586 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and rest. At the eventide hour when the hushed note of the bird is 

 heard and all nature prepares for rest where goes the weary farmer? 

 That divinely sweet thing called love hath entered his heart and from 

 there hath flown until it found a resting place in another heart and they 

 — two young men and maid— builded for themselves a home, a haven 

 from the cares and strivings of the world. It is to be a center of happi- 

 ness, of sunshine, no matter how humble its environments. There, man 

 wearied with the labors of the day, comes for rest. Within such a home 

 one becomes fortified against disappointments and troubles in their many 

 forms and they are like the passing clouds that make the light seem all 

 the brighter. The home is the anchor that steadies the dear ones on 

 life's tempestuous sea. 



The housewife's part, as Mrs. Black is prepared to show you, is no 

 fcinecure. Hers is the hand that turns the search light of love upon the 

 gobblins of selfishness and strife that creep within the home, and to 

 arouse and direct the latent powers of the child life. Mayhap some trifling 

 vexations have left their trace upon her face and nerves but wit ha wo- 

 man's will they are to be hidden behind a smile and a good meal when 

 the men folks come in. Just here let the writer speak from experience, 

 that nowhere will culinary skill be more appreciated and greater inroads 

 made upon the supply on hand than on the farm. For. is not the best 

 of everything to be found right here? 



Then, when the day's work is done and the family gather around the 

 fireside or evening's lamp, with new books, papers and magazines, of 

 which there should be asi an abundant supply as the means permit, and 

 at the reasonable prices nowadays almost every one can have some; 

 and with our much appreciated rural delivery to bring the mail to our 

 very doors — who would live elsewhere than on the farm. 



Added to this, the good education which tomorrow's speaker will em- 

 phasize, opening up our mental vision and enlarging the capacity for en- 

 joyment, time need never hang heavy upon one's hands. Nto Tong since 

 I heard one of our most practical farmers say that in his opinion the 

 farm was the ideal place to bring up romping, have-a-good-time-as-you- 

 go-along boys and girls, for there is a chance for the active brains and 

 bodies of youth to find healthful exercise. 



Another thing I must not forget to mention is the telephone, which 

 Scranton and vicinity at the present time is greatly enjoying. It is such 

 an excellent place to learn news items and keep in touch with your 

 neighbors and markets that it is really a labor and time saving inven- 

 tion, requiring only a few moments to do a matter of business that with- 

 out it would take as many hours. How we women enjoy it, for bits of 

 social chat and greetings that are quite necessary to a healthy woman's 

 existence. 



Now, Mr. Chairman and members of the program committee, the only 

 real shadows I can, see are those that are made by sickness and death, 

 and they come to the high, the lowly, the rich and the poor, in the busi- 

 ness hous€ or on the farm. 



