384 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



forth under the open sky and list to Nature's teaching," with 

 every bush aflame with God. 



" There is an animal," said Charles Reade, " with an eye 

 of a hawk to detect shams ; it is called a boy." There is no 

 use in telling this boy that farming is the pleasantest occu- 

 pation in life, while he is at work twelve hours each day, 

 with no books, no papers, no anything to meet his idea of 

 pleasure or play. It is of no use to tell him that it is the 

 easiest, the most delightful, the most independent calling, 

 while he is at work before the mechanic's bell in the morning 

 and after it at night, with no Saturday afternoon in which to 

 straighten up and recreate somewhat for Sunday's chores and 

 Church, which are carefully calculated to fill its hours and 

 get the most out of it. You cannot make farmers of your 

 sons in this way, but there is a way in which you can im- 

 plant in their hearts a love of Nature that shall be so abound- 

 m<r that it shall hold them as with hooks of steel. 



You can so intertwine your hearts with theirs in the ap- 

 preciating of beautiful things in your occupation as shall 

 bind them to your homes so strongly that no temptation can 

 allure them from you or from purity. You can so enter 

 into the healthy flow of their exuberant life as shall add 

 grace and beauty to their characters, and longer and happier 

 life to yourselves. You can so direct that their plays and 

 their recreations, natural and right, and God-ordained, shall 

 be educating, elevating and refining to their sensibilities, 

 and a grace to their lives. 



Throw out the sunshine and it shall bind your sons and 

 daughters there, safe from temptation, to grow up to revere 

 your memory. Have your cheeriest smile and kindest greet- 

 ing for the home circle ; the amenities of life cost nothing, 

 but they are a storehouse of sunshine. Make your home 

 attractive as you approach it ; set out shade trees for beauty, 

 and fruit trees to enjoy. Let the beauty of shrubs and the 

 fragrance of flowers greet your coming. 



Says Northrop, " The central duty of life is the creation 

 of happy homes." And again, " The home should be illumi- 

 nated b}'- Nature's brightest hues without, and still more by 

 winning smiles within, — cordial greetings, gentle words, 

 sweet laughter, and nameless little kindnesses. 



