the nation the country spends each year millions of dollars to educate its coming citizens. The average earnings of an uneducated man are about $1.50 per day. He works about 300 days per year and continues this process for about 40 years. His life earnings will therefore be $1.50x300x40, or $18,000. The salaries of educated men vary very much more than do those of the uneducated, but if you should strike an average of the earnings of educated men, beginning with the president of the United States, officials of insurance companies, of railroads and corporations, running down the scale until you come to the lower salaried men, the average earnings would prove to be about $1,000 per year. For 40 years $40,000 would be the average life earnings of an educated man. Subtract $18,000 from $40,000 and the difference is $22,000, representing the approximate value of a boy's time spent in school getting an education.

The average time it takes a boy or girl to get a good education is said to be about eleven years. The average number of days spent in school each year is about 200. In eleven years of school life there are therefore 2,200 days. Dividing $22,000, the value of an education to a boy, by 2,200 gives the average value of a day in school as $10.

Is the boy worth $10 per day to you on the farm if kept out of school? Is it economy or prudence to keep him out of school? Can the nation afford to make the sacrifice? And this takes into account only the dollars and cents side of the question, omitting entirely the other and greater values of an education.

"HOME MAKING."

BY MRS. P. W. PLYMIRE.

[Paper read before the Farmers' Institute held at Sabina, Clinton county, February 21, 1908.]

The old saying, “Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home," is just as true today as it was when it was first written. It may be a rude, rough home, at the foot of some stern, snow-clad mountain, or it may be a beautiful mansion in some city, but wherever we wander, we look back to it with utmost interest. Home making is not made up of a simple round of cooking, sweeping and sewing. There is a vast difference between home making and housekeeping. Zeal for cleanliness may be carried too far for family comfort. How true is the saying that "some are more nice than wise." As husband or children come into the house they are met with, "Did you clean your shoes?" "Now don't make a muss," and a number of such things. It's don't this and don't that until their lives are miserable, and the husband goes off to a club, and the children, as soon as they are old enough, seek more congenial company. We must not forget that home-making is much more important than housekeeping, and that the house is for us and not we for the house.

When Mrs. McKinley first came to the White House, she was asked to give her views on an ideal home. While she merely talked for publication, she however said this: "Wealth cannot make any home ideal; power cannot make home ties more sacred; social standing will not uphold a home. The ideal home is where husband and wife and children all have a common purposethe purpose of love and help for one another. Husband and wife may have many varying opinions, but when, above their separate views, rises the spirit of unselfish love, they bring the home as near ideality as it can be. More

homes are disintegrated through selfishness than any other one cause. Love can have no affinity with selfishness. Love is invariably sacrificing, and when two or more stand together in this spirit we have the home beautiful. From it radiate the purest influences. All life is brightened by it. The incense from its altar rises to heaven."

One who had such thoughts as those ought to have been the first lady of the land. It goes without saying that the one who is at the head of a home can have no more important duty than that of knowing how to carry on her domestic affairs or seeing that they are carried on. She has a right also to tell herself sometimes this is not all-and to hear the outside world calling for the woman that is needed to take interest in what appeals to the soul, the social side of her nature. We believe that the mother ought to give a sensible portion of time to social matters for her own sake and for that of her family. Society not only brings polish, but it aids in the process of personal development. It is not only the right, but the duty of every woman to appear neatly and appropriately dressed at all times. Social attrition gives us more than we realize. It is like mental fresh air let into the home society.

Much is said about the faults and failings of the average wife, but a careful silence is often preserved concerning the trying ways of the lords of creation. Having wooed and won his wife, man often thinks that nothing more is expected of him. He is mistaken. He must make her his partner, and give her a fair divide in the pleasures and perquisites of life. Being a woman doesn't make a high-spirited individual enjoy begging. If husband and wife want to make home pleasant for their children (for there is no ideal home without children) they must respect each other's prejudices and give to each other the same they demand for themselves.

