LO 



pleasant a home as others. He cannot be a well educated man, and if he could 

 be, it would be of no manner of use to him. I need not restrict these views to 

 the sons of farmers. Substantial!}* the same ideas prevail in our mechanics' 

 families, also. 



This matter of high social position scarcely deserves to be mentioned. It is 

 sufficiently refuted in the persons of those before me. Does any one sneer at 

 the expression " dignity of labor?" For such, I have only one word, Snob ! 



We cannot, dispose of the subject of pleasant homes so summarily. During 

 a somewhat busy professional life of twenty-five years, I had an opportunity to 

 notice how people live. Perhaps I have seen as much of domestic life among 

 all classes and professions, as most here present. My observation has led me 

 to this conclusion. I do not wonder that many children are discontented. Their 

 homes are large enough, — no trouble about that. We often see a commodious 

 front and a small L. The main part is virtually unoccupied. The kitchen in 

 the L serves for wash-room, kitchen and dining and sitting-room, reeking, as it 

 does, with steam from the wash-boiler, and the cooking of meat, turnips and 

 onions. Used in this manner, it is the concentration of discomfort, and a pro- 

 lific source of disease. The dining room is a myth ; the sitting-room, — too 

 much trouble to use that ! The parlor — a sacred precmct, consecrated to dark- 

 ness, damp and mould. It has good chairs, table, sofa and carpet, but its bare 

 walls are unrelieved by picture or ornament. These parlors are too good to be 

 used ! Blinds closed and curtains down, — the air stagnant and chill. I know 

 of but one proper use for them ; remove them to the cemetery and annex thera 

 to the family tomb. When I was a physician, I had some surgical instruments 

 in frequent use for a quarter of a century. For the past seven years, they have 

 been carefully kept in tissue paper and soft flannels. During these seven years 

 they have been injured more than in chose twenty-five years of use. Moths, 

 dampness and mould are injuring your parlors more than the sunlight and the 

 pattering of the little feet of childhood could possibly injure them, if the sun 

 and the child were allowed to look within those forbidden precincts. Our 

 young people notice that others live in their houses, whilst in many cases they 

 themselves are virtually allowed the limits of a single unattractive room only. 



The third objection to a farmer's life, in the minds of our children, is a per- 

 tinent one, — its incompatibility with intellectual culture. But this objection is 

 apparent only, not real. I need not give here an inventory of the aids to men- 

 tal improvement in each, or any of your homes. You well know what attrac- 

 tions you afford your children in this way, to keep them from the resorts of 

 idleness and vulgarity during their leisure hours. When one compares the abun- 

 dance in the barns and granaries with the meagre pittance on the book-shelves, 

 we find, in many instances, whole families living in a literary Sahara. 



"It is of no use for me to buy books, for I have no" time to read," says the 

 head of the family. "What benefit would it be to my children to idle away 

 their time in reading, when they can be usefully employed in other ways?" 

 One word about that " no time for reading!" It is not true! No time to 

 read 1 How is it about days when one cannot work out of doors ? How is it 

 with half hours when waiting for meals ? How is it with the long winter 



