Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1874 — The Farmer’s Home. [ARTICLE]

The Farmer’s Home.

The Hon. Dudley W. Adams, Master of the Nat ional Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, in closing the Fourth of July oration at Ottumwa, lowa, gave tlie following as liis idea of what the farmer’s home should be: Select the handsomest spot of all, and erect a house of neat and tasteful proportions and convenient arrangements. The size, finish and expense will be gov-"’ erned by tlie means at command. Plant trees, both forest and fruit, in such a way as to break the sweep" of the winter winds. Donate a reasonable patch of ground to small fruits and vegetables, sufficient to supply your table with abundance of all desirable kinds the year round. Make an acre or more as lawn in front and around the dwelling, interspersed here and there with some ornamental shade trees, evergreens and flowering shrubs. Train an ivy over the porch, a honeysuckle on the window. Hide the sheds and out-buildings with a clump of trees or climbing vine. Your wife and daughters will have some artistic flower beds cut in the lawn and a rose bush by the door, while singing birds will build nests in the trees. Make the inside of the house attractive—a pleasant place to sit, with inducements sufficient to keep your sons from saloons and your daughters from the streets. Among the absolute necessaries of life I most decidedly and emphatically place amusements, -sports, fun. A good, ringing laugh is worth more to stir the liver and promote digestion than a dose of calomel, and a deal pleasanter to take. If you ever come across a person, old or young, who cannot, on proper provocation, .give out a good, ringing, hearty laugh, watch him! He is either after your pocket-book or the undertaker. Joy, fun, laughter, good, healthy, wide-awake happiness, are among the most noble and desirable of human attributes. Nothing but men can laugh. Do not smother, but cultivate this distinctive feature of humanity.