VOL. XXXI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., AUG. 15, 1896.
NO. 33
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
What Social, Intellectual and Spiritual Opportunities do you Enjoy in
the Home Life and Surroundings of Your Family.
2d Premium.
And this onr life exempt from pnblic haunt
Finds tongaea'Jn trees.books in the running brooks.
Sermons in stones and good in everything.
—Shakespere.
Man's flrst duty is to himself and those dependent
on him.
The child's future largely depends on early home
influence.
As to our social life wo pay visits, give
dinner parties, write and receive letters
from distant friends, entertain a large
circle of friends and relatives, planning
picnics, botanical, geological and other
excursions as often as practical, with the
inevitable well filled lunch baskets, tin
boxes, glass cans, butterfly nets, dredging rake, climbers and wading boots for
tbe boys, robes and pillows, a hammock
and magazines for the tent keeper and
little ones if any, to secure their patience
and comfort until the arrival of the last
tardy, tired collector, before breaking up
camp. There will be many surprises
awaiting the home coming, if indeed
there are none before, for as you sit demurely congratulating yourself that at
last all the party and their belongings
ire safely on wheels, there are perhaps
■Wclerriir-'-tth- your ~'rwry'swstf*rrrtmm~ibe
pockets'of the sly urchin at your elbow,
escaping snapping turtles, horned toads,
snails or no telling what creeping natural
history specimens. By selecting good
literature we can always have the companionship of the best minds of the present and past. We discuss the live issues
of the times in our correspondence and
with visiting friends, attend such lectures and entertainments at home and
abroad as circumstances and opportunity
afford. As we cannot retrace our steps
we aim to have life as brimfull of enjoyment as it is possible to make it. We believe that "he serves God best, who serves
man most," and do not need to visit
foreign lands to find ample opportunity
for utilizing both our surplus time and
means. "The groves were God's iirst
temples, e'er man learnd to true the stone
or lay the architrave." It is there we
come in closest communion with our
maker, by the babbling brook, or forest
stream. There is no music more divine
than that of our birds and winged insects
and no incense sweeter than the fragrance of our woodland flowers. When
we have taught our youth to "read books
in running brooks, sermons in stones and
good in everything" we shall have secured for them a future full of promise,
a fortune which none can wrest from
them. Whether at home or abroad, on
land or sea, they have ever present the
great book of nature, which the more one
explores, the greater depths are revealed
with ever increasing interest. Teach
them in the home _ be kind, truthful
and just to everyone, to do right because
it is right, and not for the hope of reward
here or hereafter. Teach them of Ood
through his works, there if anywhere he
expresses his love for ns.
"Not useless are my flowers
Their voiceless lips are living preachers,
Kach cup a pulpit and each leaf a book."
Henry Co.       Mrs. Sarah A. Pleas.
3d Premium. The topic suggested for
August 1st is of such vital interest to the
farmer's family of to-day that its importance can not be emphasized too frequently or too earnestly. I would answer
it broadly by saying "every social, intellectual and spiritual advantage enjoyed
by any class of people can and should be
enjoyed by the farmer's family." Not
only this, but the intimate neighborhood
acquaintance and community of interest
give advantages  not  attainable  in the
larger cities, where one knows less and
cares less regarding his neighbor a square
away than the farmer does of his neighbor farmer five miles away. Besides the
farmer's family is not so likely to have
the real advantages crowded out of their
lives, and their intellectual, social and
moral natures surfeited, with the artificial, hot house, ephemeral, so-called advantages of theater, ball-room, eucher
party, political or social club. I presume
it will be granted by all that the lack of
social, intellectual and spiritual culture
whorever it is found depends upon the
amount of time that can be spent by the
individual or the community in pursuit
of the advantages offered for them rather
than a natural dislike, or disregard for
such culture. There are, of course, examples enough of spoiled children of luxury whose neglect of these advantages is
wilful, but in such cases it Isa lack of
energy, ambition and brain. The community at large naturally has a desire
for such culture when it can be attained
without seriously interfering with their
struggle for existence and a competency.
