130 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



a credit to any young man who knows how to cook plain food, put it 

 upon the table in an attractive manner, tidy up a room, wash the dishes 

 and sweep and dust; all these with a cheerful heart will make him a 

 better husband for some young lady. 



If a mother in her unselfishness neglects to teach her daughters to do 

 all these things, thinking that after she has had a good time doing noth- 

 ing until she is married, it will come easy enough and be time enough to 

 work; if she neglects to do these things she is cheating most terribly 

 the young men who may marry her daughters, and will receive no thanks 

 in the end from the girls, who, when too late, realize their deficiency. 

 The world needs more girls who have had a practical training in all 

 matters pertaining to a home and fewer who have a knowledge of sten- 

 ography, typewriting, factory-work, or selling goods behind the counter. 

 Many young men refuse to marry girls that they may admire very much 

 for other qualities, because they have not been trained to use the good 

 common sense and gumption necessary for doing plain, practical cook- 

 ing, and to mend neatly before learning to embroider. Then again girls 

 should be given every opportunity to know how the young men they 

 contemplate marrying treat their own mothers and sisters ; whether they 

 have been trained to realize what it means to be a breadwinner and 

 provide the necessary things for a home. And the young man should 

 frequently visit the home of the girl he intends to ask to be his wife and 

 know how she keeps her room, if she mends her own clothes, if she is 

 kind and thoughtful to the members of her own family; unless she is, 

 she will not make a good wife, no matter how sweetly she may smile 

 while company or strangers are around. A young lady who demands 

 better clothes than the mother wears, or the young man who must have 

 his apparel better than the father's, will not make the best men and 

 women. 



Parents should keep young for the children's sake and attend to their 

 personal appearance that the children may never feel ashamed of them, 

 but only too proud to introduce them to their friends as "My Father," 

 "My Mother," and as each word is uttered let there be an abundance of 

 love in it. Fathers should be the best beaux of their girls and to the boys 

 the ''best jolly fellow" they know. Mothers, the sons' best girl and the 

 sweetest girl they will ever know until they select one as a wife. 



Children reared in homes where the parents, through kindness, com- 

 mand respect, will be obedient and for love of them will do nothing to 

 bring the blush of shame to their cheek. Have the son's room just as 

 neatly furnished as the daughter's. Many young men seek the society 

 of saloons and other dens of vice because they find jolly company, 

 pretty trappings, music and song that may bring death to home, hap- 

 piness and soul. Homes should be places to live and be happy in, as well 

 as places to eat and sleep — a place with plenty of sunlight, It is "God's 

 Smile" and free, the best cure for blues, germs and microbes. Bugs, 

 moths and all manner of evil things lurk and multiply in places when 

 curtains are lowered and "God's Smile" seldom seen. 



