288 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



work, sometimes even encroaching upon the school months, reg-ard- 

 less of the good of the childi-en; while the most judicious parents 

 ever make duty of paramount importance and teach the children to 

 do the work, either in the school or on the farm, which circum- 

 stances make it best for thein to do, giving them, of course, as large 

 liberty as possible in pvirsuing their studies at home and at school. 

 But never let a child think it has no home obligations. Make it in- 

 dustrious while young. Indeed, industry, economy, perseverance 

 and judicious management must be acquired then. 



In making use of this method, the mother and father are not made 

 to bear the whole burden, and the children are made strong grad- 

 ually to accomplish and endure. It is delightful to be in a home 

 where the children are helpful. If so, they seem to belong to their 

 surroundings, and it appears as though the home could not go on 

 withoiit them. As time passes, these children will need further de- 

 velopineut and experience, a higher education and an intimation of 

 possibilities that will be inspiring, a finishing of the boys and girls 

 before they come to make an ideal farm home for themselves. They 

 must be made to feel that their souls and spirits must develop, as 

 well as their bodies, to be conscious of the fulness of existence. Va- 

 riety must be given in the way of art, music and literature, and each 

 one invited to exercise himself in whatever department his inclina- 

 tions may lead him. Papers, books, magazines, pictures and music 

 keep the mind active and the spirit in tune, if so be that they belong 

 to an elevating class. 



But a home to be ideal must be Christian in aim and practice. To 

 be truly Christian, it must be social and hospitable. The warmth 

 of the altar fire must radiate beyond the limits of the family circle 

 out to as many as it may reach. In order to have the home life filled 

 out to beautiful completeness as old age draws the curtains of 

 night around us and we are shut in to that which is our own, we 

 must live our days as best we can, striving to make them better as 

 each day goes by. To the young this seems the opposite of freedom, 

 but some one has said that the secret of sweet and happy Christian 

 life is learning to live by the day; it is the long stretches that tire us. 

 Otherwise there would loom up in the distance the " three score 

 years and ten," rising like the hill Difficulty to poor Pilgrim, and 

 the thought of bearing burdens for all these years would be over- 

 powering. But life does not come to us in one day, but a day at a 

 time, and all that we have to do is to meet the duties and 

 trials of each day as it comes. So doing, there are few of us who 

 cannot bear our trials and duties until "the sun goes down." The 

 best of all is that the days, inonths and years so spent give promise 

 of a better life when time shall end. The present is the seed of 

 the future. As one has said — "The now makes the then. The here 

 makes the hereafter." We need not feel that we are living for time 

 but living to make our eternity, and we tnay sing with Celia Thaxter: 



"The wound of time may devastate our lives. 



The frosts of age may check our failing breath ; 

 They shall not touch the spirit that survives 

 Triumphant over doubt and pain and death." 



In summing up what we have said, the conclusion is easily arrived 

 at that a farmer's ideal hoine is not possible without a long look 

 ahead and a sturdy purpose to obtain the aim in view^. It is like 

 everything else pertaining to humanity, it must be accomplished by 

 persistent endeavor and continued repetition. 



