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. 
“DrEar 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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