Be cheerful; it is better to live in sunshine than in gloom. If a cloud rests upon your heart turn its silver lining to your friends and cast the glow of cheer upon them, and the cloud will give way before the brightness and joy of its own light. The art and science of home making is in its infancy. There is much to learn. What we want is instruction in how to do the work better with less energy; new methods, where new are better than the old; how to make our homes beautiful and healthful, from which we can send our families into the world with strong, alert bodies, tenanted by clear minds and clean hearts. We want more leisure for improvement, music, reading and social life.

Human happiness is the acme of earthly ambitions. "What made you leave the farm?" was asked a young man, who had gone to the city to find work. "It was so lonesome in the country; just work all day and sit around somewhere till bed time. I got sick of it." Now if that young man had had a home where there was a homey atmosphere he would not have left it for the city, with its many temptations. Good books, magazines, papers, games and music are what we must have if we keep our families at home. They want something to interest them, something to talk about, someone who is interested to talk to. Someone has said that the five senses of man are satisfied on the farm. "Fruits of the field and garden for the palate, perfume of God's fresh air and flowers for the nose, the petting of the stock for the touch, the beauty of the land for the eye and the music of the barn yard for the ear." This is true, if men and women will only take time to see, taste, smell, hear and feel the beauties and advantages of farm life.

The cause of so much discontent on the farm is overwork. The farmer and his wife undertake too much. They are ambitious to accumulate and unconsciously drift into the "all work and no play." More good, common sense

is what most people need. As accumulations of dirt are always perilous, the home must be clean, but better tolerate a little stain here or finger-mark there than tax physical energy past the limit of daily creative capacity.

Home making means a study into things; an inquiry into the greatest question of life. Here, under one roof, clusters a little circle of wonderful beings, human beings; yet here they must live and live in harmony, for the home must be the center of joy else it is not really home. A home maker should be a good housekeeper, but a good housekeeper is not always a good home maker. We have heard it said that "the best way to a man's heart is through his digestive organs," and be this true or not, it must be confessed that a bad dinner is a trial to a man's affection if often repeated. No man wants his wife wholly given over to house work. The happy medium is what is wanted. Don't be afraid of a little fun in the home. Don't retreat behind your evening paper and order the boys and girls to be as still as mice. Don't shut up the house, lest the sun fade the carpet. Don't shut up your heart, lest a hearty laugh shake the cobwebs that are being woven there. If you want to ruin your sons and daughters, let them think that all mirth and enjoyment must be left behind when they cross the home threshold. Young people must have fun and relaxation somewhere. If they cannot find it in their own homes they will find it elsewhere. Therefore, make your homes so bright and pleasant that they will not be tempted to look further for what their natures crave. The memory of such a home will be the best safeguard they can take with them into the wide world when they go forth to fight the battles of life. Half an hour of unchecked merriment around the firelight of a happy home blots out the cares and annoyances of the day, and we, as well as the younger ones, are made happier by it.

So don't be afraid of a little fun in the home. We must study the science of the ideal life. The foundation of the truly ideal and beautiful home is the religious sentiment. There are two things growing always together: the sense of obligation to God and duty and the sanctity of the home. Our homes are what we make them. We can be happy wherever we are, whether in city or town, but

"The farmer heeds no master's call,
Has none but self to please.
Goes when he will, or not at all;
When weary takes his ease.
His home to him a castle grand
Though humble it may be,
And monarch of his own fair land,
To no one bends the knee.

"No speculation's dazzling scheme
To lead his thoughts astray;
Not rich at evening's golden gleam
And poor at break of day.

No stocks or bonds his peace to mar
By their uncertain worth;

His holdings always up to par,

His bank old mother earth.

"Though waiting months for recompense,
Yet still he holds the key;

And by his thrift and diligence
Brings sweet prosperity.

Unlocking, by his honest toil,

The treasures of the sod,

He feeds the world from out the soil

And lives near nature's God."

-Geo. W. Armstrong, Columbiana County, Ohio.

