San Andreas independent., 1857-12-05
Men of Business.
THEIR HOME RESPONSIBILITIES.

1t is not long since the sweet voice OF
the Swedish choralist sent home, with
thrilling power, to many hearts, " Home
Sweet Home" Though heard often,
when did that song seem half so sweet as
then? and when did the heart SO swell
with joyous emotions and with love of
home?
We Anglo-Saxons speak of the true
idea of home as peculiarly our own.-
Whether this be true or not, we cannot
well exalt too highly the value of home,
nor watch too tenderly over its character
and interest.
Home-it is little world it has its
own interests, its own laws, its own diff
culties and sorrows, and its own blessings
and joys. 1t is the sanctuary of the
heart, where the affections are cherished
in the tenderest relations; where heart
is joined to heart, and love triumphs over
all selfish calculations. 1t is the training
school of the tender plants which in after
years are to yield flowers and fruits to
parental care 1t is the fountain whence
come the streams which beautify and en-
liven social life
If any man should have home, it is
the man of business. He is the true
working man of the community. The
mechanic has his fixed hours when they
have run their course, he may, ere the
day closes, dismiss all anxiety as his la
Dor ends, and seek the home circle
Comparatively little has been the tax on
his mind, and not much more on his
physical system. as he learns to take all
easy. But the man of business is under
constant pressure. His is not ten
hour system, with an interval of rest;
but he is driven onward and onward,
early and late, without the calculation of
hours. He must be employed. In the
earnestness of competition, in the COM
plexity of modern modes of business, in
the solicitous dependence on the fidelity
and integrity of others, he has no leisure
moments during the day. With mind
necessarily under exciting engagements,
and body without its appropriate nutri-
ment, he may well pant for home, and
hail the moment when he may escape
from his tolls to seek its quiet, and its
dHectlOl anu cOHlueuce.
But that home should not be a hotel
home-the arrangement which carries so
many families to rooms in hotel, must be
sadly deficient in meeting the wants of
the toil-worn. Its forms and ceremonial
coldness, its gaudy dress requirements
and its heartlessness, its tendency to So
cial dissipation, its whole artificial char
acter, with its deteriorating influences on
the children and yonth of family, make
it anything but home. Many regard it
as a refuge from the trouble of 4" help"
management, but, while this may be
doubted, dearly do they pay for the want
of little courage and decision, in being
deprived of many nameless comforts
which an old-fashioned home furnishes.
The man of business should have a
home, not mere dormitory Alas
what an abuse it is to call the mere lodg-
ing place which man reaches after dark,
and which he leaves after a breakfast
taken by candle-light, home. Mr.. X.
L. NJ. has a superb property, eight miles
from town, ON the main thoroughfare out
of the city; every passer-by admires it.
But what is it to him, as he scarcely sees
it by daylight, except on Sunday? To
what does all his outlay of gardens, sta
tuary, and beautiful flowers, and pictur-
esque rivulets amount in his case? 1t is
his own, its true; this gives him a feel
ing of independence; but what delight
does he drink in, and what participation
has he with his family in that which
should be a common source of enjoyment?
To them there is little of real enjoyment,
as the feeling of loneliness mars all, while
he is very much as the man who puts up
for the night at the house opposite, called
"The Travellers Home" They both
tarry for night.
1t Is very grave question, whether a
man in all this is doing himself justice,
either mentally or physically; whether
he is meeting, or is in a condition to meet
the claims which the members of his
family have on him. and especially,
whether he thus meets, or can meet his
responsibility to God, who places the SOL
itary in families; or to society, which
must receive its controlling influences
from his and similar circles. 1t is to be
feared that we are degenerating in our
ideas of home, as we are growing in
wealth and multiplying our luxuries;
that just so far as we depart from the
view of home which our fathers cher
ished, so are we removing from our true
interest, and throwing ourselves on what
is superficial and ephemeral. Isaac Fer