Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-01-05
T co UNTRT
HOMES.

EAISe
There is no place like home. How tru,
is that trite expression. Many things ado
to the charm and attractiveness of home
Other things being equal, the more beau
tiful the surroundings the more attractive
is a home. There is spiritual power il
natural beauty. How true the sentiment
"a thing of beauty is a joy forever" Love
of the beautiful is natural to all. In some
it is cultivated with care and grows ~
in the midst of beautiful surrounding.
generally manifest more d~elicacy of taste
than those differently circumstanced. A
Christian philosophy would say "Make
every home az beautiful as possible
Much can be done in identifying the
| grounds of a homestead at a very little
expense. Only let good sense and Il little
experience direct in the o-rnamentation,
and one would be surpri ed at the improve
ment made at SO trifiing u cost.
In proportion as taste Is cultivated and
as real refinement increases, thence will be
a corresponding desire to spread the beau
ties of nature around our homes. One
can judge very correctly of the taste of a
man by the surroundings of his house and
of the refinement of a woman by the in
side arrangements Of her home. There is
one exception. We are all creatures of
imitation, and sometimes the good taste
of one may be copied by another, simply
to be thought well of or to be in the fash
ion. Thereby good copyists often get
more credit for taste and refinement than
they really deserve.
In the progress Of society and of indi-
viduals the time sooner or later when
a desire manifests itselfto beautify the
homestead-to make the fence, the gate,
the house, the yard. everything in fact
more beautiful. Religion as we'll as fine
taste prompts to this. 1t is a good indi-
cation in any family, a regular Godsend
to the tender minds who are yet to receive
their lasting impressions.
When this desire to beautify home ap-
pears there is frequently an embarrassment
attending it, a want of understanding how
to proceed to accomplish what is desired.
There is no experience in the work-there
are no models suited to the case at hand.
Often first efforts are unsatisfactory, some
times failures. This discourages and the
parties often live on, below their real
standard perhaps to the end of life unsat-
isfed with the outward expression Of their
taste. There are many such people in the
world.
For the benefit of this class Of persons
we would call their attention to a book re-
Gently published by Orange Judd & Co..
of New York. 1t is entitled ''Beautify-
ing Country Homes Hand Book on
Landscape Gardening" All needful d.
r%ections for laying out the grounds. and
the walks, arranging fruit trees and orna-
mental trees, hedges. s~hrubbcry &c, all are
here given with abundant practical Illus
t~rations ofhomes already improved, whore
taste has been successful. To this class
of persons for whom it is prepared, this
will prove a very useful book, and will
save the purchaser ten times the cost of
the work. The term splendid as well as
beautiful and useful may with great pro-
priety be applied to it. There are twen-
ty three large plates, splendid in every
sense of the term. nearly half of them COW
ering two folio pages, giving plans of some
of the most beautiful country homes in
America. All East Tennessee. with such
taste displayed might be made as beauti-
full as a paradise. No country in Ameri-
ca of equal extent has SO many natural ia
%cilities for beautiful homes as East Ten
nesse, and there is no climate superior to
this in the world. Many of the well to do
people have already commenced to beau
tifv their homes-what is most necessary
now is to have this work lone according to
the most approved rules of the art. Beau
tv has it's laws as fixed as were the laws
of the Modes and Persians, and some safe
guide is needed in every step of the work /;
that guide is supplied by this book which
we could wish might be in every house
hold and exert there its full amount of in
huence.