The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-05-03
IL II . b u It ltu.
Cheerfulness in the Household.

Every evening, when the sun sinks in the
West, and the light of lamps or gas is needed
to enable us to continue our employments,
hundreds of thousands of busy men cease
from labor and turn their steps homeward
To the women of the family, this return of
father, husband, or brother is one of the
events of the day; but how diverse the in
huence these workers bring with them, and
how varied the reception with which they
are met If it were possible to lay aside
business annoyances with our hats and coats
when we enter our homes, how we would re-
ioice to be within that charmed enclosure !
And yet thus it should be. Life is a battle,
of course, and those who bear their part in
it must expect to give and receive blows;
but even professional soldiers do not fight
without cessation, and the doughtiest war
rior must have some breathing spell when he
can lay aside his armor. Home may be
made a sanctuary, to which we can flee when
sorely pressed by the rude assaults of trou-
bic and disaster, and from which we may is
sue refreshed and strengthened; but it is too
often just the opposite.
When John arrives at home, he expects
his dinner at once, and good one too, for
has he not been working all day to earn
money enough to pay the bills? AS he is
tired and hungry, he has no pleasant word
for any body; but if the food is under-done,
or over done, or does not suit his taste, or is
lacking in quantity, how he does scold !
Susan, for her part, has had hard day of
it, The baby kept her awake a good deal
last night, and has been very fretful during
the day, refusing to be quiet unless on moth
ers knee. Like many American women, she
is excessively nervous, and after such try
ing day as she has passed, Johns indiffer-
ence and scolding are little more than she
can stand. So she answers him sharply,
word for word, and the result of the angry
contest is that each passes dreary evening,
and finally they retire to rest, wondering
why the world is so full of trouble, and why
they were such fools as to get married.
There are, however, other people who live
very differently. Harry means to extract
happiness from life, and does. He likes a
good meal as we'll as any body, but he is as
reasonable before breakfast as he is after it;
and if perchance his dinner is not to his lik-
ing, he does not vent his spleen on Jane, his
wife. He carries sunshine with him wher-
ever he goes; and as he always tries to make
the best of circumstances, he is welcome
wherever he goes, and nowhere more so than
in his own home Would there were more like
him, so that there might be less sad-eyed
women and more cheerful, sweet-tempered
wives; that there might be fewer men who
prefer the club, the counting-room, or almost
any place to their own homes, so called
1t would perhaps be unfair to select any
class of men or women as particularly neg
lecting cheerfulness at home, and yet we
think farmers, as a class, fail to appreciate
its Importance. They have their frolics and
enjoyments, to be sure, but the average
American farmer is hardly to be called
jolly or even. cheerful parsonage In the
busy season, he rises with the lark, trudges
all day as faithfully and often more labo-
riously than his team, so that when night
comesSall the snap and spring is out of him.
He does not make any effort to interest his
WIG III CONVERSATION aC uedI-Ilneoj hui size
him; and if when the day is over, she has
any troubles to talk over, he is too tired to
be very sympathetic and attentive. So they
plod along, living humdrum sort of life,
which their bright children mentally resolve
to avoid by going to the city. All farmers,
it is true, do not live so, but many of them
do, and that is one reason why SO many
farmers wives break down. They have too
much work and too little cheerfulness, ard
it is more than they or any body else can
stand
A cheerful household, however, is peculiar
neither to the city nor country. 1t is found
where those who reside beneath the same
roof recognize the obligation of each to con-
tribute to the happiness of all the rest, and
where love is the ruling spirit. A deter
mined effort, coupled with much forbearance,
is necessary to produce this result but when
ONCE it has been attained, it will repay every
effort, and the home thus graced by cheer
fulness and love will ever be cherished as in
deed "the dearest spot on earth"