Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1871-03-02
Miscellaneous.
Home and Homes.

There vas never yet really thoroughly
bsl man who was fond of home.
No one wants TO be told what home is.
To attempt to bring math ematies to bear
on such q dear old word. would be great
a barbarity as 10 seek TO analyse love by
the principles OF Euclid.
II seems n strange thing. but the men
who have been the best workers and the
best fighters have always been those who
loved them best.
The taste for more luxury Is a bad sign,
more over: a sign OF effcteness In a people,
10 say nothing worse; and folks nova
day can do without comforts ike very
>parians. but. like the Athenians in their
decline. they must have Injuries Still.
with all this rankness. thcre is one good
sign of the times, a sort OF earnest that the
meretriciousness is only an epidemic at
tack, out OF which we 81 all come like chill
dr.n from the measles, with no more than
a few marks. The good sign is the liking
for songs about home. We never had SO
many nor so good songs about home a. We
haze now. and they were never more pop
ular than at the present time.
think every man ought To lavish his
very utmost taste upon his home. 10 make
II the most pleasurable place TO him In the
world.
We win suppose your house stands you
for example. only In $50 year, and that
your wages are not more than $50 week.
You have no idea what 4 palace You may
make of your home II you give your u Ind
to scheming a little. There are flowers to
begin with. Flowers outside and carpen-
tering, you make your own tables and dres-
ser yourself as have mine, and have the
satisfaction of knowingly that they will
last you all your life; CD that they will be
cheaper that anything your means could
buy, that would be merely blown togeth-
er; 90 that they will always give you
pleasure to use as being your own work
and homely, not ''boughten" goods.
notice in your windows some half mus
lin blinds strung across the sash. They
didn't cost much, am aware, but they are
waste of money; they get ragged. need re-
placing, and don't answer the only purpose
they are intended for wiz. to look bright
and keep the window private) nearly SO
well as what will tell you. If you invest,
say fifteen cents In sugar Of lead, whiten-
ing, and oil, you ca n make as much CON-
position as will frost all the windows
in your house, and when II is half dry. you
can trace on II pattern with shard point
ed bit Of stick, and good patterns you can
get for nothing from the borders Of adyer-
tisement bills on the street, II You use
your eyes. You will like this better than
your muslin blinds IL costs a mere moth
ing 1t is cleanly, needs no renewing, and.
once done, there It is, as you say.
In the matters OF carpets. it seems to
me you very often make a mistake. You
buy bits of second-handed STUFF nom the
dealers, with all the wear worn out OF
them, or only the tear LEFT. you can't
afford new carpet, then have . bright
clean floor. There is great faliacy, OF
| which am afraid VIC are all more or less
the victims, We, one hasn't the heart to be
very severe about ii, because, no doubt, 1t
| proceeds at bottom from . feeling Of rever-
encs Tor home. l mean the fallacy Of those
| scarcely kept up rooms, 'sanctums' or
best parlors.' We none OF US live In them
or indeed ever use them except for the
| purpose Of impressing strangers that we
| live in twice the luxury We really do
Whether in mansion or cottage, they are
| generally closesmelling rooms, full Of nick
nacks and drawingroom stores more or
less moist sticky for want of handling. A
| paper ny catcher, . pink and yellow pag-
oda, is sure to depend from your ceiling,
and. very likely, from your window also !;
| in fact, from the attention you bestow on
the comfort Of the dies, and from their be-
ing the only living things that may he said
to in hibit your best roOm,' IL looks very
much as if you were obliged to provide the
room and the furniture for their exclusive
benefit. On your mantlethslf is sure to be
one of those very old pineback watches
made into q time-piece that never goes.
and never will until the two red and white
china dogs, by which it il guarded on
either side, begin to bark. On your side
board, whose bright red top put real Span.
ish mahogany to shame, is a tea-trs never
defled by cup or saucer; depicted on it, q
bird OF Paradise and a church, overshad-
owed by two fiowerpets.
will not rebuke your taste in tea-trays
and !teapots and roling-pins, kept solely
for show and not for use. because you are
the humblest offenders, and the least pre-.
tention In ornamental sham (your richer
neighbors are greater sinners than you
in this respect), and also because 1t raises
the whole question whether ANYTHING a,
all, not intended for some use, should con-
sistently be kept Is ornament, and this, !
am very much afraid, would prove toe
much. il argued out. fear it would sau
the very foundation Of the skeptup' parlor
system, and I shonld hesitate to bring In
Bill for the disestablishment OF best
rooms in the present, state Of opinion,
might pass the lords, but ] know the
ladies' would throw it out. I am, rather
anxious that we should avail ourselves OF
every method Of Frightening our houses
which the cheap arts Of our day place with.
in the means Of the poorest Of us with 1
home at all. No art can brighten home
like a glad smile-we all know that but
am not sure the smile won't be the glad.
der for seeing how little thought and
scheming can make the very wall seen to
| smile tn