FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 123 



Our homes are the units of which our nation is composed; the stan- 

 dard of these homes foretells what the standard of the nation will be. 

 It is here that our nation receives its first lesson in law, order, system 

 and obedience. The education which truly educates is the home educa- 

 tion. We had better neglect all else rather than the home. 



HOUSES AND HOMES, II. 



BY MRS. EMMA A. CAMPBELL, YPSILANTI. 



To illustrate my thought as to the true relation of houses and homes, 

 I have here two views of a farm home in Ionia county. While I am 

 speaking of the home you may look at the picture of the* house. Notice 

 the porch draped with roses and clematis; the conservatory for flowers, 

 at the right; the fine gTOve of native trees backed by evergreens; the 

 walks; the carefully graded lawn; the plats of flowers; the fountain. 

 Anywhere that water is needed, either in fruit, flower or vegetable gar- 

 den, it can be obtained by turning a faucet; while the stock of all kinds 

 are as well supplied. This shows what can be accomplished by working 

 constantly toward an ideal. Forty-five years ago the owner of this 

 home — a poor man — began its development or evolution, and so without 

 any advantage other than the poorest may have, he carved out a resting 

 place for the heart close to nature, where he could ''listen to stars and 

 birds, babes and sages, with open heart," and trusting in him, who said, 

 ''Consider the lilies, how they grow,*' he passes life's afternoon. 



I will not say that the rudest slab or log-house may not be a true home 

 but it cannot remain so after one is able to provide himself a better one. 



Birds build nests that they may cradle there their young, and so the 

 building of the home presupposes the nurture and care of children. One 

 woman, when asked the condition of a happy home, said, "six sons, six 

 daughters and a melon patch." Now these are certainly promising fac- 

 tors, still the rude huts in the Tennessee mountains, though full of boys 

 and girls and flanked by a melon patch, lack many of the attributes of 

 an ideal home. Where is our progress if we go to living in huts! On 

 the other extreme, we must avoid luxury, must practice "plain living and 

 high thinking," must simplify our physical wants for the sake of intel- 

 lectual gratification. No one will know, twenty years from now, the 

 position your children occupy, whether in their childhood and youth, they 

 slept between ironed sheets or not. No one will know whether they had 

 tucked, ruffled, or embroidered garments or even fur-trimmed coats, but 

 all who meet them will know by their speech, their manner, their taste, 

 whether their mother was a cultured, educated woman or not. Let us 

 live with our children. If they must be silly, let us be silly with them. 

 Every boy and every girl must go through a period of "storm and stress," 

 they need parental sympathy and encouragement; laugh at their confi- 

 dences once and you will never have the chance to do so again. Dignity 

 is an essential virtue, but we do not want too much of it in our relations 

 with our children and their friends. Your children Avill need young com- 

 pany; see that this want is met by inviting to your home young people 



