Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-01-17
DAILY SENTINEL
TUESDAY MORNING. JANUARY II.
Our House.


There l. a place called .'Our House" which
everybody knows Of The sailor talks OF u ID
bis dream at sea The wounded soldier, turn
ing In his uneasy hospital bed. brightens st he
vord-it IL like the dropping OF cold water "a
The desert, like the touch OF cool nO2ers on
burning brow Our House." be says feebly.
and the lieht CONES back into his dim eyes-scr
all homely charities. all fond thoughts. ell puri
ties, ell that man loves on earth or hopes for 10
heaven, rise with word.
Our Hoase' may be in any style OF architec-
ture. low high. Ii may be the brown old
frame house. With lie tall vellsWeep. or the
one story gsmbrel rooted cottage. The large.
sqnsresvhi,e house With green blinds under the
wind swung elms Of century. or il may be the
log cabin Of the wilderness, with its one room
ssill there Is spell in the memory Of il beyond
all conlurations. Its stone and brick and NOR
tar Ike no other: its vesy clapboards dear
to ". powerful TO bring back the memories OF
early days, and all that - sacred in home lsye.
There 10 no one fact Of our human existence
THAI has a stronger influence upon Va than the
house ne yell in--especially that in which our
carrier and more impressible years are spent.
The building and arrangement OF house in
huence the hsAhh. the comfort. the morals. the
religion. There have been houses built so de-
void at Ill esnsiderstion for the occupants. so
rambling and hap hazard 10 the disposal of rooms,
90 sunless and cherries and wholly without
Uugness or privacy. as to make il seem impos
sible tolve sjoyous, generous. rational. reiig
Gus family life in them.
There sre. We shame 10 say. in our cities.
things called houses, built and rented by people
who walk erect aud have the general air and
manner Of civilized christianized men, who are
so inhuman in their building that they can only
be called snares and traps for souls-placts
where children cannot escape growing up filthy
and impure-places, where TO form home is
impossible. and 10 live q decent christian lie
. would require miraculous strength.
celebrated British philanthropist, who had
devoted much study TO the dwellings Of the
poor. gave il as his opinion that temperate soci-
cites were a hopeless undertaking in London,
unless these dwellings underwent a transforms
ton. They were so squalid. so dark. 80 com
fortress. so constantly pressing upon the senses
foulness. pain and Inconvenience. that it was
only by being drugged with gin and opium that
their miserable inhabitants could find heart to
drag on lie from dav to day. He had himself
tried the experiment of reforming drunksrd by
taking him from one OF these l0athsome dens
and enabling him to rent tenement in block
OF model lodeing-houses which had been built
under his supervision. The Young man had been
q designer of figures for prints he vas OF deli
cate frame and a nervous, susceptible tempera-
mtnt.
Shut in one miserable room with bis wife and
little children. Without she possibility OF pure air
With Only filthy, Ietd water TO drink, with the
noise of other miserable families resounding
through the Thin partitions. what possibility was
there VI doifg ANYTHING except by stimuisnis,
which for a brief hour lifted him above these
misefiss Changed at once 10 aneat Hat, where
Tor the same rent as for his former den, he had
three good rooms, With waterior drinking. house
service aud bathing freely supplied aud the bless
81 sunshine anu air coming ~ through windows
well arranged for ventilation. he became 10 a
few weeks new man. In the charms OF the
little spot which he could call home. its quiet
:, its order. bis iofmer talent came back TO him
and he found strength. in pure air AMI water. and
those pnrcr thoughts OF which they are embems
to abandon the burning and Supplying stimu