The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-10-23

| S0eu ana Salu IL was DOT as SOQu DIS
his own.
Elwood Balderston also showed
some fine samples of Leaning corn.
The host when called upon for
his essay produced the following:
| Love At Home.
| We are glad to welcome you all to our home,
this October day, when the woodland shows its
tints of golden leaf and all Nature seems to put
on its farewell beauty before going into winter
quarters and soon Nature will be shrouded in its
mantle of white and then we will begin to look
forward to the coming of spring with its new
beauty Thus the seasons come and go. and it is
| for US to improve our time. and in winter we pre-
pare for summer, and in summer we prepare for
winter, and thus we are kept busy, which is a
great blessing.
| The farmer in his profession exceeds all others
in our naon for it is through his success that all
mankind are fed, and he in return receiving re-
ward that makes labor sweet.
| Therefore he should study well the nature of
his soil as well as the climatic conditions of the
particular locality in which he resides to find the
| best thing to do and the best time to do it. The
reward is sure to those who intelligently seek it.
some thirty, some sixty and some hundred fold.
| The above is only preface to the still more
important subjects that we wish to treat in this
paper, being Love at Home and how to cultivate it.
| wish to call your attention to the fact that it
only requires cultivation as it is already planted
by the divine hand but He has left us to train
and fertize it.
| Without it the word home has lost its meaning
although it be mansion surrounded by its broad
and well cultivated fields and adorned with all
| the beauty that Nature combined with art can
make it. yet without love it has become q barren
waste, the pools have dried, the lights have gone
out and it is more lonely than the solitude of
Robinson Crusoe. on his lonely island, among his
mountains of gold
| Why should such melancholy state exist in
any home when we have the means to cultivate
that never aging principle of love that should
bloom 365 days in the year, and without which
we are in condition of desolaton and poverty
| no matter what our bank account may be We
all make diligent study of every thing on the
farm from the garden to the field to find the best
fertilizer to use the best time to plant, and how
to extermnate the insects that interfere with the
growing crop and every detail is attended to with
care and dispatch, how vigiant we are about all
these things that so important to our success,
| and it is right that we should be, but not TO the
neglect of the far more important things that go
to make happy home.
The enemies OF the happy home are selfshness,
envy, greed for gain. negligence, etc, these are
the bugs and weeds, curculio and scale, etc that
make for discomfort and undermine the love that
should adorn the home. The poet says:
"There is beauty ali around,
| There is Joy in every sound,
When there is love at home
Peace and plenty here abide.
Smiling sweet rom every side,
| When there is love at home.'
How love at home has inspired the poet, and
| how many have written the sentiment of their
| heart in verse; II is the cement that holds our
| homes close together and defends our nations in
| the time of invasions. Love is the principal
thing it is the grcle that holds society together.
1t helps the mother toll for her family and spend
sleepless night in her devotion and mnistrations
! of love for those depending on her care.
1t stimulates the soldier on the battle field. as
he thinks of home and loved ones.
Love at home is among the sweetest of W 'rds. it
is our sunshine by day and blessed mellow light
by night it brings us into happy relation to our
family and friends 1t lives when all else is dead
for it is born of God and therefore cannot die.
Without it you may time your harps to the
highest key in melody. l spin a web of sheet
music with artistic skill. but it will be no COM
parison to the lullaby of the true mother whose
bosom pulsates with love of home and family.
Love at home spends its days in the happy en-
ployment of spinning golden thread that is
long enough to reach around the world and
strong enough to hold it together. Death cannot
break it, for while We hold to one end of this
thread here we may feel the vibrations OF kindred
hearts, beyond the vale.
| How sweet is home, how lasting is love. Then
let us cultivate it and exercise our best gifts 10
secure it, and let no influence dissuade us from
the path that leads to this great ocean of wealth,
! that is composed of little deeds of kindness and
! little words of love at home.
! Ifevery farm in all the land were decked with
grains of gold and owned by one whose home is
void of love, how poor indeed is he.
While he whose home is enshrined by love, has
citadel of peace in tent or cottage though it be-