"WHY GIRLS SHOULD LEARN TO DO HOUSEWORK."

BY MRS. A. B. STEPHENSON.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Cloud, Morgan county, December 11, and 12, 1907.]

No doubt some of you have heard girls say in a sort of half-proud, scornful way, "I don't know anything about housework," talking and acting as if she were to be congratulated for her ignorance, instead of pitied for her. stupidity. If you have you know what a feeling of pity swept over you, and you thought, what a foolish girl! Then you went back farther and your next thought was, what a foolish mother she must have.

Well, there are scores of such mothers, and the writer is acquainted with some of them. What is the cause? This is a question often asked and we think the reason lies in the fact that hundreds of American girls are brought up to look upon housework as degrading. This seems to be back of it all. Some mothers say, "Oh, but I want my daughter to have a good education, so she will not have to work." Certainly; so does every intelligent mother. Every American girl wants the very best education to be attained. But does an education secure any man or woman from the necessity of eating and earning his own living?

She is a teacher some will say. Very well, teaching is a grand, good (I had

almost written work, but perhaps play would be the proper word to use). What an insult to the great army of workers in the public schools of America. It is well known that brain work is far more exhausting than manual labor. Why should it be thought more honorable to instruct a child mentally than to cook the food that nourishes the child's physical being and makes a clear brain and strong mind possible? Why should it be less honorable to broil a beefsteak than to eat it? It is not, and every girl ought to realize the fact.

There are numbers of girls trying to fit themselves to enter some of the professions who are incapable of doing what they propose, but who might cook a meal to perfection and keep a kitchen in faultless order did there not exist a silly notion that to make one's living by doing housework was not refined. Let no one misunderstand me. Every girl has a right to all the educational training she can get. Every girl has a right to be a teacher, a doctor or anything that nature has fitted her for. The writer is proud of her sex and proud of the fact that so many noble women are capable of taking their places beside our men in the learned professions. But let it be understood that any woman's work, or any human being's work is simply that for which nature has best fitted the individual, and that an educational training does not create new talents, but simply trains those already in existence and gives their owner more power in his own special field of labor.

If housework could be lifted out of the realm of so-called drudgery and made a sort of trade or profession (and better paid), there would be scores of bright, good girls take their places in the kitchen to earn their living honorably, without fear of losing their standing in society. Then the servant problem would be solved. It is a sad fact, in the cities at least, that nothing is asked concerning a girl beyond that she is somebody's cook or chambermaid, and they refuse her their friendship or even respect. If every mother would train her daughter to believe to do housework is a necessary part of her education and put the theory into practice, this state of affairs would be changed. But so long as girls are brought up to consider housework beneath their dignity, they will look down on those who perform it. I hope that no mother here has the erroneous idea that her daughter need do no manual labor or housework, for she will have great need of this knowledge if she ever expects to marry. Some mother may say, I expect her to marry well and have plenty without working for it. They may, and they may not. Cupid is a very contrary little god and doesn't always go the way you might wish. A girl is just as likely to fall in love with a poor man as not, and you know what usually happens when a poor man marries a girl who has no idea of house. keeping. Either the domestic peace is destroyed by poor cooking on one hand and comparisons with "mother's cooking" on the other, or else there is a perpetual strain to provide servants for the kitchen when it can be ill afforded. Aside from all this, every woman ought to know how to keep house, though she need not do a stroke of work herself. She should be competent to manage her household; this she will not be, if she knows nothing about it. If she is going to be a professional woman and does not intend to marry, she will be all the more womanly for knowing something of the art that has been, at least, a part of woman's work in all ages.

.

It has become quite the fashion for society belles to patronize cooking schools. These are steps in the right direction and are good, so far as they go. But as the place to learn to plow is right in the furrow, so the place to learn to cook is right in the kitchen, where the work has to be done regularly and other work needs to be done besides making fancy pudding, angel food, etc. Never meddle with fancy dishes till you have learned to cook a plain, sub