Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1860-08-03

as they once had, they now keep in that
dark, dingy dining room, except when
callers come; and I dare say, poor John
Waters won't get half so comfortable
maps in that lounging chair, as he did in
that old chintz covered one. No, I real
ly believe their home happiness will be
lessened, rather than increased by the
change"
=" don't want things too good to use
/ confess that would be foolish. But |
should use them just the same, if they
were handsomer."
Would you? Just fancy yourself,
you lazy man, stretched out on one of
those superb crimson damask sofas. You
could not do it comfortably to save your
life, and you need not pretend you could"
said Helen, with merry laugh. why,
| don't dare even to put new chintz
cover on this old sofa, lest you should
feel little out of place"
=" Nothing but your economy, Helen,
your awful economy. 1t has been the
making of me, know; and poor mis-
cradle fellow | should have been but for
your industry and judicious counsel but
we are no longer poor-we have a good
income, and can afford some Injuries.
=" So we can and too want luxuries,
but what is a luxury, Edward Is it
not a great luxury to be cozy and com
Portable, more than snowy and elegant ?
Is it not a 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 tender tone OF
voice, and tear shining in her soft blue
eye, " it is such a luxury to help those
poorer than we. O, what heart salts
| flying pleasure it was to settle the Woods
on that little farm last year, and to be
able to carry fanuels, fuel and food to SO
many poor sick people. Do let us look
at things as they are and not through
ether peoples eyes We don't want
more costly furniture for our own enjoy
ment; it is only that other people may
admire it, and what poor qualification
is that, compared with other pleasures
money can BRING Why, it was only to-
day | was thinking it seemed almost
wrong for us to be so fully gratifying
every taste and wish when there was Sc
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 comforts they
need, and above all, so many sunk in
vice and degradation, who perpaps might
be saved by the hand of charity held to
them. 0. Edward, those words of Jesus
about self-denial, must have some mean
ing 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 better invested than IN furniture"
81 believe you are right, Helen You
always see the light more clearly than /
do. Still it cannot be wrong to indulge
our tastes to some extent, and to enjoy
what is beautiful in nature and in art"
4" To enjoy what is really beautiful is
different thing from being merely fash
ionable, from having costly dresses and
and furniture, which are oftener 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 a claim upon us, which should be
met before we crafty even our innocent
and laudible tastes. Don't you think
SOP
" Undoubtedly; but where are we to
draw the line between proper and i'm
proper indulgence of taste ?"
We cannot draw it for others, but
conscience, think, is safe guide for
ourselves. If on the same day we see
beautiful picture, and poor, sick widow,
suffering for want Of necessaries, if we
can't do both, | think conscience would
tell us to relieve the poor, suffering sis
ter first and if we did, would not the
thought of her, made comfortable by our
assistance, be a real luxury to us, as we
lay down on our beds that night? 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 wall? | should like whole gallery
Of such pictures, Edward, and we should
lind more real enjoyment in them than
10 the finest oil paintings"
But still, Helen, believe in having
pictures, both kinds, if we cam
80 do | for cultivating ones taste
for art is such different thing from get
ting upholstery. ] do really think there
is something low and vulgar in making
display Of fine furniture, and in trying
to be smarter than our neigbbors. 1t is
IN this love Of display that the essential
yulgarity Of Americans, so obvious to
foreigners, consists no other nation has
SO much Of this foolish rivalry, and so
much counting Of popularity, and it is
certainly very ridiculous to sacrifice time.
case and money as we do, to outshine our
neighbors. ! am disguised with it, and
long TO have more simplicity prevail
among us--for simplicity is, after all, the
truest elegance"
Why, Helen, how do yon come down
on poor body? You make me out sci. |
fish, unfeeling and unchristian, lust be-
cause l want TO smarter up little and
as if all these we're not enough, YOU can
the climax by making me out vulgar too.
And so | suppose / am to be compelled
to live on in the OLD bundrum, honely
way, looking as old fashioned as Time
IN the primer, because my little wife al.
ways manages to get the better of Inc in
Because your little wife knows vou