THE CALL OF THE LAND 



though, I am not urging beautification solely 

 or mainly as remunerative in that sense. 

 Life is more than meat and the body than 

 raiment. It pays to lift life, mind, taste, 

 thoughts. If you, husband and father, in- 

 tent on planting and growing dollars, care 

 little for those immaterial commodities, let 

 me plead for your sons. Train them or 

 let them train themselves to a life that 

 is not mere drudgery. Help them learn to 

 love home. Make the place so attractive 

 that if they leave you for a time they will 

 never fully rest till they come back to the 

 old homestead. You can have this so if you 

 will. 



I plead, too, for the women of your fam- 

 ily. It pays to remove a mortgage from 

 your farm; it pays certainly as well to 

 remove furrows from a wife's brow or, what 

 is better, prevent them from appearing 

 there. The lives of farmers' wives seem in 

 many cases sadly monotonous, lacking in 

 opportunities for the development of sweet- 

 ness and cheer. Their whole expression, 

 their every gesture, their very smile, often 



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