ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEiN'S ASSOCIATION. 201 



In the matter of every day gossip and personal criticism, 

 so far as my observation goes, I think the palm must be given 

 to the country woman. The reason and partial excuse for 

 this habit is not far to seek. The range of subjects of interest 

 is not large; the three D's — dress, domestics and disease, which 

 are supposed to form staple articles of feminine conversa- 

 tion, soon become exhausted in a country circle, and the neig:h- 

 bor and relative who happens not to be present often suffers 

 by it. Of course, we know that the good women do not mean 

 half they say; they have simply been hashing over the same 

 subject so many years that the habit of seasoning highly has 

 grown on them, and the hash has become spieed to a degree 

 that they never suspect. 



Now, suppose that in the sewing circle, or any other meet 

 ing of women, they should use the occasion to read aloud a 

 bit of Dickens or Ian McLaren, or a poem of Lowell's, wouldn't 

 the novelty of the thoughts suggested be a great pleasure ? 

 Or, suppose, they should discuss and try to work out the prob- 

 lem of better drainage arrangements in their kitchens, more 

 thrifty vines on the front porch, and the back porch, too, the 

 better disposal of old cans and broken crockery than the deco- 

 ration of the back side of the barn, the better distribution of 

 house cleaning cyclones, and a hundred other debatable home 

 questions, to say nothing of the questions of good roads, town 

 sanitation, school management and other public questions in 

 which they are just as vitally interested as their husbands, 

 and judging from results quite as quick to suggest practical 

 resources, would they not go to their homes with a little better 

 taste in the mouth and more respect for each other? 



To sum up all, there is just one thing we are all after — 

 men and women alike — and want to help each other to get, 

 and that is happiness, and the two things which I honestly 

 believe go farther than anything else to bring about this end 

 in life are, a mind full of information and a heart full of 

 love, and let no woman try to deceive herself into the idea 

 that either without the other will produce permanent content- 

 ment. A brain chuck full of knowledge not balanced with a 

 loving heart is like a beautifully constructed engine with every 

 wheel in place, every piece of metal shining like a mirror. 