If this be true, as I believe it is, then this
entire subject is one of time. The manufacturer who has not taken advantage of
the improvements in machinery, the
manager of a large office who has no
stenographer or typewriter; the merchant who has no cash register, or is not
prepared for modern book-keeping, will
find little time nor have little inclination
for seekingsocial, intelle«tua--or spiritual
culture. So the farmer who farms as did
his grandfather 50 years ago, will find
modern competition too much for him
and the struggle for mere existence of
himself and family will leave au anxious
brain and tired body, in no condition to
seek or enjoy such culture as we are
speaking of. Competition is so sharp,
prices are so reduced, the gigantic farms
of the northwest have so glutted our
grain markets, our wants have so increased and luxuries become necessities,
that lt is doubtful if the average farming
community in Indiana finds as much
time for such culture as did their grandfathers of 50 years ago, even with the interminable forests to clear, the thousands
of miles of ditch to dig and the millions
of rails to split If I can show the cause
for this and thus show what not to do,
perhaps others will show what to da To
me it seems the prime cause lies in trying to farm too much land without being
properly equipped to farm any. I say
this from bitter experience of several
years, as well as from observation. You
and I know what it means to try and tend
an 80 acre farm, poorly ditched, with no
arrangement for properly feeding stock,
or preserving manure, and inadequately
furnished with proper farming implements and machinery. But I also have
known a family living on a 40 acre
farm who raised 00 bushels of corn per
acre to my 30 and 40, and who raised 25 to
40 bushels of wheat, while I raised from
10 to 20 per acre, and other crops correspondingly. The father of that family although over 50 years old, still reads a
chapter in his Greek Testament every
morning before going out to work,though
it takes an half hour with the Lexicon to
translate it. The good wife finds leisure
amid her household duties to prepare
many a paper for W. C. T. U. and Sunday
School Conference, and an occasional article for a farm journal or magazine. The
daughter has a piano, and finds an hour a
day for practice and makes many an
evening happy with her music and song.
The son is an accomplished singer and
finds time to prepare his duties and attend a literary society every Friday evening of the year. The family read many
books, at least three magazines a mon thi
and a weekly and dally paper.. The
father is Sunday School superintendent
and he and his daughter attend the
weekly teachers' meeting, besides the
regular  Sunday and  mid-week  church
services. One day a week at least is spent
In the city selling produco and attending
to business, or shopping and "brushing
up against the world." The family is a
happy, prosperous one, useful to the community, living easy and enjoying life to
the full. Why? I will tell you as I see
It. The land Is worth say $60 an acre
when times are good, as they were a few
years ago and will be again when—but
here I go into politics. Forty acres
which they did not buy is $2,400 saved.
This put into ditching and fencing in the
40 they did buy, and into a reaper, mower,
wagon, hay rack, hay rake, tedder, loader,
fork, riding plows, harrows, improved
stables, machinery shed, granaries, a
lawn mower for the yard, Improved
creamery utensils, a modern kitchen
range, a gasoline stove, a force ptimpi
bath room, heater, laundry tubs, wringer,
wind pump for stock water, left something for a piano, books, magazines and
papers. Thirty dollars a year saved on
tax buys considerable fertilizer for the
fields. Fewer fences are to keep up and
fewer ditches to keep open. It takes less
time to plant and plow 10 acres of corn
andjraise 000 bushels than to raise thesame
amount on 30 acres; less time to sow and
reap lOJacres of wheat than 30 acres to get
300 bushels; less time to put up 30 tons of
hay off of 10 acres than 20 tons oft of 20
acres. Their well kept garden, berry
patches and orchard buy many a dollar's
worth of groceries, besides furnishing
Abundance of ^orewholejjyne^Jpqd, Jthf,n
most families enjoy, while their poultry
and butter areveritable"10 to l's." Uo you
wonder that they have time and inclination for music, study, reading.social gatherings and all intellectual and spiritual
culture? You may have done some of
these things from "your youth up" but a
"new commandment give I unto you. Go
sell half you have," and properly equip
yourself to farm the other half, and you
will find peace and prosperity, and time
and inclination to avail yourself of the
modern opportunities forsocial,intellectual and spiritual culture,which good roads,
ball-bearing buggies, railroads, electric
lines and bicycles have placed within the
easy reach of almost every farming community in Indiana. Then we will revive
the old time fishing party, the day after
corn planting, the family reunion and
picnic in June, the old settlers' and soldiers' reunion in mid-summer, tho corn-
busking and apple-cuttings or their
equivalents in antumn, and the libraries,
spelling schools, neighborhood socials
and sleigh rides. Few neighborhoods are
now not lu reach of good lecture courses
aud other first-class entertainments.
