St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-05-12
Changing House.
AN AMERICAN MANIA.

~ mousse may not DC haunted by any
memories of great and famous men, and
still bc haunted 70 some purpose. 1t
may be haunted 10y the good and true of
our own kindred; and when | say that
will not he haunted cnough, mean that
we fit about 50 rapidly lrom place to
place, and our sacred associations are di-
vlded between so many habitations that
no one in particular has such store of
those, clln@in@ like tapestry TO its honor
cd walls, that it can wakcn in us any
profound emotion. When generation
after generation has lived under the
same roof, when birth and death, when
love and marriage, when weeping and
laughter, when toll and struggle, and
failure and success, have gone on year al
ter year, for many years together, weav-
ing the many-colorcd web of lfe's grcat
mystery, and when, with all this, our
own lives are inseparably interviewer,
then does the house become indeed haun-
tcd-hauntcd with memories ard aSsucia-
tons, with footsteps, forms. and faces
that are cone, it may be behind the veil.
it may be into some other sphere of NOR
tai Joy AMI sorrow. Then Is the house
saturated with life. Just rs the old
violiniSt believes that the music has rot
into his violin, that its wooden substance
has undergone some chemical or spirit
ual change, that makes it respond more
readily to his touch, 50 does the music
of life get into the very substance of old
their brick AMI mortar, and they ret
more and more responsive TO the tread
of well known fee, the sound of we'll
known voices. Happy are they who, in
these times of ''sourh and 90. when lie
is SO often Il movable feast, ii it i a feast,
at all, happy are they who live where
parents and grandparents lived before
them, AMI where the music OF their zen
tie aud harmonious lives. the fragrance
OF their picty aud holiness, still Iingcy and
make brighter and more beautiful the
llvciim. days.
These uprootim%S arc not pie r~ant.
They are sometimes painful i'll the ex-
trcmc. But we take root ar:Iim sooner
than W" ut first think possible. For all
the losses and dscomiorls, changing huu-
scs is not changing homes, One of the
mcdia'val wise men ar"ucd that il could
not be possible that the world went round
so fast as Cupcrnicus asserted for, if it
did, he said, Il bird flying in the opposite
Il I,..l
or, flying in the same direction, could
not keep up with it. OF course the an
swcr was that the carihs atmosphere
goes with the earth. just rs a tire goes
with a carriage wheel. Home is an at
moSphcrc. 1t is generated by the iami-
ly. 1t goes with the family wherever ii
goes. Those who imagine that a house
can generate Il home, are much mistaken
A house which costs half Il million dol
lars is rs powcrlcSs to do this rs Il log
cabin and though Iog cabin may be
the continent of Il much mere perfect
home than the most palatial residence,
the credit goes not 10 the cabin. 1t all
goes to the person who makes up the
family. The elements Of 4 home are
mutual love and reverence and helpful
ness, Il steady demand ON the part of
every member of the household for the
best life in every other, Il steady resolve
that what is thus demanded shall aS free
ly be bestowed.
l become more impressed every year
how little carpenters and cabinet makers
and upholsterers can do toward making
house homclike, and how easy it is
when they have done their best to lurn
it all to naught by some alterclap of
senselessncss or indiscreton. You all
know that the same house doesn't seem
the same with different occupants, and
that the difference is by no means diff
ference of expenditure. 1t may be only
Il difference of opening the blinds and
letting in Gods sunlight where before
was only chill and darkness and damp
ness and mould. have known houses
to be revoluiionizad and rejuvenated 10y
such 4 simple and costless expedicnt as
that.
So, then, although the home affects
the house, is it not less true on this ac-
count that changing houses is not chang
ing homes. have seen them transplant
ing trees in Prospect park; now careful
ly they 90 TO work ; how hard it is TO
transplant large tree successfully. But
the larger 4 home-not the larger in
numbers, but in spiritual capacity-the
easier it is to transplant it safely for,