Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-04-23
NOW TO FURNISH A HOUSE,
BY HENRY WARD BEEcnER.

BY HENRY WARD BEECnER.
/ 1t is the mans own mind that makes any
thing beautiful If one be nch in the af
fections and in the taste, be will soon make
everything about him secm beautiful. 1t is
true that there is natural adaptation in
forms, eolors anG harmonious combinations,
to excite pleasure and admiration. But
even the rarest grace aud choicest beauty
are without effect upon one who is deficient
in taste And, on the other hand, things
plain and even homely, become beautifulin
the presence of soul that has the power
to cover all external things with associations
which are derived from the affections or the
fancy am fond of thinking that morning
gor.e areanatural symbolic Of this truth Not
because they are both graceful and beauti
ful, perhaps beyond all the vines of the
Temperate Zone, but because they have the
art of making other things beautiful. In
the spring | set a single stake in the ground,
| and at the top nail on one or two cross pieces
a yard long, at the foot are planted morning
glories. All the spring aud early summer
that stake is an offence to me. 1t stands,
morning and evening, bare. gauni, and hard;
but, by the last Of July, the convolvulus has
clasped it. twined about it, spread over each
cross piece, returned upon itself, and heaped
up an airy mass of leaves, every morning
starred all over with exquisite blossomsl
There, all the rest Of the season, stands that
pillar of beauty, sustained by dry and
homely cedar stake, but glorifed by the
profuse and generous vine which covers i'll
[ have seen just such things done, by the
way, in the household Some pragmatical
fellow, by Gods special and wonderful "a
yor has married woman of rare goodness
and taste. lie is hard, dry, literal stiff and
immovable She twines about Kim and
throws ont tendrls, leaves and blossoms,
perpetual wealth Of beauty, that hides his
uglincss. ''Ah, says the man, 'all this
burden of leaves may be very well, but what
would you do fit we're not for my strength
on which you climb! Il is | that give your
beauty all the advantage I" Foolish and
conceited prig-you might stand to all eter-
nifty, if alone, without change in your ug-
illness; while this sweet vine, even if it had
nothing TO lean upon, would haze covered
the ground, and wreathed around itself,
would have lifted dome of beauty so high
above the ground that the soil, rain-spattcr-
cd, should not touch it with dcflement.
Let me see-where was l before that pa,
renthesis2 Ah see. My morning glories
do not ask anything to be made beautiful
for item L; is their business to r,,-Lv
beauty for themselves and for others Ihad
q heap Of stones on one side of my boundary
fence, heaped for convenience till | should
wish to use them / took handful of con-
voyulus seed and threw them along the
edge and said, pray help me Now not
stone can be seen Instead Of gray or yell
low heap, there stands green altar some
twenty feet long and eight feet high, beau
tiiul all day, but exquisite every morning,
past all words, with hundreds of floral bells,
mois,ened with dew. And, not content
with this, these sweet vines have wreathed
thsir arms together and reached up to the
branches Of some sumack bushes, and now
are Ginning all over them, and wreathing
their green around the cones of brilliant
crimson sumRck berries; and still going on,
| found them reaching into the lower
branches Of stately tulip tree, as if they
meant next to take this rugged giant cap
tive by the wilcs of their beauty!
There is no house so poor that blossom
ing, tUiaing nature, caunot bring beauty to
it The plainest chairs, the scantiest car
pet, the rudest furniture, become endeared
TO those who have lived, loved, and reioiccd
in their presence. There is yonder cradle,
shaped Of coarse plank, rudely fastened, i'll
proportioned, and clumsy. But a mother
has in that cradle rocked all her children
In her eyes it has taken something of beau
ty from every child. 1t gloWs with memor-
les fresher than all the colorE which wealth
can wrap around crib or cradle. Its very
rudeness and its noisy rockers have become
pleasant to her fancy.
a contented disposition, an afFcctionate
heart, a fruitful fancy, pure aud gentle
taste, will make wilderness bud and bios
som as the rose.
II Que is poor in pocket, there is he more
need that he be rich in heart If one can.
not hire the architect nor fee the upholster-
or, let him all the more use his own thoughts
as builders, and from the loon within draw
our patterns rarer and daintier than are ever
woven IN foreign factories. His dwelling
cannot be unfinished or homely who is him
self well furnisheda ami beautiful within N.
J Js71or