The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-24
M E N, w O M E N
 A ND T IN c s

meet lof ms ldea or attractive nome grounds, he will speak of a closely
 cropped lawn, well laid out walks, neat flower beds. spruce looking hedges and ! carefully pruned trees
 I'll admit that there is something fit
 place, and in the section of the city in which I live are several fine specimens of what landscape gardening and close attention can do towards making the
 home grounds beautiful.
 What I'm going to say may be by way of avoidance and apology for the condi- tion of my own home surroundings. I'll admit for some years l gave a great deal of attention to keeping everything about the premises spick and span, for I had the time and enjoyed giving it my per- sonal care, and got great good from so
 doing
 But the war came on and there were large drafts on my waking hoursl and labor got scarce and high; and while at first I was greatly worried about the neglected look of the lawns, flower yards
 and garden, yet by degrees I became rec onciled to the situation, and devoted my efforts to public rather than to pri-, vate matters.
 The habit of working about a place never came to me until late in life, for when was growing up there was an faula, and father never required me to cut wood, feed the horses or work in the flower or vegetable garden. My life was
 absolutely free from the chores which usually fall to the lot of the average boy reared in the town or small city. I think it's great mistake, however, for boys not to have something to do
 about the home. It makes no difference whether parents are rich or the lad
 who is not called upon to serve in some way around the house is apt to grow up without realizing that it's the duty of every one in the family c1r1e to lend hand to tighten the burden by feeling personal interest in the details of home l life.
 I am ashamed to confess that although all my life l was used to riding and driv- ing, never htched up a horse until way
 after I was grown, and had my first ex- perience after entering the pastorate when it became necessary for me to do so. There had always been some negro 10 do | it for me. Now, I think every boy ought to know something about handling horses, even in this age when automobiles are fast driving old Dobbins off the road. But while am owning up, might just as well say that even to this good day, in spite of all I have written about Islay May, my fine registered Jersey, and Armistice Morn, her lovely heifer, I have being in middle life, it is one pleasure or duty that I expect to go to my grave
 without having accomplished. But there is some excuse for my stand, as do
 not drink milk or eat butter.
 l 1 The. boy who lives in town is never com pelled to face the eternal stove wood problem which robs the joy of living out of the life of the average farm or village lad. In the city it's a matter of merely bringing in the coal, and even this is seri- ously objected to by many city lads. I'll
 never forget the look of misery which
 came over the face of a country boy when his mother called out, Jimmy, bring me
 in an armful of wood"
 claim that smoothing is lacking in the life of every boy who has never got in close touch with animals and had to care for them. A boy who has never had the pleasure of owning dog, pig, a goat, calf, or a pony has been robbed of his birth right, although while still lad lhis fond father may have presented him witn a car all his own. One is ma
 chine, while the others are alive, and there is a vast difference. I covet for my two boys chance for them to spend year on a farm before they go to col 1 lege.
 I used to visit an uncle of mine who owned a farm, and today can shut my 1 eyes and close my ears, and yet after more than forty years, hear my little country cousin calling the cows, or see
 him at the break of day out in the barn loft throwing down fodder for the horses
 and mules, or getting the corn out of the crib to feed the pigs. It was always a fred letter day when I got to follow him about over the open fields or strayed down to the creek for fish or a swim. l But back to prim city lawns, hedges,
 flower beds and trees which greet the eye 1 of the city boy. just for contrast with the lavish abandon with which nature
 beautifies the landscape. I am enough
 of city man to appreciate even rormai gardens, but somehow as I grow older 1 I find that somehow the very perfection
 with which the rich have their grounds
 kept fails to give me the rest and pleas
 ure which get from the less preten-
 tious ones where nature runs riot.
 1 It took me long time to come to
 this point of view. and it smacks of an
 affectation to coSef up the carelessness (which reigns in my grounds. but the lady,