So, there is every necessary reason for urging that the farm home provide not only the time and the occasion for the play life of the children, but that the means and proper materials also be looked after. At a certain rural home in the state of Michigan, where two boys and one girl were growing up, were found the following nearly ideal arrangements for the play life: a small clump of trees, which afforded opportunities for climbing and ample shade during the warm weather; a swing hung between two of the trees; a pole serving as a horizontal bar between two others; and a ladder leading to a rude playhouse constructed between the forks of a branching maple tree. Thereabout were seen also a boy's wagon, two home-made sleds and other materials of this same general class, not to mention a fairly well-kept lawn, where the children could romp. Now the cost of all the foregoing materials would be trifling in a money sense and not very expensive in point of preparation and work, while they would pay for themselves a hundred-fold in their results for character-development. If necessary, it could even be shown how just such provision for the play of the boys and girls on the farm will in time add to the actual cash value of the place and to the money-earning power of the boys and girls whose lives are being served. It seems altogether fitting to remind rural parents of their duty in respect to their children even though the mortgage may not yet have been lifted, and even though some of the live stock may have to suffer a little, and some of the farm crops deteriorate slightly. Let there be provided, first of all, some adequate materials for the indulgence of the play instinct of the child. 2. _Work._--This term implies a wide meaning, and deserves a lengthy discussion. In a chapter to follow under the title "How Much Work for the Country Boy," we shall give due attention to it. The purpose here is to advise the parent to make a study of the situation and to make provision for the amount and kind of work and industry necessary for the proper culture of the growing child. First of all, there must be appreciated the sharp distinction between work and play. The latter is spontaneous, allowing the child to follow his caprice of mind. He may take up one play activity and drop it at any moment that another appeals to him more strongly. But with work, the situation is different. The purpose is outside of and not within the performance, as in the case of play. The work looks toward some end necessary of achievement and carries with it the elements of sacrifice, of giving out of one's life something that is his very own in order that some other thing may be acquired. In the case of work the normal child probably at first finds almost any assigned task irksome. He feels that he is being more or less unfairly or unnecessarily driven to it and that when he grows to be a man, he will have a lot of money and hire somebody else to do the work.