Every home will have a library, at least
of 25 cent books—and good ones can now
be bought for that,—at least three magazines, a weekly and daily paper, the de.
nominational, weekly and farm journal,a
piano or organ and well filled music rack.
A college education will not then take
the son from the farm or make the
daughter dosire a professional man for a
husband. The Lord's 10th will increase,
life will be happier, fuller, sweeter and
holier, and we will wheel into the 20th
century, but three and a half mile stones
away, the pride of the nation, the preservers of the Government and the envied of the city, crowded world.
C. K. N.
the State. There is one thing the people
of and around Corydon can enjoy that no
one else ln the State can. They can
see the old State house ovory time they
go to the postoffice. We hold ice cream
socials at our churches to keep up repairs'
and they are very much enjoyed by both
young and old. Picnics will be given at
tho dancing grounds the Fourth of July.
If I woreasked the question, what would
be the first thing you would ask God
to grant in your family, I would say:
First,give me peace; second, health and
happiness. I place peace before health
because we cannot have health without
peace. A. Hoosieii.
We have churches of all denominations
scattered all over this country, and most
any denomination is in our reach. Tho
United Brethren is nearest. We have a
meeting every Sunday night at the U. B.
church called the Young People's Christian Union. There is being built a fine
Catholic church'at Corydon. We have class
meeting and Sunday school every Sunday evening and ^preaching every two
weeks. We have an educational institution at Corydon called the Ohio Kiver Valley Normal College, which is being largely attended by  students  from  all over
In these three topics there is a world of
happiness, and life ls what wo mako it.
First, socially. AVe meet and entertain
friends and neighbors upon a common
level, and having a common interest like
that of our own, and exchange views aud
give words of comfort and cheer, and
thus make the pathway of the life of oach
more pleasant. We try to make home
a province to cultivate sociability, enlarge our circle of friends and promote
the highest social relations and with
daily observation to keep before the children such as will prove of interest. The
intellectual enjoyment in tho home can
scarcely be fathomed, and as we know
that earliest impressions are strongest we
take pleasure in making a direct effort
from the beginning to supply such books
,an(iiBlory4paper«i aa^anut»K mind^Ulcsz.,
Joy, never forgetting tosiipply tho family
reading table with suitable reading matter for all. Then with a carefully selected
homo library, snch as our means will permit, and such as assure us that every hour
so spent, gives us a broader, better view
of life and will lift us up to a better usefulness. Best of all is the enjoyment and
deop consolation in reading the "Book of
all bocks," the Holy Bible, which was
not intended for funerals only, but for
use and reference at all times, that we
might increase our intellectual stature
and be stronger to face the conflicts of
life. Spiritually we have the comfort
and assurance, as companions, that we
are trying with the help of God to instil
into tbe hearts and minds of the little
ones He has given into our caro, to "Seek
first tbe kingdom of God and its righteousness and all things else will be added," and with the spirit of Christ, who is
the example that all must follow, to accomplish good, to be able to make home
haPPy. as *rue happiness dwells only
where members of the family are seeking
to do His will. So with pleasure we aim
to mako our home so much more to our
loved ones than any external attractions.
Mrs. Lena Ti.Mri.KTON.
Bartholomew Co.
Our four children, all boys under eight
years of age require and furnish lots of
homo amusement. Kach boy has his own
funny little peculiarities, and each new
theory advanced or discovery made
serves to interest the balance of the
crowd. Thoy will not sing because girls
sing, but they whistle the times with the
piano accompanying and the little one
dances. Mother and father make separate trips in the buggy accompanied by
one boy at the time, because one boy always behaves well. We always relate
one or more incidents of the trip for the
benefit of those who remain at home. An
occasional trip for all six in the big carriage, behind tho pretty blacks, and a
visit from a friend or neigbor adds to the
variety.
The Indiana Farmer, Poultry Keeper,
Indianapolis New?, Kichmond Weekly*
and the Ladies' Home Journal furnish an
abundance of good reading, and we are
near enough to town to enjoy Richmond's
good schools and churches.        Mrs. W.
This is a snbject that I know not hardly
Continued on Oth page.