Another thing that dissatisfies young people with the farm is the wide-spread, but erroneous idea that the sphere of the agricul urist is limited and requires but little intelligence, and less education.

Do not conclude that this idea is confined to the old "fogies"-such is not the case, I assure you.

Not many miles distant from this village dwells a farmer (not an old fogy by any means), whose education is sufficient to enable him to hold many responsible positions, both political and s cial.

He is in every way a model farmer, and together with his good wife has raised a model family; and yet I have heard this man most bitterly denounce advanced education for farmers' sons and daughters. In these days that kind of coin is passed by as spurious.

The spirit of the times is for increased intelligence; and an increased intelligence, like an increased crop-yield, can be obtained only by increased tillage-education. An uneducated person has not the capacity to enjoy life that an educated one has. They may be equally satisfied but they are not equally happy.

Do not think that by education I mean that, which to obtain one must spend the greater, or at least the best part of life at school or college.

Go to school if you can, but if you can not, then educate at home. If school advantages be few you can still have before you as large a scope to obtain knowledge as the college graduate has; for books are wonderful educators if read aright. Commit to memory-pass no day without a line, and you will be surprised to see what can be obtained in a year's time. A well-known man in an address to farmers once said, "Do not be content with the bare amount of knowledge necessary to run the farm, but add a fullness-always have in view the object of rising."

Instruction in manners and morals must be acquired at home, and parental teachings will remain long after those of other tutors have passed into oblivion; therefore, it behooves parents to use much care.

Some one has said, "The way some farmers and farmers' wives have of making every thing drudge-work to children has been the means of destroying many a would-be farmer and farmer's wife. A plum pudding forced down our throats against our will would soon cause us to banish plum pudding from our tables. A farmer may be successful in business, yet if he is forever harping on the woes which beset his business, he will soon cause his son to drop farming from his list of desirables. As I said before, one whose whole life has been spent in the country, seldom appreciates country advantages. Only those who have lived cramped up in a large city, with only a few square feet, if any yard at all, can fully enjoy the pure air, and the sense of freedom of the country.

No where is the omnipresence of God so evident as in the country. The fields of waving grain, the singing of the joyous birds, the flowers-"beautiful expressions of our Creator's love"-all cause us to feel His nearness.

Just compare, if you can, the difference between the breaking of a spring day in the city, and of the same in the country. Imagine yourself waking in the morning. The first sound that greets your ear will probably be something like this: "Here's your Enquirer, Commercial Gazette! All about the Southern Railroad disaster!! Fifteen lives lost-Paper, Mister?" May hap it's the milk wagon rattling over the cobble stones that rouses you. Then sounds are soon followed by the ear-splitting shrieks of the steam whistle, and the clanging bells, the clatter, clatter, clatter on the pavements of many feet hurrying their owners off to work; while, as best it can through your unavoidably smutty windows, a dim, misty, lifeless light is creeping, and you languidly rouse yourse.f, breathing with difficulty, the air foul with dust and smoke.

Compare that, if you please, with the awakening of the country lads and lassies. Are not the songs of the birds and the lowing of the cattle sweeter to the ear than the harsh sounds that awaken our city friends? The morning bright with the glory of the rising sun, gladdened by the music of the soft breezes, the joyous birds and running brooks-the air sweet with the fragrance of fruits and flowers. Are not these to be preferred to the foul air of the city, thick with dust, smoke and noxious odors? Watch the operations of old Mother Nature-how limitless they are. The most sterile spot grows into loveliness under her hand.

A country boy, with even a faint sense of observation, knows, unconsciously, more of natural history than is possible for one not subject to similiar surroundings. Can the child of the city tell you how the thrush forms its nest of mosses, twigs and clay? Can it tell you the kind of tree or bush this same nest will be hidden in? Oh, no, but it can tel. you whether the Louisville Browns or the Cincinnati's won the game at the base ball park; or it can tell where the finest cigarettes are to be obtained. Desirable information, don't you think?

It is a thought common with country people that their city brothers do not have to labor-that they have but to will to achieve.

My friends, this is a mistake; they may not labor with their bodies but do labor with their minds. You and I work hard during the day, but we go to bed, sleep soundly, and awaken refreshed-our labor was of the body-physical. Our friends in the city keep late hours, go to bed brain-tired; their bodies will perhaps rest, but their brains, like Tennyson's brook, "go on forever," till worn out and can go no more. Manual labor is its own reward. It is essential to health that the body keep pace with the mind in activity.

