Here was a mother who gave to the world six sons, five of whom grew to
an honored manhood and proved themselves men of power. One of the girls,
Marietta, was a woman of extraordinary personality, as picturesquely
heroic as Philip Armour, himself.

This mother never had a servant-girl, a laundress or a dressmaker. The
manicure and the beauty-doctor were still in the matrix of time, as yet
unguessed.

On Sunday there was a full wagonload of Armours, big and little, to go
to the Congregational Church at Stockbridge. Let us hope the wagon was
yellow and the horses gray.

Do not imagine that a family like this is lonely. There is constant
work; the day is packed with duties, and night comes with its grateful
rest. There is no time to be either bad or unhappy, nor is there leisure
to reflect on your virtues. No one line of thought receives enough
attention to disturb the balance of things. To be so busy that you
"forget it" is very fortunate. The child brought up with a happy
proportion of play and responsibility, of work and freedom, of love and
discipline, has surely not been overlooked by Providence.

The "problem of education" is a problem only to the superlatively wise
and the tremendously great. To plain people life is no problem. Things
become complex only when we worry over them.

So the recipe for educating children is this: Educate yourself.

* * * * *

When Philip D. Armour was nineteen the home nest seemed crowded.

The younger brothers were coming along to do the work, and the absence
of one "will be one less to feed" he said to his mother.

The gold-fields of California were calling. This mother was too sensible
and loving to allow her boy to run away--if he was going, he should go
with her blessing. She got together a hundred dollars in cash. With this
and a pack on his back Philip started on foot for the land of Eldorado.
Four men were in the party, all from Oneida County.

He walked all the way and arrived on schedule, after a six months'
journey. Philip was the only one in the party who did not grow sick nor
weary. One died, two turned back, but Philip trudged on with the
procession that seemed to increase as it neared the gold-fields.

Arriving in California, this very sensible country boy figured it out
that mining was a gamble. A very few grew rich, but the many were
desperately poor. Most of those who got a little money ahead spent it in
prospecting for bigger f