MAKING A.HOME IN THE COUNTRY.

BY ELMA B. KEIPER, Spinnerstown, Pa.

Studying the population of the several States of the Union will reveal a growing tendency toward urban life as against a distinctively rural development. The cities are gaining in numbers and wealth-no one will deny this-and especially is this true of our own State, which is principally manufacturing and mining. The factory, the shop, the warehouse, the railroad, the paved streets, the distribution of water and light to every home. The contact with the news of the world and the markets, the organized city school, the opportunity for social life and other motives have conspired to produce such conditions.

Against all these there have been the well-known isolation of the farm, bad roads, bad postal facilities, uninspiring church services, unorganized schools, low prices of farm products and other matters more or less recognized as important to the best of social conditions. Some of these tendencies were in a way recognized half a century ago, but late statistics prove the claim that the city is developed in a measure at the sacrifice of the rural community, the hamlet and the village. This tendency was first made manifest in New England, where farming has always been a difficult undertaking.

Coming right home to this immediate territory, comprising parts of Lehigh, Montgomery, Berks and Bucks counties, let us look about ourselves and see where we find the great majority of the farmers' grown-up sons and daughters of this vicinity for the past twenty years, notwithstanding you have to scan a vast area to find even a small number who have selected a place or farm and made a home out of it. Home is the place or country in which one dwells. It is the "sacred refuge of our life," as Dryden put it. If, then, the conditions be such, what is the remedy? We still must have a rural population; without the influx of such to the city the city's population will decay.

First, then, for those who want to make a home in the country, the selection of a place should be considered. Rural homes are made and while we have more than enough clear or farming land already, it becomes necessary in choosing a place for a home, to select one with buildings already erected and lands containing a certain number of acres already divided into fields. Although many things should be considered in selecting a home, important stress

should be laid upon four things, viz: Healthfulness, environment, nature of soil, and water supply.

Healthfulness is of prime importance, for without health life be comes a burden. Therefore, climatic conditions, as far as they relate to physical and mental life, should be considered first. But health and vigor are not all; the moral, intellectual and social conditions of the people of the neighborhood should be desirable. Church and and social God-fearing associates should be accessible to the family. Children are active and if they are to grow straight their energies must be directed into the right channels. The nature of the soil should be such as will yield desirable profits. No farmer should. hesitate to abandon unprofitable lands; let the blackberry bushes, as they creep down the hillsides, year by year, accomplish their pioneer work, and you will rejoice to see how well they fit the soil for a higher class of plants. Every home should have an abundant supply of pure water, both for household purposes and barn use as well.

Rural life has the ever-present beauties of nature; the shady forest, the meadow brook and the waving fields, all of which are denied to city life. Natural, as well as artificial beauty, has its value. The value of the farm may be greatly changed by the improvements upon it. It is well to ask, in selecting a home, "In what condition are the buildings upon it?" In many cases it may be necessary to make alterations. Investigation should be made so that the improvements to be made are not too extended for the purchaser. Some of the old farm houses embodying many beautiful and reposeful characteristics, are well located and need only slight modifications to be made comfortable and convenient. Our first thought, then, should be to save and improve the old home-not to destroy it. The farm-house should not be too big for the farm. It should supply the wants of the household and not be too expensive.

The farm should not be overloaded with buildings nor contain too many fences. Old barns should be gathered together into one or two structures and adapted to the needs of modern agriculture. In the pioneer days fencing material was so abundant that our ancestors were tempted to split the logs into rails and construct fences with them. But changed conditions prove the need of less fences. Lanes and the necessity for them, the amount and location of pasture land and the kind and location of timber should also be considered.

Land devoted to market gardening should be near some market town. It is the farmers' business to feed the world. In the selection of a home he should try to adjust himself to the growing cities and towns near-by. Special crops should be raised in their appropriate localities, A study of the population of the cities and towns

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adjoining our immediate district shows the city of Allentown to have 40,000 people, Bethlehem and suburbs a population of 2,500, Emaus 1,500 and Macungie 750, the towns of East Greenville and Pennsburg upwards of 2,000, with other towns of smaller population. Opportunity is thus afforded to the farmer and trucker who raises market produce of the best quality to dispose of at remunerative prices. Shipping produce to large city markets at a distance does not pay the small producer, as those markets are supplied in carload lots from different sections of the different States, which can be shipped at cheaper rates than smaller quantities from our farm.

If a man desires to live in the country for the sake of health and pure air but still be employed (either himself or his children) in the town, he must select a site close to a railway to afford easy transit to and fro to school and factory. If any distance from such railway the location should be over such roads as afford easy transit to and fro. Every man that buys a farm should locate on a good road. He should demand a public highway in front of his house.

Since district schools offer few opportunities for educating the children, the town school should be within easy access of the home. Such an opportunity would make it convenient for the children to be around the family fireside in the evening instead of on the street, as is frequently the case when they attend the village school and remain during the week.

