The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-09-21
Dull Homes in Bright Places.

When live in the country, the front
door of my house shall be made for use,
and not for show and the blinds and
windows shall be thrown wide open from
sunrise until sunset; and l will issue in
vitations to the bees and birds and butter
flies TO come in and out at their own con-
venience, without fear of molestation from
me, or of danger to my furniture or be-
longings. If a few mosquitoes follow
suit, l will accept them as necessary
evil, and not to be compared, in the way
Of annoyance, with that air of sepulchral
gloom which, like a wet blanket of mist,
surrounds the exterior Of most country
dwellings, where the men, women, and
children skulk round like burglars to the
back of the house to effect an entrance,
and the closed door and blinds are sug-
gestive of corpse awaiting burial. And
yet think l understand how this bad
custom came about. 1t was from many
babies and much darning and baking, and
the dread of impending Hy-specks on the
gilt frame encircling General Washing
ton and the looking-glass. But, dear
friends, put mahogany frame round the
General, and Danish the looking-glass
which will in a few yours, if you neglect
all that makes home cheerful, reflect only
the imprint Of lfe's cares, instead of its
pleasures and contents. "7Hey are so
very few" you say. Well, then the more
necessity for letting in the sunshine. AS
l walk about, | notice the careworn, pal
lid faces of the wives and mothers about
many of these country homes, and the
careless untidiness of dress which, in a
woman, means that she has given the
whole thing up, either from overwork or
lack of sympathy from the one person
for whom the shining hair was once neat
ly combed and the strip of white collar
carefully pinned, although it might be
late in the day before time was found to
do these things. When l see these wo-
men at nightfall, in this neglectful dress,
sitting alone upon the back doorstep,
while the husband and father has strolled
off to some neighbours, and lies fat on his
stomach on the grass, with half dozen
other husbands and fathers, browsing
like so many cattle, without thought Of
those weary women, fall to thinking
how much life would bo worth to mo re-
duced to this utilitarian standard of COW
and cabbage. Then | wonder if those
women were to throw open the blinds and
doors and windows of the front of the
house, and smooth their hair bit, and
let ono of the children pick some grasses
and wild flowers for the mantel, and then
tell their respective Johns and Toms to
bring into the house the men they like to
talk to at that hour,so that they all could
be jolly together, whether it wouldn't
change things for the better. If that
plan didn't work, do you know what |
would do2 | would shoulder my baby,
and trot down the road to the nearest
neighbours and let the old coffin ola house
take care ofitself. | ,0oulinl rust any,
how. .. .,.i ...
Now, it may be that these women
wouldn't know how miserable they were,
if | didn't tell them of it, So much the
worse, then. | only know that if life
were all oah to me, it should go hard but
l would try to to catch sunbeam now
and then, 1T were only that the children
might not be demoralized by growing up
to look at me in the light ola dray-horse;
if it were only that my boys need not ex-
peet their wives to close their eyes and
ears to the beauty and harmony which
God has scattered SO lavishly about them.
Because there are rocks, shall there be no
roses? Because there is dust, shall there
be no dew2 ..
DO you do well, my sisters to make
your houses so gloomy that your husbands
would rather roost outside upon the stone
fences, than stay in them Don't Aare
a "best carpet" don't haze ''best carpet"
Let in the sun, and the birds, and the
children, though it involve bare floors and
wooden chairs, and the total Punishment
of glass. Em in your "best parlor," and
laugh in it; don't save it up to be laid
out in Try it now, and see if life isn't
a different thing to you all As to your
''work." great deal of it is unnecessary
John and the children would be much bet
ter without pies, cakes, doughnuts.
Make it your religion to give them whole
,ome bread and meat. and then stop and
AXE little breath. Nobody will thank
tou for turning yourself into a machine.
When you drop in your tracks, they will
ust shovel the earth over you, and get
Ierusha Ann SOMEBODY to step into your
hoes. They wont cry bit. You new
n stopped to say word to them except