NEW ENGLAND FARM-LIFE. 15 



shoes " requires too much patience for youthful minds. 

 Amusements, healthful and mirthful, should be provided. In 

 short, a farmer's home should be equal or excel in attractive- 

 ness that of any other calling. If you have such a home, 

 your sons will not be likely to leave the farm, aud you will 

 not hear your daughters saying, "Well, I will never marry a 

 farmer." The social intercourse of the " Grange," farmers' 

 clubs, the meetings of neighbors and friends for mutual 

 improvement, should be encouraged by the farmer and his 

 family. Unless the farmer does this, — if he lives an isolated 

 life, — his sons and daughters will say, "The country is dull," 

 and will fly to the village for their social food. 



Agriculture, as a whole, does not hold the same high posi- 

 tion in this country as in Europe. 



Let us devote our best energies towards elevating the busi- 

 ness, enjoying it as we go along, leaving behind us, as we 

 look back upon a well-spent life, some monuments of our 

 faithful labors, in what we have contributed to make home 

 and farm life attractive. 



