For the Farm, Garden, 
and Household. ■ 
"AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. ” — Washington. 
Volume XL.—No. 12. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1881. New Series— No. 419. 
FOR THE HOLIDAYS.. — Designed and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
THE RETURN HOM E 
# 
Cold, dark, and stormy ! The solitary pas¬ 
senger thought the train would never arrive, i 
What if it should be snowed in? The thought 
was not to be tolerated. He had said he 
would be at home on Christmas, and he must \ 
go. Then as he walked up and down the lone¬ 
ly platform, he wondered if they would ex- j 
pect him—‘ ■ had mother grown any older ?— : 
would the children know him ? What a curse 
these railroads are to a country, cutting : 
across the farms, and never on time ”—but a 
shrill whistle and a glaf e of light soon changed 
the young man’s thoughts. In the warm and ; 
lighted car, he said to himself—“a railroad 
is a great blessing; how could I have ever 
reached home without its aid?”—What a 
busy time these days before Christmas have 
been in the old farm house, to be sure! 
The good old mother has gone about as if she 
had some important secret; she shut her lips 
sternly as if to keep from telling it, but the 
more she closed them, the more of a smile 
they wore. What pies have been made and 
set in array upon the pantry shelves, where 
he used to look for them ! She did not forget 
how fond he was of a certain cake, of which 
there were many loaves. His room was made 
to look just as he left it that morning. At 
last, when everything that only a mother can 
think of had been done, she put on the same 
dress and the same cap that she wore when 
lie went away, and she seated herself as usual. 
She was perfectly calm ; it is true, she went 
to the window every now and then, but that 
was only to see if it was still snowing—she 
listened—no ! it was not the whistle, only the 
dog. It was a full quarter hour to the time. 
Yet it seemed as if that whistle had sounded 
every other night long before this. What if 
on tliis night before Christmas, of all nights 
in the year, it should not sound. It seems as 
if it never would come ; at last the flutter¬ 
ing of the dear old heart told her that it had 
sounded—“If he should not come!”—“No, 
he said he would be here on Christmas, and 
he always kept his word.” The station is not 
so very far away, and what a long, long time 
it seems !—The quick ear catches the crunch¬ 
ing sound of the snow under foot-steps. — The 
j door opens and admits him back to the home 
i he left not a long time ago as a boy ! In from 
: the storm and the darkness, into that light 
like which there is no other on earth — the 
light of home! Home! we have no other 
word for it, and it is said that the word be¬ 
longs to no other language than ours. It may 
stand for a log-cabin, or a stately mansion ; 
it does not mean house, but home. Tired 
with travel he soon goes to his.room, and as 
he thinks over the events of the meeting, he 
recollects that a dear old voice said— “ I knew 
that he would come, for he said he would.” — 
| Happy the man whose early life has so won 
j the confidence of the mother; happy the 
mother who can so speak of her son. Blessed 
are these holiday times ; what joy they bring 
to homes all over this broad land. Blessed 
be these homes—schools and colleges do much, 
but it is in these homes that is laid the foun¬ 
dation for the best that is in us. Happy is 
he who can in these holiday times return to 
1 and be sure of a welcome at the old home. 
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second Class Matter. 
Copyright, 1881, by Orange .Judd Company. 
