Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-10-01
THE ELOYEOF HOME

It is only shallow minded prctenders
who make either distinguished origin
matter of personal merit, or obscure
origin a matter of personal reproach.-
A man who is not ashamed of himself need
not be ashamed ofhis early condition. 1t
did happen of me to be born in a log
cabin, raised among the snow-drifts of
New Hampshire, at 4 period SO early
that when the smoke first rose from its
rude chimney and curled over the fro
zen hills, there was no similar evidence
of a white mans habitation between it
and the settlements on tie rivers of
Canada. Its remains Still exist: /
make it an annual visit / carry my
children to it and teach them the hard
ships endured by the generations before
them. l love to dwell on the tender re-
collections, the kindred ties, the early
affections, and the variations and Incl
dents which mingle with all 1 know of
this primitive family abode /; [ weep to
think that none of those who inhabited
it are amongst the living; and if ever l
fail in affectionate veneration for him
who raised it, and defended it against
savage violence and destruction, cher
ished all domestic comforts beneath its
roof, and through thu fire and blood of
seven years revolutionary war, shrunk
from no toll, no sacrifice to serve his
country, and to raise his children to a
condition better than his own, may my
name and the name of my posterity be
blotted from the memory of mankind
Daniel Webster.
Wanted Evenings ut Home"
Not the interesting and instructive
book under that title, but the very
scenes which the book delineates-and
which. unless we mistake, are fast van
ishinp away, and will soon be, if they
are not already among the things that
have been, but are not. "a. .-.-
an Ecening at Home, how is it to be
found? just mark the calls of public
and social meetings, read in your church
on the next Sabbath, and advertised by
the various moral and literary associa-
tions of the city-and what evening is
left for quiet communion with your
own family, or social call on friend !?
What room is there for thorough family
instruction? Their father is away at
the store or Office all the day, and the
mother has her work, and the children
are at school-now, if there is a meet
ing to call the family out every every
evening. what time is left for household
teaching? There is much truth, with
perhaps slight coloring of exaggera-
ton, in the anecdote given in the JAN
uary number of lIarper's Magazine, of
a gentleman who had failed in business,
and, when asked what he intended to
do, replied, II shall remain at home and
get acquainted with my family" ,..
We believe this constant drawing
away from home and home Influences is
dcmoralizing, and that it is time Chris
tians should inquire, whether one rea-
son why they do not grow more rapidly
in grace and knowledge, is not, that
they are cvar hearing, and never medi-
tating on what they hear-ever running
from meeting to meeting, and never at
home. Is there not great danger that
''home" influences will loose their charm,
when We come there only to eat and
sleep, offering indeed the morning and
evening prayer, but never sitting down
with the household in sweet communion
and precious instruction that were al
ways found in the olden times, when
both on the Sabbath and during the
week, families had some Evenings at
home"