Look at the professor or merchant our boys envy so much. His mind is busy, his body is not; as a result, he has dyspepsia, which makes him miserable, and forces - him to abstain from the viands he most craves. He is subject to Bright's disease which causes him the most intense agony; and worse than these he has the "liver complaint," which makes the whole world look wrong, and were such a thing possible, he would doubtless give to our envious country boy all his knowledge, as well as his ills, in exchange for only a portion of his good country health.

We often hear the argument advanced, that in the city one can have better social advantages. Can we? To get into the city is one thing-to get into society, good society, is quite another thing. City society is invarably divided into sets or cliques fully as hide-bound as the c ste of India-while in the country, the only di viding line is the one that separates good morals from bad.

Perhaps I ought not to say that our city friends are selfish, but certainly they do not have that "good fellowship" that we in the country experience.

It is not uncommon for a family to live months, perhaps, without making the acquaintance of their next door neighbor, perhaps without knowing his name. People are born, married, and pass out of existence without a passing thought from their neighbor. I recall an episode that illustrates this thought, that happened during our residence in Cincinnati.

My mother was much troubled one morning to see a hearse followed by a line of carriages stop in front of our house. She supposed the street was blocked, but upon inquiry, we found that an old lady living but three doors away had lain ill for weeks, and had died, and was that day to be buried, and we had never heard of it.

Such things may please some pers ns, but for my part, I prefer to live in a civilized country, where neighbors will not only know if you are ill, but will offer a helping hand.

After all, where do our great men come from? Not one in ten are reared in the city. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The men who are the center of activity, the drive-wheels of trade, politics and industrial arts; the women of beauty and genius, are all the children and grand-children of farmers." He also tells us that "they are

wasting in dissipation, the energies acquired by their fathers in their quiet but active lives." Our grange ritual tells truly, "that in the beginning God made agriculture honorable." Is not that enough to those so eager to leave the home nest, and to mingle with the busy throng of the city? I can only say, look well before you leap.

True happiness to no one place confined,
But still is found in a contented mind.
How cans't thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms which Nature to her votary yields,
The warbling word and the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves and garaiture of fields;
All that the genial ray of morning yields,

And all that echoes to the song of even,

All that the mountains sheltering bosom shields,

And all the dread magnificence of Heaven,

Oh, how cans't thou renounce and hope to be forgiven.

THE COUNTRY HOME AND ITS INFLUENCE.

BY MISS EMMA J. BRANSON, FLUSHING, O.

It has been the opinion, common not only among those who live in our towns and cities, but even among farmers themselves, that the occupation of agriculture in all its branches, was on the whole, less honorable than many of the numerous other callings engaged in by the laboring class of humanity.

Why this has been so, we may in part be able to discern, for we well know that the situation of the ordinary farmer and his family, has not in the past, been what could be desired. But the present aspect and future outlook promise much for them, needing only a wider and more intelligent awakening to their situation, in order to grasp the power and the influence that lies within their reach.

That this awakening is being accomplished in a good degree is evident by the interest manifested every where over our United States, in local clubs, farmers' institutes, and organizations of various kinds, established in the interest of the farmer and agriculture.

All honest labor has a right to be respected; and why should any be more honorable than the intelligent tilling of the soil?

It is the man, and not his occupation that should merit our regard, for we may dignify any labor that it is our duty to perform.

One writer has with enthusiasm remarked, "that the American farmer is the noblest type of man." We would be willing to accept this as a real truth, but however, it is a matter of intereet and congratulation to note with what a high degree of intelligence and learning, he discusses all topics both social and political, in our agricultural papers, and elsewhere, causing us to conclude that the American farmer has come to the front, and is highly capable of maintaining his place there among the foremost ranks as moral, public-spirited business men, ever ready to lend an influence in the cause of truth and justice, and in the effort to establish equal rights unto all people throughout our broad land. His high moral principle combined with the talent he can give, would seem a much needed and wholesome factor in the management of our national affairs to-day; where already his influence is being felt, and will continue to be we hope, for the good of all classes, and the advancement of the home. Here nature favors all that is good. Her influence upon her children is naught but pure and elevating. Vice and folly do not come unbidden to its portals, and so it is largely within the power of its builders to make the farmer's home all that it should be-a place of refinement and culture; the truest home of virtue and

happiness, and where the moral, physical and spiritual life alike, may be duly cultivated and perfected. We want such homes; the world needs just such men and women as come out from such homes, and should it not be the effort of every farmer here to-day, to elevate his home life to the highest standard, as well as to seek to improve in methods by which it may be maintained?

