Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1836-05-05
PARAGRAPHS ON CIVIC AND RURAL DECO

| The redde"ing apple riprns here to gold.
| Here the blue Fly with IuscIuus iuice "prRowr,
with deeper red the full i,OmegrsUaie gl0wS. &c.
! HOUaer's Odyssey, Book Uii.
| Among rural decorations the highest rank
IS due to HORTICULTURE; including in that
term the rearing of valuable trees. Child
rem should be early taught that when they
set out fine tree, or insert "a graft, they
are doing favor to posterity, and begin
ming that which shall continue To make 9th
ers happy when they are in their graves. 1t
has always been pleasant to me to see the
house of the industrious citizen embOwer-
( ed in towering vines and trees. And on
the Saturday night, a season when so ma
ny forsaka their work only for the beer
! house or the tavern, the man who possesses
such a retreat will have strong induce
ment to seek his delightful home, and meet
his little family among the smiles of natural
scenery.
There are many very precious maxims
of life which need to be pointed out they
are overlooked by the mass Of people,
Once indicated, they are believed and emf
braced. Among these is the following:
Simple ornament binders no good use.--
The watch runs as well in a comeiy case
as it would in deal box. The draft is just
1 as savory out of the chased tankard. And
every good of household life is unimpaired
by nesting among green foliage, climbing
honey -suckles. and parterres Of flowers. /
long to see this acted upon by our people.
long to see them snatching a few hours
from the noisy throng Of oilers, and the
delirious heat of the bar-room, and SPEND
ing them on the little innocent decorations
Of humble but delighted home. @
The time demanded for beautifying a
house and enclosure, is really SO little that
it scarcely admits Of being brought into
calculation. A few moments at day-break,
in the spring and autumn, will, in the course
ola year, work wonders. And few snatch
es OF time after labor is ended may be SPAR
ed by the busiest man. If his work has
lain within doors, or has been Of seden-
| tary kind, little exercise aud air, enjoyed
in pruning his hedge or training his vines,
will be restorative to his health and spirits.
This is better than mere repose. Nature
abhors vacuum Of employment. Well has
Cowper said
BY ceaaeless action nil that 10 subsisis;
Cons""t rotation Of the Snwearied wheel
That nature rides upon, maintains her health,
| Her beauty. her fertility. She 'ireads
An ins,an,'s pause, and lives bu, while she moves.
Here, then, is positive gain for the prac-
teal man. Health is " the poor man's
riches" Whatever conduces toit is worth
| more than money. Even those who are
( athletic, or work at trades which give them
constant motion, do not the less need some
thing Of this sort. 1t is not mere muscular
cxertion which preserves and restores
health. There may be great bodily efforts
| :s1 lAaV fnas
every man requires, when the day is gone,
is something between work and play, which
shall break the train of moody thought, re-
pair the waste of nervous elasticity, and
put the faded mind in good humor with it-
self and others.
When the mechanic, after his evening
repast, goes out to water his flowers, every
thing he touches is HIS OWN ; and nothing
so much his own as the tree he planted, or
the shades he gathered. He is refreshed
and tranquilized, and grows into the love
Of Home. These pleasures are nightly
increased il he sees around him his child
rem pariaking in his tolls and joys, and
cheering one another TO work or sport with
the merry laugh, while the wite's voice,
heard within, as she sings contentediy over
the cradle, adds lovely music to the scene.
This is picture, Of which the original may
be found in many poor but happy family
would that it were in all ! Under such
shades as these, domestic quiet loves to re-
side. This is the suspicious spot for the
incompatible satisfactions Of pure aud un-
defIed Religion.
Contrast with this a case which we are
often called to witness. The mechanic or
laborer has worked hard all day. At the
close of his tolls he turns bis face home-
ward. But he has not provided or cherish
ed at his dwelling any strong attraction
/ No refinement Of taste has ever softened
his spirit. It has been too much his prac-
tice TO pass his leisure hours elsewhere.---
He feels the need Of some relaxation. He
is languid from fatigue. and sullen from the
disgust Of labor. In such condition he is
easily attracted to the bar-room. Here,
amidst the odors of liquor and tobacco, no
forgets his previous lisllessness and anxiety,
to become the victim of an unnatural and
dangerous excitement. The glass, the Jest,
and the song, make the evening fly swiftly.
Late at night he wends his way home---if
not into xicated, yet humbled, discontinued
and peevisf. No children greet hin, with
their JOYOUS laugh; the neglected little
creatures are asleep; and the sad wife IS
+ awake only through anxious expectation Of
herr husband. am not exirayagant in
: tracing much Of the misery in such case,
to the want of taste for those little things
which make ones home fair and desirable.
Therefore it is that would have every
tc;a,a 10 ~. .oun,rv to use his influence in