ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
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•rest. The cunning architect may devise the most elaborate house from the richest 
I aterials; many skilled artisans labor in it, and yet, however appropriate, we may 
! ive a home no truer than the lair a wild creature retreats to for rest or protection, 
f Home there is not, without love, without ambition, courage and prudence. Where 
l, V e directs such powers as these we may hope for a home wherein the family have 
' ores of o'ood temper, sincerity and industry. Without these elements the home 
ills short of its perfect use, though the husband be ever so industrious, the wife ever 
I) economical. Poverty itself cannot rob a home of its dignity nor even hinder its 
ieing artistic and unique in its adaptation. 
Home-building is the art of arts for woman, an art which is to her often an inspi- 
ition. Many a noble woman turns from comfort or luxury, or personal ambition, 
r ith tiie divine passion for home-building burning within her, an unselfish flame, lit 
y love ; and with the aid and protection of him she endows with her confidence, will 
ndertake her mission against the odds of poverty, rigors of climate, or the desolation 
nd dangers of pioneer life. And such homes as such women can make is nobly ex- 
mplified by their sons and daughters reared within. 
u It is better that great souls should dwell in little houses,” ’t is said, “ than that 
ase slaves should make dens of spacious mansions.” It is perhaps easier to realize a 
ome in a little house, for the simple life enforced by necessity of labor often displays 
he richest affections and attributes of character. But there is no place where there 
3 better opportunity for all that real art can accomplish in home-building than in 
imple homes, for this art requires no costly materials, yet it does require the richest 
ervice of human tact and affections. 
There is no place where it is more important to have the home all love and art 
an make it than in our isolated farm homes. The first necessity is to make the home 
he grand object, supreme over gain or show, or any but the ambition to build the best 
iossible home. Let us have a substantial house, no matter how small at first,—some- 
hino- fit to build onto, that there may be no parting from the first dear shelter of the 
amfly, that the history of the family and house and home may be, if possible, contin- 
lous, and thus be more endeared and the home safer from the unfortunate catastro- 
ihes’of frequent partings and breaking up. 
Farmers must be stable men to be successful, homes must be stable to be peace- 
til and happy, houses must be substantial to be fitting the home and farm. Here 
vhere a sturdy race should be reared, let us have solid houses, and no light frames 
hat roystering children can shake from roof to cellar. Western farm-houses can 
lurely be more appropriaie than many of them are. 
I recollect a section in Nebraska where quarries of stone are convenient to every 
'armer’s hand, and the earlier houses are entirely or in part built up of this stone, and 
hough unplastered perhaps, do no shame in the grand rolling country, while the later, 
nore fancy frame houses look ghostly and out, of place, as if lost in that breezy, fence- 
ess, treeless region, and needing to be gathered together and guarded by village 
ences and shade-trees. I would have a house there built of these native stone slabs, 
vith corners and doors marked by the handsome red and purple bowlders—grand 
strangers that repose there after their ancient journey from the north. To make the 
nost of the resources of the region, to make the most of the resources of the farm and 
home,—that is our economy. ...... . . „ . 
We need no expense incurred for the ground until the variety of native shrubs 
and flowers is exhausted in ornamental plantiug about the home. True art is ex¬ 
pressed in the appreciative use of whatever is at hand. The country home has a fund 
of material for especial decoration, in easy reach. Children have a capability and 
mission as home artists, not often developed. If boys who have any such tastes could 
be afforded tools, room, and a little advice, they could do a great many useful bits of 
carpentering, and thus have a valuable variety in occupation. Taxidermy is an inter¬ 
esting recreation for many, and certainly can make great additions to the home by 
way of cases filled with collections of birds, or individual specimens of hawks and 
owls and even the heads of cattle and other domestic creatures, tastefully mounted 
on neat walnut shields and hung on the walls. These a farm boy can prepare with 
skill after observation and practice, and can make his own cases and shields with lit- 
As for the girls, they had much better spend their leisure in scouring the farm for 
treasures and adorning the home with simple frames wherein are displayed the deli¬ 
cate beauty of butterflies, or the brilliant varieties of beetles, or the minerals of the 
region, than in keeping housed up and stooping over trifles of fancy work and cover¬ 
ing the walls with frail card-board and other ephemeral constructions that hang limp 
and askew from inability to serve a proper use. The most healthful and profitable 
life for girls is compatible with an intimate acquaintance with the biological resources 
of the farm, with the kitchen and the dairy. No book education ought to interfere 
with healthy or a womanly education with nature and household industries. 
We ought to have more well-informed, independent, healthy young housewives 
and dairy maids, and fewer delicate school-teachers in our country homes. Health is 