If this is the aim, it is a noble one, and an important step toward the attainment of such an end. The saying, "that the homes of a nation are its greatest strongholds," is full of meaning. So, every Christian home must be an important factor in the welfare of our country, and the home life every where should be a matter of deepest interest, and every available means brought to bear to make it what it should be.

The time has been when the advantages for culture and improvement, especially in the more isolated homes, were indeed limited; but where there is a desire for such to-day, the means are not wanting, and in the quiet of a country home there are superior advantages for accomplishing much, differing from the many interruptions incident to a life in town or city, where modern society makes such demands upon one's time (an advantage it may seem, in the cultivation of one's social nature). Yet, may we not safely question its propriety, when carried so far as to become an interruption to the most valuable quiet seasons, so essential to the true development in all hearts?

Character is no doubt made stronger by due contact with the world. But strong principles and highest virtue are necessary companions. Most business men of today would tell us that, to be successful, it takes largely both time and thought, and we know it is true, that the modern successful farmer must give his interests much thought also; but his time is not thus wholly absorbed, and in the appreciation of this fact, lies valuable opportunities, which if improved, would mark an advancement worthy of the effort.

The importance of having intelligent farmers, is no longer a question, and their sons who are receiving good educations here and there, can, in the proper cultiva tion of the soil, apply their knowledge, perhaps, nowhere more usefully; and we would that these young men might more fully appreciate their peculiar advantages, and rightly value the pure freedom of their goodly heritage, ere it is abandoned for the allurements of a business life. I once heard a young man remark, who bad always lived in the city, "that he did not see why the young men in the country could not always be good," situated away from the daily temptations meeting them in city life. So we see much is expected, and our homes should meet the requirements. But temptations will encounter us every where, and a character launching into the world, needs all the influence of an early Christian home-training to develop that high standard of manhood and womanhood to which all should faithfully aspire.

We know that many of our great and good men do often attribute their success in life to the early example and discipline of Christian parents within the environments of a country home; and our quiet homes must continue to supply such men. Here, to the women who find this their sphere in the realization of their high calling, there lies a duty before them scarcely unsurpassed in importance and responsibility, for is it not certain that if her individual duty here, as elsewhere, was rightly accomplished, there would not be the present need for social reformation?

It is with feelings of admiration that we look out upon the busy, earnest workers in the various fields of reform, and learn of the good that is being accomplished as a worthy result of their persistent efforts. But is not this feeling sometimes ming'ed with a sense of dissatisfaction on the part of some, who may deem their sphere a seemingly narrow one, and, anxious to be doing some good in the world, yet feel that the ties which bind them to family and home are barriers to their usefulness? If this is any where the case, may the delusion soon be dispelled, to be replaced by

the consciousness of opportunities unimproved, and duty overlooked, seeing the possibility within her reach of conferring upon humanity one of the greatest of blessings a well regulated Christian home--with its unbounded influence, within whose precincts the reformer is not needed, and from out whose portals may go forth young men and women of such integrity and moral worth, that the world in which they are to move will be tenfold the better for her having lived, though oft she may be unconscious of the silent blessing resting upon her labors.

The desire for self-improvement and cultivation of the mind can now be very fully met in the production of good literature, in cheap form, and in the various courses for home culture instituted to suit the requirements not only of our youth but also the busy though aspiring minds of the farmer and his wife.

But do we need physical and mental culture alone, to complete our highest development? The culture of the heart is also most essential to make the full, rounded character, that in its perfect development, stands in the image of its Creator.

COUTNRY LIFE.

A POEM

BY MRS. S. E. COFFMAN, OF DUBLIN, O.

[Published at the request of Plain City Institute]

What beauty there is in country life!

In the shining, op n fields,

Where the glorious ground is rich and rife

With the gifts that nature yields.

When the sweet hay and waving grain

Repays the thrifty farmer's care.

Then, how dear to the eye this lovely plain
That with fragrance fills the passing air!

Then, in the eve of a summer's day

To wander o'er the carpeted ground,
Where the inowers to s the yellow hay,
And scatter the perfumed heaps around-
How sweet to sit at the twilight-hour

And be fanned by the evening breeze;
And to list to the birds chant their evening songs
In the branches of the trees.

And then, as we look to the far-off West,
At the splendors of the closing day;
Bee! the golden light reflects its rays

On the heaps of new mown hay.
Now the sturdy farmer takes his rest
On the cool veranda wide,

And the little ones, he loves so well,
Are playing at his side.