976 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



and social plane, and teach their children to do the same. Children should remember that 

 they have duties which they owe their parents, obligations that they can never fully repay, 

 and should endeavor in every way possible to make home pleasant for those who have 

 bestowed so much care and affection upon them. 



The late Alexander Hyde has well said: &quot;Not every farmer that builds a spacious and 

 convenient house for his family succeeds in making that family comfortable. Together with 

 the building of his house he must build himself on the solid foundation of all manly virtues, 

 and together with the culture of his farm he must cultivate all kindly affections. Nor should 

 these affections be confined to those of his own household, but extend to his neighbors, and 

 to the whole brotherhood of man. The farmer s home should not only be the trysting place 

 for children, grandchildren, and relatives, but the seat of refined and generous hospitality. 

 God has made us social beings, and he only enjoys home in its fullest extent who there 

 ministers not only to the wants of his family, but entertains his friends cordially and liberally. 

 In thus laboring for a comfortable home and cultivating all family and social affections, and 

 ever cherishing gratitude to the Giver of all good, we may confidently expect that our homes 

 will foreshadow the perfect bliss of heaven.&quot; 



Practical Suggestions to Housewives. SLOVENLY HOUSEKEEPING, ETC. Slovenly 

 housekeeping has been the cause of untold discomfort and unhappiness in life, while a neat, 

 tastily arranged, orderly kept house adds greatly to the comfort, health, and pleasure of the 

 household. Besides the comfort of an orderly house, it is much more easy to keep things in 

 order than to be constantly searching for mislaid articles, and thus keeping the whole house 

 in a turmoil. Many housekeepers take the hardest way of doing everything, are always 

 hurried with work, labor hard from morning till night, yet never reap the benefits of such 

 labor, because they do not plan their work well, and have no system or method in performing 

 it. They have no regular place for anything, and are constantly mislaying things that have 

 to be hunted up. There should be a place for everything, and everything kept in its place. 

 In this way, much time and labor will be saved, and a great deal of discomfort avoided. 

 Perfect cleanliness in every department of the house is essential to the preservation of health. 

 Never permit any decaying matter, such as vegetables, fruit, etc., to remain in any of the 

 rooms, or the cellar, as fevers, diphtheria, and other similar diseases are frequently caused 

 from such carelessness. Allow no disagreeble odors about the premises to escape your notice, 

 and when there are such, search until the cause is found, and then have it remedied. Be 

 neat and orderly about your dress as well as your house. This may be regarded as one of 

 the &quot;little things &quot; by some, yet it is the little things of which life is made up, and by which 

 much of its happiness or unhappiness is regulated. Study economy and avoid extravagance, 

 and in so doing it would be well to consider what true economy consists in, as well as the 

 nature of extravagance. True economy does not consist in always buying things of poor quality 

 because they are cheap] or extravagance the purchase of a good article that will last several 

 years, and paying a reasonable price for it. Asa general rule, articles of the best quality are 

 the cheapest and most satisfactory in the end. Not unfrequently the slight improvements, 

 made at a trifling expense, through the influence of the wife s taste and tact, add more to the 

 value and attractiveness of a home than many times the expenditure invested under the 

 husband s management. 



In no position is inefficiency more deplorably felt than in the household, since a slovenly, 

 inefficient housekeeper has it within her power to mar the happiness of so many others 

 her husband and children whose home atmosphere and comfort she so largely creates, and 

 she requires much ingenuity, capability, and tact, in order to meet fully the requirements that 

 are within her especial province. 



Inordinate Neatness. The opposite extreme of slovenliness, is inordinate neatness; 

 in other words a neatness which is such a severe regime, that it precludes the use and reasonable 

 enjoyment of home, and the things pertaining to it. There is not much comfort in a house 

 where everything in it is regarded as too sacred for use, or a particle of dust regarded as a 

 calamity, while the one who is the cause of the slightest disarrangement of the regular plumb 

 and line system is subject to the severest criticism, either of look, act, or word. We have 

 seen homes where the order evinced was of such a severe nature as to cause a feeling of 

 restraint that was absolutely painful, and one would feel relieved and free when getting out 

 into the open air again. True hospitality rarely prevails in such houses. Company are 

 regarded as intruders; they disarrange the books and furniture, which require care and labor 

 to rearrange. The wife and mother cannot throw off her household cares and sit down to 

 the enjoyment of conversation with the old friends, or enter into the enjoyment of her 



