The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1852-1855, 1853-02-10
THE THEE HOMES,
Or, The Magic Of Neniness.
BY FINLEY JOHNSON.


sultry day, and as the cool air Of eve .
ming swept onward, and famed the brows /
Of the heated laborers. they, one and
ALL thanked hesven that the toll Of the day
was over. But TO none among the home
ward bound, did the evening breeze seem
more refreshing than to three, whose bas-
kets of tools, borne over the three should
ers, denoted them carpenters. At the en-
trance Of the village where they lived,
Jones, Yates and Fields separated, each to
seek his own dwelling.
There was not a neater or cleaner abode
in Bell Air, than that awaiting the reception
Of Jones. Not n speck Of dust dimmed the !
brlliance of the windows, every article Of
furniture was polished till it shown like
mirror; fresh flowers breatbed forth their
! fragrance, from the chimney piece; spot
less cloth covered the supper-table, and
Mrs. Jones and the ehildreH were as neat as
it was possible to be.
Far different the scene which awaited
Yates; his house was disorder, his children
untidy, and his wife absent. The last nam
ed evil was, however SOON remedied, for one
of the children despatched in quest Of his
mother, soon returned with her.
"You here already, Blll'' she exclaimed
rushing in breathIessly in a dim and dirty
gown. Il had no idea it was SO late. Light
the FIRE, that's good boy, and we'll soon
have supper"
@Iam SO tired. May, that I'd rtther do
without supper" said Yates, throwing him
self upon a seat.
"Are you! Well, then, III make it, and
as she hurried to light the fire, more than
one piece of crockery was broken, which
! had, for the time, been put in an improper
place.
, "Where have you beenp' inquired Yates.
"Just next door, TO see poor Mrs. Browns
/ sick baby"
"Nother has been gone every since two,"
= chimed in youngster.
d "You aboninable story -teler-take that"
: and here the mother boxed the ears of the
child.
OFF went the child is crying fit, and off
5 wont Mrs. Yates to prepare supPer-the
children became cross and sleepy, and when
: tea was at last ready, she had TO go up stairs
: and put them to bed, then returning swal-
e lowed her own meal hastily, and, putting a.
+ side the dirty plates, declared that now she
i must 90 and wash.
e "Wash!" exclaimed her husband, in as
I ! tonishment, 81 thought you were to do that
!, yesterday"
ID swell, so meant, but Mrs. Brown came
in aad prevented me. And now l mus
'e wash, for neither nor the children have
Y clean thing to put on"
rs $50 it seems" said Yates, sarcastically
G. $50 it seems-indeed," she cried angril!
:; 81 suppose you expect me to be as clean an
IN neat as if kept twenty servants.
es "No, Mary" said her husband, grave.g
OF 81 form no such extravagant notions-oI
ID ask is, that the hours am working to earl
ng our bread, may be spentby you In name
more profitable than gossiping; and let IN
:. find quiet and orderly house on my return
ho and companion such asyou used to be II
ne the earlier days of our welded life"
10 But the affeetionate tone Of the last word
NN NN exercised no softening influence on tn
~ reused spirit of the indignant wiie, ana
" quarrel ensued, which ended in Yates TAX
10 ing his hat, and finding at the public hous
the comfort he could not in his own.
-. Meanwhile, Jones passed through his trlI
ne ne little garden, entered his pretty cottag
80 home, and sitting down his basket seate
;,b himself by the window.
l'N ~ "Oh, Jones, you never wiped your shoe
when you came in, was his wlie's saiutalioi
on as she entered the room.
"Well, my dear, and il did not' thei
could be no mud on them" said he.
lge "No-but I'll be bound there's plenty
eld ,to.,.,, sho re,orted GROSSLY, "aI
ads -, ~, hate dust. And here
rs Lord bless me, your dirty basket uint $
'le- down OIL the clean wax cloth. What is u
ION use ofme being slave, if this is the W;
you act!'
me "But, Nell, I'm so tired"
ION :.Tircd-forsooth! and don't you think tn
rk' get tired, working about all day as do:
asst "Yeu are indeed very industrious viii
ce' Nell,"-yet even as he spoke, he sight
MA for his home, though it was pleasant 10 10
adl at, was very uncomfortable.
Mrs. Jones was a conscientious and
Industrious woman, and she esteemed 1t y
,;u duty to work hard for her husband and ch
i ;, dren. But she perceived not how her sPl
~ of house worship interfered with her dut
~, ns wife and mother. The latter demaF
;r.'i ed her house should be home, the iorU
~ that il should be an idol, and she bowed U
,La, resistingly down to the image she had n
ID ;, self set up, without once suspectlng u
~, -, the magic word "home," in her keep
but an empty sound. Her husband, wh
the his hours Of labor were over, felt as
$ in had fairly earned a happy evening, out
wa was offending against her rules OF proprle
vi of and therefore betook himself to the put
"a. a house, where he was an object of conside
here ton, which he never was at home: a
,oats thus, though Mrs. Jones was consldere'
better wife than Mrs. Yates, they both,
verv different means, accomplished one !
nquil of driving from their MONIES uohSs''o'
AS husbands.
Mess Fields, too, had gained his home-a
aged little cottage, like those of his fellow w
ates, men. Within all was clean and neat,
# de- as orderly as the gambols Of the chile
neDt would permit, a.d the wife who advanced
meet him, was as neat person as the
R, could wish to rest upon.
ners "Weli, Carrie" cried Fields, gaily' "I
sltsd I am, tired and hungry, wanting my SUP
dlil- do you mean to give me any!"
the "Why if you behave yourself will
pre- replied in the same tone; sand as II II
body ready, you might as well have it now
m, mt should think you needed it, after SO ne
m. ;, day" e.,I r.
was ended. and the children IN
y y eH then the little wife came 'gaily down sti
,r;IS iIe Fields was weary and had placed . ms
s!rtls, = mon a chair. butno frown darkened Car
ou' brow at the sight. On the contrary shS
-''c'' vonced GOOD .humoredIy TO his side, ana !
"a. ,n on;rad if she should 90 on with tne
W She had been reading the previous even