72 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 



Thus my fancy kept dreaming, 

 O'er the hot dishes steaming, 

 And wondering why I must a kitchen fire tend, 

 Till an angel's low whispering 

 Compelled me to listening. 

 And taught me these household discomforts to mend. 

 " Is your work not the oldest, 

 The usefulest, the noblest — 

 In ministering daily to the life God has given ? 

 If the work is unceasing 

 Of washing and sweeping- 

 Remember that order's the first law of heaven ! 

 " Pray what gives more pleasure 

 Than a well-seasoned dinner 

 When tastefully served on the family board ? 

 Thank God you can labor, 

 Can knead, mix an' flavor, ' 



And draw pleasant meals from a farmer's rich hoard — 

 " That heartsome delight 

 At morn, noon and -night. 

 When the fixmily gathers for chat and good cheer ! 

 Then should you be complaining 

 Of work unavailing, 

 That brings joy to the loved ones each day of the year ? " 

 Strategic movements occasionally have a most happy 

 effect in the home field. Let the lord of the manor but 

 imagine he has his own way, how sweetly he will consider 

 himself the originator of your feats of generalship, and the 

 household ship in its swan- like progress is a pleasing sight 

 to behold. In all homes one or the other rule, and may no 

 discord ever mar the beautiful harmony of that life. With- 

 out domestic happiness nothing on earth is to be desired ; 

 and with it, no withholding of earthly goods is to be dread- 

 ed. But the domestic machinery does not always run 

 smoothly : sometimes it is on the center and doesn't run at 

 all. There are examples of placid, lovely people often 

 before our mental vision, " Oh ! world look on and wonder," 

 yet if we were to live the round of the seasons in their 

 home-life, we would say the " half has not been told." 

 Actually so like their neighbors, with a good bit of the 

 common humanity flesh is heir to, with which to spice their 

 everyday life, we heartily condemn their faults and ways, 

 because they are out of our possession. How ours must 

 appear to them. 



