THE LIFE BEAU TIF 



The country woman should awake to 

 the beauty and possibilities of her sur- 

 roundings, writes Miss Margaret Caldwell 

 (Tennessee) . 



•'Xo where can the woman with artistic 

 tastes tind such blending colors, such bold 

 contrasts as in the sunset. . . . She 

 who loves best the song of the wren on 

 her woodhouse door will appreciate most 

 Mendelssohn's and Schumann's lieds." 



To music, pictures, good literature and 

 flowers, as aids to living the life beautiful. 

 Miss M. F. Auchly (Missouri) would add 

 a microscope. "This instrument should 

 be more common in homes. Having read 

 a book about nature, you may go and look 

 for its proof, and directly you will be 

 'discovering', and often a microscope is 



the only help in either case." 



* * * 



Mrs. G. E. Daggett (Washington) is 

 skeptical of any good results till political 

 and social conditions in that country are 

 radically changed. She says:- 



"If yo A succeed ir awakening in farmers 

 the desires you wish, there will have to be 

 a big change in politics before they can be- 

 come realities. For capital invested, labor 

 required, and risks involved, farming now 

 pays much less than any other business 

 [latest official statistics do not support 

 this statement — Ed.] and taxes are much 

 higher. The wife of a man who works for 

 a farmer lives in a little house rent free 

 and has a garden, has a much better chance 

 for spiritual growth than I have. I can't 

 even choose my thoughts much of the 

 time, but must think about my work, and 

 must contrive to make one dollar do for 

 three or I couldn't have flower seeds or 

 magazines." 



* * ❖ 



Mrs. E. A. Houck (Indiana) be- 

 lieves in an extension of the woman's club 

 movement. We attend one another's fu- 

 nerals, she says, "but have no time for 

 other social functions. Organize a wom- 

 an's club in every community for the 

 betterment of the farm woman and her 



L IN THE COUNTRY 159 



daughters. Select some subject from a 

 current magazine for discussion, and thus 

 obviate the tendency to gossip. This will 

 give rise to expansion of home duties." 



❖ * ❖ 



Make time to read frequently, says Mrs. 

 E. E. B. Barber (Michigan). "Where 

 economy is necessary in purchasing mag- 

 azines, families may club together and 

 purchase a number to be read in turn, 

 meeting once a month to discuss articles 

 of general interest. Afternoon sewing, 

 circles could be made beneficial by a course 

 of reading." Mrs. E, Lois Lampson 

 (Wisconsin) emphasizes a truth set forth 

 in the editorial in Home and Flov^ers 

 for February last: "Why Not the Life 

 Beautiful ISTow ?" In this age when every- 

 one appears to be engaged in an intense 

 race for earthly possessions, she says, it 

 seems "very necessary that we begin to 

 'live by the way,' lest we as a nation lose 

 sight of the idea that this is, and should 

 remain, a land of free, sunny homes." 

 Life's happiness depends on little things, 

 writes Martha C. Manning (Maryland). 

 "An invalid who had not left her tiny 

 room for many years actually wept for 

 joy at the gift of a basket of wood violets 

 and lilies-of-the-valley. It must be easy 

 to be good, she said, to live among such 

 beautiful things." 



* * * 



What more fitting close to this New 

 Year's meditation than the words of Mrs, 

 E. M. Barrett (Texas) : 



"The spirit of beauty, like the kingdom 

 of heaven, is within you, and you have 

 only to become as little children and let 

 the magic of Mother Nature charm the 

 eye into seeing that sees not, and the ear 

 into hearing that hears not^ the beautiful 

 sights and sounds of this fairy-like world 

 of ours as the seasons come and go." 



