BEARING AND TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 203 



feet, something over their ears, and good staunch flannels 

 between them and Jack Frost, and they will grow up 

 far stronger and " tougher " than the poor little shiver- 

 ing ones who have to pull their heads into their shoulders 

 and huddle themselves together like calves in a winter's 

 storm, for lack of sensible clothes. 



It is a fact that country children suffer for want of 

 pleasant and improving amusements. Says a writer in 

 one of our farm monthlies : 



"A. small dwelling, stable, cornfield, working team, 

 farm tools, and the usual farm stock comprise the home 

 companions and articles connected with the employment 

 and every-day life of seventy-five per cent of farmers' 

 children. Day by day they meet with these or some of 

 them, their monotonous life goes on ever the same, and 

 their love for the beautiful lies undeveloped and dormant ; 

 their opinions and tastes are unheeded, or are not brought 

 out, and finally that which might be developed into 

 something really praiseworthy, becomes seared and hard- 

 ened until at last, when more mature, they find employ- 

 ment only in the commonest and cheapest pursuits of 

 life. No kind of stock possesses so many attractions for 

 the little chaps as poultry ; the hidden nest, the smooth 

 white eggs daily renewed, the w r aiting and watching for 

 the hatching day, the dozen little downy chicks running 

 about the coops, their change to full-grown chanticleers, 

 with brilliant garb and prolonged crows, all have their 

 influence and tend to inspire the youngsters with love 

 and admiration, and to develop a lasting fondness for 

 the beautiful throughout the brute creation." 



To the chickens there might be added, with little ex- 

 pense, a few handsome ducks and .a pair of rabbits. 

 And if the home be near a brook, a trout pond might be 

 manufactured, which would be not only a joy to the boys, 

 but a very good thing for the breakfast-table, occasion- 

 ally, during the trout season. 



