10 



of the fact of its deficiency in the direction in which we are looking to-day. With- 

 out this, improvement is impossible, while the sense of the need will help much 

 to its own remedy. ^Miat you need, gentlemen, as the starting-point of improve- 

 ment, is what we of all professions need, a clearer sense of the danger that the 

 profession may swallow up the man. Clergymen are sometimes buried out of 

 sight and beyond resurrection in their white neck-cloths. Doctors become walk- 

 ing piU-boxes, and lawyers and politicians — well, language fails me to say what 

 they do become from their professional habit of making the worse appear the bet- 

 ter reason. But the danger in your case is a special one. You need to be vigilant- 

 ly on your guard lest the farm swallow up the man. Resolve, whatever comes, 

 that your souls shall not be biiried tmder your dung heaps. Stand superior to 

 your cows and your sheep and your hogs, however aristocratic their pedigree. 

 Let the most cherished product of the farm be its human in'odiict, the farmer him- 

 self and his family. While you must ask the question, *'Will it pay ?" as men of 

 all callings must ask it, give to the words a somewhat broader meaning than has 

 been your wont, remembering that man does not hve by bread alone, but that 

 there is a hunger of mind the claims of which cannot be disregarded without the 

 sacrifice of the best part of manhood. What you need is a different way of look- 

 ing at things, a higher estimate of the graces of hfe, and the willingness to saci-i- 

 fice some other things in the effort at their attainment. 



A MOBE GENIAL DOMESTIC liLFE. 



With the need thus distinctly recognized, let the work of amehoration begin 

 in the home. A thoroughlj^ genial domestic life will do much to remedy the lack 

 of wider social opportunities. Do not work your boys and girls so hard as to 

 break their spirits. Strain a point to give them and yourselves greater opporiu- 

 nities for reading- Interest yourselves in their studies and in their schools. In- 

 sist, indeed, that the comparative leisure of the winter months shall be made trib- 

 utary to intellectual improvement. Consider a first-class newspaper an absolute 

 necessity for the family, and let an occasional book come in with its quickening 

 influence. Make the home pleasant in its externals. Clear the rubbish from the 

 yard and put the front gate on its hinges. Make an Imjirovemeut Society of the 

 family to render the farm house attractive in all its surroundings. Some of the 

 farmers in my town, I notice, have been of late devoting considerable attention 

 to the construction of sidewalks past their premises, and I doubt whether work 

 was ever more profitably expended. Do not grudge the grown up giiis a tasteful 

 parlor. They have special need of one, you know, at times I Nor is the matter 

 of personal appearance and dress beneath your consideration. At your work, ol 

 course, you wiU dress in accordance with its requirements ; but away from home 

 and among men why should not the farmer as much as other men aspire to look 

 like a gentleman ? The reflex influence of dress upon the wearer is a matter of 

 moref importance than perhaps you have been accustomed to think. There was 

 a modicum of truth in the remark of the young lady, that she never enjo^'ed re- 

 ligion so much as when she was conscious of having on a pre ft}" bonnet. It is not 

 the gentler sex alone who are susceptible to this influence from externals. Is it 

 not possible that that ancestral hat of yours has performed aU the service that in 

 common humanity can be demanded of it ? Let it go into honorable retirement 

 in the garret, or use it to scare the crows, as it certainly will when they see it. 

 Procui-e a modem well-fitting suit of clothes, and after proper patronage of the 

 barber, surprise vour wife with the sight of what a good lookiup- fellow von arp. 



