The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-06-12
Timothy Titoomb's Letters % Young
Married People,
NUMBHH sEyEN
FROM lhe hphngheld RepubIlaan.


'-it rrnains 10 me 10 speak of your d1ties 70
society, as heads Of families and rulers Of
/, homes,
! have irsislcd on the thorough identified
! ton Of husband and wife, IN feeling, pride Of
, character and family pursuit and inlersat
yet am aware that his Identification may
T ttp6'ffled into most senseless and selfish
devotion 10 one another, and an exclusive
ness Accommodation, which arc destructive e
: Of social lie, ana acquainted with too
! many husbands aud wives Who, though oil
The world 20 each other, are nothing 10 the
world Their whole life Is within their home
They gather comforts about them, they bear
daIuIies TO each others lips, they 1.-Two and
move and have their whole being In each
others love and, shutting out all the world
live only for thgmaelyes / say know too
many such pairs an these. They are far too
plenty. They cannot bear to be torn from
their homes for an afternoon. They take no
interest in others. They never call friends
and noighbors around their board, and they
consider 1t "a hardship TO fulfil the common
offices Of social polilenoss--to say nothing
o? hospitality, II is not unjust to say that
this 10 one Of the most dangerous and most
rcpulsye iorms Of married life. Il Is selfish
ness coupled, associated, insttuted1 and il
deserves serious treatment.
/ Homes, like individuals have their rela-
tons TO each other aud, as no man liyeth
to himself alone no home should live to t.
self alone. IL il through the medium Of
homes that the social lifc blood of, America
u kept in irculation-through this medium
almost exclusively, Every home should be
a. city, sct upon hill, that cannot be hid.
Into Il should Cock friends and friendships.
bringing The life Of the world, the s,imulus
and the modifying power Of contact with va
rious natures, the fresh flowers Of feeling
gathered from wide fields. Out OF Il should
How benign charities, pleasant amenities, aud
all those influences which are the natural OF.
spring Of high and harmonious home life
lnlcr'oommupicaton Of minds and homes is /
the condition OF individual aud social dcycl.
opmcr,, aud failing of this no married pair
can be what they should he To each other .
Exclusive devotion 10 business by ,day, and .
exclusive devotion 20 selfish home cnioy-
menls at night will dry up, harden aud de-
prteiate the richest natures in the course Of
few years aud, so soon as the man with
SFad S&Foard has hiG9@ sac hhR Rc' c'nsP5 iiRRi T.gEi
for life They have po outside associations
Il is ns IL they did not live nj all .Whas+
they die nobody misses them. for they have .
been nothing to society. As many doors are
open as before, and social lie. fels no ripple
upon it5 surface wiirf the safit - Thrown, Jif
on their collins
There should glow in every house, through .
out the land, the light Of pleasant welcome
for friends. On every hearth should leap the 1
iome that irradiates the forms and faces OF .
associates. Ncighborhood should mean
something more than collection of dar, aud .
selishly closed hearts md houses A COM /
munity should bc.somothtng better than an .
aggregation Of individuals and homes gov
erned by the same laws, aud sustaining equal
civil burdens. Neighborhood should be the
name OF vital relationship. a community |
should bo a community in fact,-informcd .
with genial, social life in which the infu- /
ence of each nature, the power of each intel /
lect, the wealth Of every individual acquisition
the force of every wel-directed will, aud the /
inspiration of every high and pure character
should be felt by AZ. A neighborhood of
homes like this would be neighborhood in
deed and none other deserves the name.
The fact is that selfshness is the bane of
life. 1t cannot enter into life--indiyidual, !
family or sooal-without ersing it. There
| fore il any married pair find themselves in |
clined to confne themselves to one anothers
society, indisposed to go abroad and mingle |
with the life around them, disturbed and rri- |
tatcl by the collection of friends in their own
dwelling, or in any way moved to regard
their social duties as disogreeable, let them
/ be alarmed at once. II is bad symptom
an essentially morbid symptom. They should
institute means at once for removing this
feeling and they can only remove it by per-
sistently going into society, persistently gath
erng it into their own dwelling, and persist
emily endeavoring 10 learn TO love, and feel
an interest in, all with whom they meet
I The process of regeneration viii not be a te-
dous one, for the rewards of social life are
/ immediate. The heart en!nrgcs quickly with
I the practice Of hospitality The sympnthies
run and take root, from point to point, each
-raal tAsaiHs lssres 's',-lsearirrg TTfo-rrrs
and fruit like strawberry vines, if they are
only allowed to do so. 1t is only sympOthies
and strawberries that are cultivated in hills,
which do otherwise. The human face is a
thing which should be able to bring the heart
into blossom with.aam amoments shining, and
it will be such with you, if you will meet it
properly.
The penalties of family isolation will not,
unhuppily, fall entirely upon yourselves
They will be visited with double force upon
/ :. -.