THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



the beautiful is, or should be, associated invariably 

 with country work and country home-making. 

 Here are a couple of letters. One of them has laid 

 in my drawer for a good while, and has led to some 

 exchange of plans. 



"Dear Sir:— I am somewhere between twenty 

 and thirty — no matter about exact dates ; but I am 

 at home with father and mother. The latter loves 

 flowers, and so do I. She has hungered for them 

 all her married life, but what she gets she gets her- 

 self, and plants with my help. Now I want to in- 

 duce father to see that he is living a too narrow life. 

 He thinks, and says, that he has no time for the or- 

 namental. He is not rich, but he is well-to-do, and 

 he can afford to spend on refinements. Don't 

 think our place is slovenly, for it is not. We have 

 a decent orchard, and some good trees along the 

 roadside, and mother and I have a few fine flower- 

 ing plants. What I mean is that the whole place 

 shows, at a glance, that it is run for the stomach, 

 and not for the brain or character. I do not be- 

 lieve this is necessary. I have a notion that a right 

 sort of country place ought to show that those who 

 own it are thinking of something besides crops to 



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