Rural life involves a certain degree of isolation, which has, however, been modified by the building of electric roads and by the es-tablishing of free rural mail and delivery systems through many country places already. Every home should enjoy as many conveniences as can be afforded, and all those desiring to improve their homes should read "The Farmstead," by Isaac Phillips Roberts. We hope the time is not far distant when most, if not all, of the rural districts can enjoy the advantages of central high schools, improved roads, rural telephone systems and, hence, better opportunities for social life.

A REAL HOME.

BY MRS. D. H. STRICKLER, Vicksburg, Pa.

In civilized life the pleasures of "Sweet Home" are classed among our most refined enjoyments.

The word home is itself typical of comfort, love, sympathy, and all the other qualities which constitutes the delights of social life.

The social well-being of society, the success of our schools and colleges with their long train of far-reaching results rests upon our homes. It is here that the children are matured in body and mind. Here, away from the loathings of vice, they receive the elements of useful knowledge.

A real home is where the heart is congenial. Not every place which is called home is one. The world is full of staying-places, but not so full of homes. We may have beautiful houses, large and valuable libraries and fine pictures, and still not have a home. Whatever the conditions may be, the spirit is what makes the place a home. One person cannot make a home, however perfect his views of it may be and however sincere his efforts. Each member of the family must show the same spirit of love and good will. The blessings of God alone can make and keep the spirit of the home what it must be if the home is a success. There is many a place where people live and shine and smile, but are far away from home, because love and sympathy are lacking. In their stead we may find impatience, coarseness, reproach and slander lurking like birds of prey in a dove-cot. Wherever these dwell, home is driven far away. When they come in at one door, home goes out at the other. The foundation stone of a real home is a woman's care and devotion. A good mother is everything in the home. Without a good home, or without a disposition to appreciate it, our virtue and our respectability, as well as our happiness, are in danger. It is, therefore, of the very first importance that all composing a family should do all in their power to make their home the most lovely place on earth. To make a real home, the actual importance of the little things must be considered, for they bear a very intimate relation to our daily life and happiness. It is always the little foxes that eat away the grapes. An essential to the beauty of our homes should be a nice, green, velvety, well-trimmed lawn, with flowers, arbors and trees for adornment. How we all enjoy the fine fruit and flowers and vegetables fresh from Mother Earth! Hardy flowering shrubs and vines and perennials are rather better adapted to adorn the farmer's lawn than annuals. They require less care. Besides, human sympathy and companionship, nothing on earth can give such sweetness, peace, and the spirit of rest to our atmosphere as flowers. They cannot speak or sing. They cannot even work, yet they let their light shine and that cheers us when we are tired and discouraged. They help a tired mother bear her burdens with patience and to speak gently to the little ones. They help her to do her duty day by day, and to look on the bright side of life. One of the best ways of learning to love nature is to watch the growth of flowers.

I do not believe in extravagance, but a good, comfortable house, with modern conveniences, is money well invested. One way to

have such a home is by careful economy. Better go up than down. Better to begin with little, in a small house, than put the last dollar in a display that cannot be maintained through life. The furniture should be nice and comfortable but not too good for family use. A woman with taste and ambition can make a small house comely and comfortable; she can arrange and polish the articles of furniture in a manner that will please the eye of every one that beholds them. A little furniture, if well chosen, well arranged, kept bright and clean, will be more effective in meeting the commendation of sensible persons than thousands of dollars expended injudiciously and for articles simply lodged in the several apartments of the house without taste or order.

The situation of articles of furniture is a condition of good taste. The pleasant results that follow a tastefully arranged house are by no means dependent upon the outlay of money. There is no reason why the humblest domestic article should not be beautiful. The showy interior often seen in many fashionable houses is less attractive to the cultivated eye than the simple, harmonious and useful surroundings that may, for a small part of the cost, render the dwelling a true home to its inmates. Pictures and little pieces of sculpture not only help to beautify the home, but are sources of education and refinement as well. Good copies of great pictures can be bought at very trifling cost, and, tastefully framed, they will be a joy and source of inspiration to those who live in their presence, for the spirit of the books we read and of the pictures we know becomes a part of our spirit and helps to determine our characters.

It is not advisable to furnish your house beyond your means. Better get articles gradually, first purchasing the articles of absolute necessity. Let there be annual additions, one article one year, something else the next and so on, always procuring good articles instead of inferior ones, so that there will be no occasion to cast them aside when once obtained, So by spending a small sum every year, by the middle of life, when the children are becoming grown up, there will be no lack of everything that is needed for convenience and comfort.

Make the long winter evenings pleasant for the children. Encourage them to bring company in rather than go out and seek it. Of course every progressive family should have a library, books that will suit the children as well as the older people. If these cheap pleasures are beyond the reach of some, at present, work for them, trying to add, each year, books from some class of literature which will increase the value of the library, both in the pleasure it can give and in the practical help it affords. If some of you older friends were not brought up to read much you should give the children a chance. Warner says, "Good literature is as necessary to the growth of the soul as good air to the growth of the body." A few games,