FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 249 



emotions and sentiments, the highest ideals that man has yet conceived. 

 Through it all, if we but listen, we shall hear one dominant tone — 

 man. Always it treats of what is most significant to man — character, 

 and progress, and ideals. Surely the farmer who thinks will not esteem 

 lightly the claims of literature. 



READING, AND THE "MONOTONY OF FARM LIFE.' 



If farm life seems to some monotonous and unattractive, may this not 

 result, in part at least, from the fact that it is so shut off from a view 

 of other occupations,* other classes of people, other topics of thought? 

 The mind grows tired of contemplating one thing constantly; a glimpse 

 of something else, even for an instant, is a relief. Now, reading, if prop- 

 erly selected, furnishes an opportunity for all — father and son, mother 

 and daughter — to turn aside from the daily routine, which, too closely 

 followed, is liable to become monotonous. By the kelp of illustrations, 

 books and magazines enable us to see in imagination the great wonders 

 of nature — the Yosemite Valley, Niagara Falls, the Alps. They picture 

 to us other peoples, other lands, and other times. By their help we may 

 transport ourselves in an instant to some great historic spot, stand in the 

 presence of kings and statesmen, listen to poet and priest and orator. 

 With such opportunities open to all, who that cares to read, need com- 

 plain of the monotony of farm life? An hour in the evening will make 

 one forget whatever of dullness or monotony there may have been in the 

 labor of the day, — it will give that restful glimpse of something else. 

 More than this:' if the reading is well chosen, these glimpses are well 

 worth seeing and well worth remembering; for they present to us grand 

 sights, noble men, heroic deeds, inspiring thoughts. To have invited 

 into our home such majestic guests as these, is to have made that home 

 brighter and richer and happier. To have .brought the great men of the 

 past into clear view, so that we have entered sympathetically into all 

 they said and did and yearned for, is to have caught somewhat of 

 their spirit, their greatness, their nobility. 



Such glimpses of all that is grand, and noble, and pure, we may have in 

 our homes, if we will. 



Note. — Guides to Reading. 



Lowell's "Books and Libraries"— Houghton, Mifflin & Co., price 15 cents. 

 Phillips Brooks's Lecture on "Biography" — Ginn & Co., price 10 cents. 

 Stopford Brooke's "Primer of English Literature"— Am. Book Co., price 35 cents. 

 Richardson's "Primer of American Literature"— Houghton, Mifflin & Co., price 30 



CGHtS. 



Frederic Harrison's "The Choice of Books"— Macmillan, price, paper, 25 cents; 

 cloth, 75 cents. 



Moulton's "Four Years of Novel Reading"— Heath & Co., price 50 cefets. 

 Anna B. McMahan's "Study Class"— McClurg & Co., price $1.00. 

 Mary E. Burt's "Literary Landmarks" — Houghton, Mifflin & Co., price 75 cents. 

 C. K. Adams' "Manual of Historical Literature"— Harper Bros., price $2.50. 

 Allen's "Reader's Guide to English History"— Ginn & Co., price 25 cents. 

 Scudder's "Literature in School"— Houghton, Mifflin & Co., price 15 cents. 



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