Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1875 — A Little Work May Add “Joy Forever.” [ARTICLE]

A Little Work May Add “Joy Forever.”

After the long summer of hard work bj r the farmer, necessary to provide himselt and family with food and raiment, he takes, his season of comparative rest. If a little ot this spare time were properly employed in adorning home and its surroundings, as much or more pleasure, perhaps, might be derived, from an aesthetic view of the subject, as could be given by the same amount of work bestowed in any other way. The bread and the meat which supply the physical wants of man are not all the things we should live for. The enjoyment of even these things can only come through the refining influences which tend to elevate our higher natures. We are creatures of circumstances, the soul becoming the reflex of what surrounds us. In the light of these facts, will it pay to neglect the refining and soul-inspinng influences, to en-1 dure the unsightly and disordered farmhouse and surroundings, w’hich can be nothing less than a perpetual annovance to a refined taste? The farmer who neglects these things and spends his time in the village saloon or upon the street-corner, hunting pleasure, wastes that which belongsSfiot only to 1 lus family, but to his neighbors, and time which, it properly applied, would bring

mutual results in happiness, a well-spring of joy for a lifetime, to all concerned. We have known farmers and their wives to do work enough to make things delightful all about them, but for want of system and proper care all v-i. chaos. The walks were incomplete, the frees broken and dead, because set in a haphazard way and left to shift for themselves without mulching; the fences dilapidated and down, with the lawn and flow? ers laid waste by the feet of the animal whose proclivities are to “ root, hog, or die;” the buildings brown and uninviting from the lack of paint. The same system of neglect extended into the house as well; the walls bare, neglected and without ornament. This is all wrong. Some time should be employed in providing for the happiness and pleasantries of home. In fact, the pleasant ussociattonrare the principal things which constitute a home. Bright faces and light hearts form the silken cords which unite families together, and prevent many a wayward youth from running riot in the ways of sin. The best way to prevent such evil results is to “ make home happy.” Flowers are cheap, and gladly send out their rich fragrance beneath the most lowly roof. Paint of many colors is abundant, and, like charity, “hides a multitude 6f sins.” Time is plenty when used aright, and if some farmers would Use a little as indicated above, and protect and preserve the work done, it would aid largely inflengthening out their days.— Western Rural.