sunrise, the clouds,
the sunset, the moonlight, and the far off stars,--these call to our
spirits to penetrate their mystery and lift up our souls to those levels
above the commonplace where we commune with the Maker; the hills and the
wide expanses make us reverent and teach us to walk humbly and
patiently; the clean sweet air gives us health and strength of body and
soul; and the freedom from restraint by formalities and
conventionalities permits the development of the person in a sane and
natural way."

Another thoughtful mind writes this: "Farming is creative; being
experimental, it is interesting. On the farm both body and mind are
exercised, therefore both are kept nearer a normal level. We have
fresher, purer food and air; freedom from foolish forms and ceremony. We
are nearer to God."

An aspect that many country girls have keenly felt is shown in this
passage from the letter of a loyal girl of the countryside: "I fail to
find the hardships of farm life, and it always makes me indignant to
hear about them. Save as all life has its hardships, these special
hardships are a bugaboo that does not exist. A few weeks ago I was
hostess to fourteen of the girls from a large drygoods store in the
city. I was grieved to see what undersized, ill-nourished little people
they were. They ranged in age from sixteen to twenty, and every one was
prepared to despise the country and to look upon it with contempt and
the people with pity because they do not live in the city. Their
prevailing idea seemed to be that they had come to another race of
people whom they regarded with a tolerant pity and contempt. I heard
them telling my cousins, honest manly fellows, how very different they
were from boys in the city. Ah me! the simplest things about nature
which they did not know would fill many a book."

This delightfully peppery communication may be followed by one that
gives that feeling of joyousness that we believe should always be found
in real country life, and at the end strikes clearly the most important
note of all: "The attractiveness of farm life lies in as many, diverse,
and wonderful things as the breadth of the individual girl's mind can
comprehend and enjoy. To some the sense of freedom in country life is a
large means of happiness. The feeling of exultation in the far sweep of
vision, the glorious sunsets, and the movements of the clouds in the
wind and the coming storm. Then there is the pleasure in seeing and
help