CONVENTION — BETTER AND HAPPIER HOMES. 175 
Let us now turn for a brief space to class of homes of a far dif¬ 
ferent order. The owners of them are generally men of means, 
some of them men of wealth, all of them men of intelligence^ 
and some of them well educated. They are men who attend con¬ 
ventions and are among our most enterprising farmers. They 
are nearly or quite all of them men who are in reality gradually 
improving their farms, and also improving in their financial condi¬ 
tion. Many of them are first-rate business men, such men indeed 
as their section of the country could illy afford to spare. And yet 
how often are the homes of this class of farmers far from what they 
ought to be, and in reality might be. The wife, instead of having 
her cares lessened and her labor lightened by their continued pros¬ 
perity, actually has them increased. There is a larger dairy to care 
for; there are more hired men to board; there are larger washings,, 
ironings, bakings, etc., to be done, and perhaps a larger proportion 
of it to be done by her own hands. Good help in the house and 
plenty of it, is often difficult to get; and the weary wife worries 
through the days and weeks, she scarcely knows how. One thing,, 
however, she does know, viz: that when bedtime comes, she is too 
tired to be company for either her children or her friends. She 
cannot even be society for her husband, but is only too glad to lay 
her weary head upon her pillow, and rest herself as best she can 
for the labors of the following day. The library, if there is one, is 
small and poorly adapted to her tastes and wants. The papers and 
magazines are not selected with any particular reference to her 
tastes; and hence, if she had the time to read, she could take but 
comparatively little interest in doing so. She seldom rides or jour¬ 
neys with her husband, because her household duties confine her at 
home. If she has a bed of flowers, it is neglected and finally over¬ 
run with weeds, because she cannot find time to attend to it, and 
the hired men are all too busy to fool away their time about a lit¬ 
tle insignificant bed of pansies, and other worthless things like 
them. 
Her husband, on the other hand, is almost constantly mingling 
with other men of business and education. With a quick and act¬ 
ive mind, he seizes hold of new ideas, and revolves and elaborates, 
them in his own thoughts, until they are perfectly familiar to him.. 
He is posted in the improved methods of farming, and ready to 
adopt such of them as are adapted to him in his situation and cir- 
