A Chance To Improve

The fact is often brought to light in a serious way, that a great inany Washtenaw eouuty farmers try to get through life without taking a paper of any sort. Only a few weeks ago two residents of Lima township went to Jackson, put up at a liotel, and blew out tlie gas when they carne to retire for the night. One of tliera was killed by the operation, while the other one's life was saved only after the most difficult exertions on the part of skilled physicians. No person who takes a paper and reads it would have done such a foolish deed. And now comes another. Last Friday night a farmer of Sharon township, named Henry Cook, went to Jackson, put up at the Stowell house, and also blew out the gas when he went to bed. The fact that a window was partially open saved his life, though it was a long time before he regained consciousness. Had he taken a home paper he would have read the accident to the Lima boys, and been warned. People who have traveled over this county have frequently been astonished at the number of persons who take no home or state paper. In some families the only paper found would be a blood a'.id thunder story paper of some description, while in others the patent medicine almanac would constitute the family's reading matter. Is it any wonder that the young people, the boys and the girls whose inquisitiveness brings to their comprehension an idea of what is going on in the world outside of their dull andcheerless home, get restive and leave ? Is it any wonder that they refuse to go through life and know nothing of the great world around them and what is going on in it? Is it any wonder that they sometimes turn out bad when they have nothing to lead them on to what is good ? It is as much the duty of the head of a family to provide his family with food for the brain as to provide it with food for the stomach. To bring up a family in ignorance in these -enlightened times is a crime. Washtenaw county is full of excellent weekly papers. There isn't a village in the county but has published therein one or more good home papers. They can be obtaiued one entire year for the sinall snm of $1 or $1.25, and then quite often another paper goes with it, even for that price. There is no excuse for ignóranos. Every farmer bas time enough to read a newspaper. By doing so he can work more intelligently, and can accomphsh better results. He can use other people's experience and brains to help himself with. He can make hjs home a pleasant place to go to instead of a humdrum half-prison, where the wife is more often the slave ■than the help-mate. If there is anybody in this county who is too poor to take a paper, if they will come to this offiec and leave their name and address, we will send them the Courier six months gratis, that they may learn how good it is to keep pace with their neighbors. This oft'er is not open to any person who takes any other county paper.