ADDRESS OF HON. J. Q. A. BRACKETT. 113 



banks, and which, after ministering to their industries, 

 finally pours its wealth of waters into the sea, is fed by 

 numberless rivulets which issue from the country hillsides, 

 so the population of those cities is largely made up by con- 

 tributions from these same country regions. They are 

 contributions which are of great value to the cities. As 

 our friend has said, they give strength and vigor to city life. 

 But what is the cities' gain is the towns' loss, and it is a loss 

 which, in so large a measure, they ought not to bear. Their 

 growth should be proportionate to that of the cities, that 

 both may share alike in the national prosperity and pro- 

 gress. 



The influence of these farmers' homes is a conservative 

 one. By this I do not mean that it is an old-fogy influence, 

 that it is adverse to progress, but that it is conservative in 

 the sense that it is a safesruard a2:ainst these dangerous ten- 

 dencies to which I have alluded and which are so rife in the 

 cities. This influence derives its character largely from the 

 fact that the homes of the farmers are usually owned by the 

 persons who occupy them. They are, therefore, more per- 

 manent than city homes. A great portion of the residents 

 in cities live in hired dwellings. They are constantly 

 changing their residences. AVhat is a residential quarter of 

 the city at one time becomes a business section at another ; 

 the homestead of this year becomes a place of business next 

 year. A friend of mine the other day was telling me about 

 taking his boy to see his old home in Charlestown, and 

 when they arrived there they found that what was once his 

 mother's parlor was now a cheap bar-room. The boy 

 thought that that was a pretty poor place for his father to 

 be brought up in. That is the way homes change in the 

 cities. It is difi*erent in the country. What is once a home- 

 stead usually remains so, and the fact that these homesteads 

 are generally owuegl by their occupants is one of the reasons 

 why they retain their character as such. Home ownership 

 is an important element in civilization. It not only con- 

 tributes to the material welfare of the people, but its influ- 

 ence, — morally, politically and socially, — is salutary. It 

 promotes love of country. When a man has a proprietary 

 interest in the soil, he naturally feels an attachment for the 



