568 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE IDEAL FARM HOME. 



Mrs. Robert Engelhardt, Before the Sac County Farmers'' Institute. 



It is said that few people apply to their own lives all the theories and 

 principles they commend. In other words, most people fail to "prac- 

 tice all they preach." I desire to assure you in the beginning that I am no 

 exception to the general rule and yet the ideal conditions which I shall 

 present and which I believe are at the same time entirely practical are the 

 heights which we in our scheme of home surroundings hope to attain. 



It is not my purpose to treat this subject from an ethical standpoint only 

 indirectly, as beautiful, comfortable and healthful surroundings may afifect 

 the morals of the home. 



In planning and arranging our homes the health and comfort of our 

 family are of prime importance, and this does not necessarily preclude the 

 development of all that is beautiful and artistic in our natures. By beauti- 

 fully and artistically furnished homes I do not mean an aggregation of use- 

 less and meaningless bric-a-brac, handsome, airy conceits, nor hearse-like 

 chairs, neither frail gilded ones (the former no one wants to use, the latter 

 no one would dare). Nor do I mean an elaborate display of articles which 

 advertise our wealth or 'tastes and turn our homes into mere showrooms 

 that our neighbors may come and gaze in admiration or envy. Thanks to 

 twentieth century progress, beauty and utility have made a most pleasing 

 combination and our homes may be comfortable and serviceable without 

 outraging our aesthetic sense or defying the laws of sanitation. Our homes are 

 pre-eminently for ourselves, so, instead of making of them a museum for the 

 accumulation of dust and disease-laden germs, let-us have them comfortable, 

 airy and healthful, with space to live in, where husband and children delight 

 to be, and then you have perhaps helped, in part, to solve the question, 

 ' ' How to keep the boys and girls on the farm . ' ' 



Let us have our homes furnished as beautiful as you please, remember- 

 ing always that beautiful and artistic results are not obtained by an obtrus- 

 ive and bountiful display of wealth but by simple and harmonious efifects. 

 Simplicity in furnishings pays tribute to the truly artistic and would certainly 

 be appreciated by the family who find themselves penned in an overcrowded 

 room, where the act of turning around is liable to result in the overturning 

 of some artistic creation. Happily the day is on the wane when the best 

 room in the house is darkened with heavy blinds and closed shutters, only 

 to be opened on state occasions, when it presents a funeral appearance and 

 emits a cemeterial odor as unpleasant as it is unhealthful. The unservicable 

 tidy which tried men's tempers fortunately has been relegated to the attic 

 (or better still, ash heap), and when the too-dainty-to-be-used sofa cushion 

 follows in its wake then the ' 'gude man" of the household may come in and 

 occupy chair or couch without trepidation and at last find comfort and 

 pleasure in the home. Let us make our homes beautiful as we will, but 

 always livable and comfortable and not too beautiful to be used. 



It is not feasible to make inflexible laws regarding house furnishings, but 

 in this, as in our manner of living, stress should be placed on simplicity for 

 the sake of comfort and cleanliness. The time, strength and help the house- 



