FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 133 



training similar to the domestic course in this college are doing much 

 toward this end. It is not the conditions which surround us that make 

 us what we are, but the use we make of them. Domestic service may 

 harden the hands, but it does not harden and degrade the heart as much 

 as business-service does. 



Men may mould the affairs of a nation, but woman moulds the life 

 of the nation, and it is in the capacity as giver, trainer and inspirer of 

 life that woman may reach her highest development and make the most 

 of herself. The home is the source from which issues the principles 

 which control society and the State, and it is a natural and a divine 

 instinct which leads a woman to prefer home to any field of action, 

 the field in which we are today considering her activity and the effort 

 to make the most of herself. 



When are we at our best? In the increasing complexities of life and 

 the manifold avenues which lead from the home to the outside world, 

 we often fail to distinguish between the essential and the non-essential, 

 moral growth and material gain, pleasure and the instruments of pleas- 

 ure, the picture and the frame, the individual and his environment. 



We have reached a high plane of development when we prize life 

 more than livery; when w^e measure the strength of individuals by their 

 moral fibre and when we count education, culture and material means — 

 as valuable and as desirable as they most surely are, as secondaries. 



"The highest manifestation of life is love," and love — not that based 

 on personal preference, but that which includes all mankind — will lead 

 us to care for things outside ourselves and will find expression in service, 

 which is above everthing else, our divine destiny. 



First find our own personality, discover ourselves by detaching all 

 the conventions and customs which we have "pinned on" in an effort to 

 be like someone else, then with the field of present, contiguous duty 

 as the base of our operations, we can gradually extend our service and 

 sympathy to those in our own home — including those paid to serve us — 

 to our neighborhood, to our church, and farther as opportunity and 

 ability permit. 



Love which links us to the "All-loving" is the power which generates 

 and governs the noblest and most effective expressions of life. 



Having found our pivoted point, which is moral growth, and having 

 learned to value and choose the essentials, and knov»^ing our own capaci- 

 ties and limitations, we should proceed to live our own life, simply, 

 honestly and without fear or hesitation. 



Physical development must not be neglected, for health is one of our 

 strongest allies. The mother's health is more essential to the home than 

 party dresses for the girls, or course dinners for the guests, and she 

 should not only take time to rest but time for regular and systematic 

 physical exercise aside from her daily routine duty. Friends she must 

 have, pleasure and diversion she must have, but they should be in keep- 

 ing with pure, simple tastes and of a quality which will elevate herself 

 and the home. 



Mental culture should be sought, and here a concentrated purpose com- 

 patible with individual taste, should direct the choice of a field in which 

 to dig for truth. Spend a little time every day in the pursuit of this 

 ONE thing, and do not be tempted by the pursuits of others to abandon it. 



We would sum up our argument in a few sentences. "To make the 

 most of one's self at home" — 



