Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-07-10
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA, TUESDAY, JULY TO- 1860.

YOU could,n said Helen, with merry laugh. -
ssWhy, don't dare even to put new chintz-
cover on this old sofa lest you should feel lit
tie out of place."
/ 'Nothing but your economy, Helen, your aw-
tful economy. It has been the making of me. /
know; and poor miserable fellow I should
have been but for your industry and iudicious
counsel: but we are no longer poor. we have a
good income, and can afford some Injuries"
$50 we cam and too want luxuries. but
what is luxury, Edwardl Is it not a great
luxury, to be cozy and comfortable, more than
snowy and elegant2 Is it not luxury to know
that we owe no man anything; that we are
laying by something every year for the children
and then" she said with q tender tone of voice.
and tear shining in her soft blue eye, sit is
such luxury to help those poorer than we. O.
what heart satisfying pleasure it was to settle
the Woods on that little farm last year. and to
be able to carry fannels, fuel and food to so
many poor sick people, Do let Us look at things
as they are and not through other peoples eyes.
We don't want more costly furniture for own
enjoyment, it is only that other people may ad-
nire it, and what poor qualification is that.
Icompared with other pleasures money can bring |!
TWhy, it was only to-day was thinking it seem-
ed almost wrong for Us to be so fully gratifying
Ievery taste and wish when there was so much
suffering in the world, SO many children crying
with hunger, SO many shivering with cold, so
many lying on sick beds, without the little COM
forts they used, and above all, so many sunk in
vice and degradation, who perhaps might be
saved by the hand of charity held to them O,
Edward, those words of Jesus about self denial,
must have some meaning for us who profess to
be His disciples. When look at things in this
light, it does seem to me that if we have one or
two hundred dollars to expend, it might be bet
ter invested than in furniturep
IL believe you are tight, Helen. You always
see the light more clearly than l do. Still it
cannot be wrong to indulge our tastes to some
extent, and to enjoy what is beautiful in nature
and in art" & '
ITO enjoy what is really beautiful is different
thing from being merely fashionable, from hav-
ling costly dresses ard furniture, which often
Ier in bad taste than good. Still do not believe
we ought to be too self indulgent even in these
lines. The poor and ignorant have claim upon
Us, which should be met before we crafty even
our innocent and laudable tastes. Don't you
think so?"
"Undoubtedly; but where are we to draw the
lime between proper and improper indulgence
lof taste 2" .
I'VE cannot draw it for others, but conscience,
think, is safe guide for ourselves. If on the
same day we see beautiful picture, and a poor,
sick widow, suffering for want of necessaries, if
we can't do both, think conscience would tell
us to relieve the poor, suffering sister first; and
if we did, would not the thought of her, made
comfortable by our assistance, be q real luxury
to US, as we lay down on our beds that night 3
Should we not by that means obtain beautiful,
bright picture to lie soft and warm in our hearts
though we had none to hang on the wall9
Elro uho1o 6 oI 4
ward, and we should find more real enjoyment
in them than in the finest oil paintings" I"
"But still, Helen, believe in having pictures,
both kinds, if we CAM
$50 do l; for cultivating ones taste for art
is such different thing from getting upholstery.
[ do really think there is something low and vul-
Igar in making display of fine furniture, and in
trying to be smarter than our neighbors. 1t is
in this love of display that the essential yulgarity
lof Americans, so obvious to foreigners consists
no other nation has so much of this foolish ri.
lvalry, and so much cpurtSng of popularity, and
lit is certainly very ridiculous to sacrifice time,
ease and money as we do, to outshine our neigh
bors. am disgusted with it, and long to have
more simplicity prevail among us-for simplicity
is, after all, the truest elegance"
"Why, Helen, how do you come down on a
poor bOdys You make me out selfish, unfeeling
and unchristian, just because want to smarter
up little; and as if all these were not enough,
. you cap the climax by making me out vulgar
too. And so suppose am to be compelled to
, live on in the old humdrum, homely way, look
ing as old fashioned as Time in the primer, be-
cause my little wife always manages to get the
better of me in argument"
"Because your little wife knows you are quite
, as anxious to do right as she; and because your
views and hers really coincide o, Edward,
l1op3t thipb 81 ob hat
consider myself better than others. don't live
up to my theories, and every day / feel reproved,
when see how courageously and cheertully you
go to your daily labor, working hard from morn
ing till night, aud then coming home, so thought
full of me, so gentle and cheerful, if you are ever
so tired, while SO often get impatient and irri-
table,"
Sand why am I so cheerful9 Why can toll
so faithfully2 Because have such q blessed
home to come to, such loving wife to labor fOrt'
And he drew the true and gentle wife beside
, him, and encircled her with an embrace as full
: of devotion and tenderness as ever lover gave
and pride as he gazed upon her sweet face,
blushingy upturned to meet his gaze.
x
A year has passed away, and we enter again
the Lhcolns parlor. 1t is little changed the
same air of perfect neatness and comfort prevails;
no snowy damask curtains nor velvet sofas, nor
tapestry carpets have been introduced; there are
1.-TWO choice pictures added, and the air is fra
grant with the breath of some rare flowers which
are blooming on stand by the southern win
dow. Helen Lincoln is alone, and shadow rests
on her fair, matronly face, as if sad thoughts
filed her mind as she sits and sews. But it
Ibrghtens as her husbands step is heard enter
ing the hall.
80 Helen - he exclaimed, when he had warm
led himself by the bright open grate-''it is a
Igreat deal worse than l expected; everything is
gone; the stock is all under mortgage, so is the
house and furniture; and yet the whole will be
but drop in the bucket, there is no end to the
claims that come in yes, John Waters is ru-
ined man! He can't pay ten cents on dollar
of what he owes"
"What will become of his family2" said He.
len. Poor things, they have been so little ac-
customed to any sorrow or hardship; they are
Iill-ftted to encounter them."
"Yes, that is true; and the creditors seem to
blame him for living so eztravagantly.
ssBut let us be charitable, Edward, they have
but done as hundreds of others have, and what
every one, almost, praised them for doing at the
time. Are not all those whose words and ac-
tions 90 to make up false standard of pnblic
sentiment to blame, as well as the victims of
such false viewss'
| "Yes. thew are and do wish from the bot