200 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Any woman or man ought to be ashamed to live in a town 

 or neighborhood in which there is not some kind of a circulat- 

 ing library. I have heard women say, and they honestly be- 

 lieved it, too, "I have no time to read," but I have noticed 

 that when good books and papers were put within easy reach 

 of those same ladies, that they invariably found time to read 

 them and you may rest assured there was no time in the 

 twenty-four hours more profitably spent. To put a thought 

 behind the work is to put sunshine and color and vitality 

 into it. 



The sewing circle has, it seems to me, fallen a little into 

 disrepute, but the sewing circle with or without the sewing, 

 but certainly with a good intellectual bias, is a good thing. 

 A good book read aloud, will not interfere with the sewing, 

 and it will prevent the conversation dropping to low levels. 



And talking about talking, reminds me of a fault which 

 I fear is common to both country and city women. The old 

 theory that women talk more than men is an exploded one. 

 I have been trying for twenty years to keep up with the men 

 with my pencil, and I know sometimes I have been tempted 

 to follow the example of an old friend whom I met one day 

 and after exchanging greetings the old gentleman remarked, 

 "I am going to buy daughter Helen a violin.'' "Indeed," I 

 responded in surprise. '^I thought Helen had no ear at all 

 for music and the violin requires a particularly acute ear." 

 ''Yes, I know," said the old gentleman, with a gentle smile; 

 "but I understand that a chin-rest comes with the violin." 



So I am quietly keeping a lookout for cheap lot of violins. 

 Yes, there is no question about the lords of creation talking 

 the most; but just between ourselves, girls, I think we must 

 acknowledge that a good many of us have a way of putting: 

 a sharp, sarcastic twist onto the end of our tongues once in a 

 while that our men folks do not often indulge in. 



I know, Oh, very well, that there is sadly often the ex- 

 cuse of an aching back or strained nerves, but the trouble 

 about the whole thing is that it does not ease the aching 

 back a particle and the strained nerve is strained a little 

 bit more by the conscience that whispers, "There, you have 

 hurt somebody's feelings and done yourself no good." 



