Litchfield enquirer., 1858-10-28
- WHAT IS HOME

Timothy Titcomb, in one of his letters to young married people, gives the true idea in the following extract:
 The French have no word into which the English word home may be legitimateIy trans lated yet it is sufficiently evident that many of tue French people have the name without the thing. There are comparatively few who have all adequate idea of what home is, as an institution. It is recognized as a house, con taiuing a convenient number of chairs and ta- bles, with a sulciency of chamber furniture aud eatablcs--a place to cat and sleep in sim- ply It is hot unjust to say that half of the young malr'ed people of America have no higher conception of home than this. What they call their homes are simply boarding Lou- ses, where, for purposes of economy and con- venierce, they board themselves.
 '" In my idea, home rises to the dignity of an institution of life, and, like every thing to be called all institution of life, is both an out growth of life, and contributor to it's devel- opement. Like all institutions, it has exter- nal form and internal power and significance. Like the church. it has its ediiice and appoint mcnts, not only, but its membership, its bonds of spiritual fellowship, and its germinal ideas,
 
 flowers and fruits to charm and feed the soul. It is into the meaning of the word home, that 1 would introduce you first, my friends, and then into home itself. Marriage is the legiti- mate basis of genuine home. A husband is its priest and wife it's priestess and it is for you, young husband and young wife, to es- tabiish this institution, maintain 1t, beautliy 1t in its outward form, fill it with all good intlu- ences, devclopc it's capacities, make 1t the ex- lrcssion of your best ideas of intimate social
 life, and to use it as an instrument of genial power in moulding such outside life as may come in contact with it. Its outward form, and it's internal arrangements should, so far as your means will permit be the outgrowth Of your finest ideas and the expression of your best tastes, combined Wiih the practical lngc- nuties which may be necessary by whole some economy.
 It is not the elm before the door of home that tine sailor pines for when tossing on the distant, sea- It is not the house that sheltered his childhood, the well that gave him drink, nor the humble bed where he used to lie and dream These may be the objects that come to his vision as he paces the lonely deck, but the heart within him longs for the sweet inhu- ences thst came through all these things, or were associated with them for the heart clugs to the institution which developed it. to that beautiful tree of which il is the fruit Wherever, by the rivers of Babylon, the heart feels its loss and loneliness, it hangs it's harps upon the willows and weeps It prefers home to its chief joy. It will never forget it. For there swelled it's first throb. There a moth- CTS eyes looked tito it there mothers voice spoke to it; there mothers prayers blessed it. There the love of parents and brothers and sisters gave it precious entertainment. There bubbled up from unseen fountains life's efftrvescing hopes. There life took turn and color, and conscience. From that centre went out all its young ambitions. Toward that focus return it's concentrating memories. There it took form and fitted itself to loving natures and pleasant natural scenes and 1t will carry that in press wherever it may go, unless it becomes perverted to sin, or make to itself another home, sanctifed by a new and more precious affection
 :" It is in the little communities which we call American homes tla. the hope of Amer ca rests. 1t is here that subordinaton to wholesome restraint and respect for law gre n- culcated. It is here, if anywhere, that the affections receive their culture, that amiable dispositions are developed, that the amenities of life are learned, that the mind and body are established in healthfnl habits, that mutu- Ial respect for mutual rights are engendered and here that all those qualities and faculties