicians have a panacea for all our ills— they want to be our physi- 

 cians. Our only hope lies in improving ourselves. If we violate the laws of nature 

 we suffer; if we neglect the duties required of us we suffer. Legislation cannot 

 help us— it all lies in our own individual selves. 



When a man glances forward he finds temporal contingencies for which he has 

 to provide. We that are farmers may fail to realize certain expectations upon 

 crops— sickness may come upon upon us— death will come some time. The first two 

 we may escape, but the last is inevitable. 'i"'herefore, as I have before remarked, 

 in regard to making a living it is our duty as prudent men to so arrange by ini- 



