Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1878-10-30

5 the plan embrace health, comfor
r and convenience, with just regar(
{ to the laws and lines of symmetr,
5 and beauty. 1t costs nothing Il
0 pay some attention to the laws o
D architecture in the construction o
g your dwellings.
Y Why disregard natures express
] ed methods of proportion and ar
D rangment of angles and openings
. Equal spaced repetitions are con
! fessedly beautiful. Applications o
, some of the simplest rules o
! architecture would add greatly tC
r the general appearance of farm
| houses, and in our country, now
when We are just beginning our
career as farmers, this demand
seems the more imperative as an
example to those who are now
} coming, and going to be with us.
And seemingly it is more in the
surrounding of the farmers houses
that taste and design of and for the
beautiful, may and should be ex-
hibited. 1t is almost painful to
pass through country and look
upon so many hard, bare walls and
naked, unadorned yards and sur
roundings, when but yesterday saw
such a beautiful and varied display
of the noble, primeval forest trees,
all cut away, leaving the unsfghtly
stumps which implies to the sight
Of the traveller more of destruction
and desolation than productiveness
and enjoyment. You build plank
roads and railroads to enhance the
value of your lands. This is well.
But there are other means that may
be used as well.
Adorn and beautify your homes
and the ground around them.
"a thing of beauty is JOY for
ever" Is not a home thus beau
titled to the eyes Of purchaser
more valuable than an unsightly
den near railroads 1t is of the
hightes Importance that the farmer
should be well educated, that he
may be the more able to use taste
and judgement in adjoining his
home with beauty, and no less so
that his wife should have liberal
education to enable her TO show
taste and skill in the arrangement
of its internal affairs. In neatness,
taste and beauty the interior OF
farmers homes far excel the ex-
ternal appearce. And the matrons
should have the praise accordingly.
But there is yet room for improve
ment. Those sacred Enclosures, the
family circles of our industrial and
producing classes, must contain
and combine beauty and intelli-
gence within and attractive pro-
portions and adornments without,
that it may be the more certain
that children reared in such homes
may love and cherish them, and
honor their founders and learn to
emulate them.
This is the Inauguration day of
our society. AS a society we have
no past. The future only is before
us. And while / have touched on
more general topics and talked of
our pursuits in more general terms,
/ feel that it is my duty to come
squarely in front of our present
state of affairs. AS agriculturists
we have just started out. Here
and there are located settlements
with bad roads between, and all
distant from market. Some of the
settlements are claunish in the ex-
IRENE. Some not much so. In
the adjoining county Of Pressure
Isle some are German, others Po-
fish, while others are of the Amer
ican-German, while in our own
county the American-German, the
Canadian, Irish, and French COM
bine with the American element
to make up the population. 1t
seems to be the great and leading
object of our society to American
; ize and reduce the various elements
E of the population to one homo
. genious American element. This
( it is hoped, our society can do by
r the citizen, the foreign emigrant
e the American-German, with theil
5 languages, manners and produc
!. tons coming face to face in {
: friendly competition, not only for
$ the best productions, and mannei
S Of producing, but the best mel
S and women, the best farms, th'
4 best roads, the best houses ant
b barns, and the best manner o
o making them. The success of al