Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-05-01
HOMEIIFE IN AMERICA.

II Is the habit of old people to cry
down the present, and cry up the past.
sit was different when we were young /
they say land ii was BETTER" they
generally add. The old time is always /
the good time, with the old. and, we |
suppose, always will be. The poets I
have done much to bring about this .
opinion, for they are never weary Of /
singing about 1.-THE days that are no 4
mere.n II was so in Greece and Rome,
and it was so in England, "when this
old cap was newt everything was as I
1t should be; and every virtue under .
the sun was impersonated in 1.-The /
Queen's Old Courtier," and "Fine /
Old English Gentleman 1t was a /
pity that these worthless had to die |
before their virtues could befound out |
but they had to all the same. We do |
not agree with the poets in this mat
ter, and never shall. But we are will |
ling to agree with them, If they will |
agrs with us. We will admit that
the old time is the best time, but they
must admit that no time is so old as
the present time. 1t is the fact,
whether they admit it or not, and 1t
follows; therefore, that 1t is the best
time. And IL ought to be; for peoples,
like persons, "live and learn We're
it otherwise, all the battles that have
been lost and won, all the great men
that have lived and died-eveTything
in short, that was, and is not, would
have been to no purpose. 1t Is the
crab that walks baekward-nOt man.
The race advances; it does not recede.
Not to philUsophise on so evident
truism, however, let US look a little
into the simple matter Of home life
Forty, thirty, twenty years ago, the
Home Life Of America was very diff
ferent from what It is to-day. 1t was
less expensive, and it was less COM
Portable. The man Of average means
lived within his means, but it was at
the sacrifice of something. He did
not deny himself the creature COM
forts" but he denied himself the lux
ury Of books; and his wife and daugh-
ters the luxury of dress. Fifty calico
dresses were worn then where one is
worn now; while books which run
through twenty editions, were long
time then in creeping through one
Whether there are not too many books,
and too few calico dresses, now, Is not
the question; it is the fact which we
are considering. Thirty years ago
the cost of a good brick house, in a
pleasant city street, was about equal
TO the yearly rental of such a house
now: at any rate not much greater
To be sure, there were draw backs to
those houses. which no longer exist.
We have ventilation where We had
none. we are warm where we were
cold; in other words, we have comfort
where we had discomfort. This has
cost us something, but It is worth what
| it has cost us. Who will, may wish
back the close chambers, the windy
I,assa0e-wsys, the hard, black hair
cloth sofas of forty years ago. We
Would as soon wish back the uncar-
peted floors, and. the wooden settles Of
our ancestors. These were good
enough, perhaps, for the old time, but
they are not good enough for the older
time. We have lived-and learned
"There isno royal road to learning"
is an old axiom, but the average
American will not be convinced Of the
truth of il. 1t is hard to convince him
of the truth of any thing, when it is
to his interest to believe to the con-
trary. He can find, or make, royal
roads anywhere. And he does, though
many of them are paved with any
thing but good intentions. Get rich,
nv son, get rich, honestly If you can;
if not-get rieh." 1t was nota French
man who said this, although one might
think so, bpt a member of the plain
speaking seet-the Quakers. The
average American does not speak out
in meaning,n he Is too smart for that
-he merely puts his intention in
practice. It is not so much his fault,
perhaps, as the fault of the period,
that he makes haste to grow rieh.-
Everybody does so. The standard OF
morals is no longer what It was
Many things have eOnspired OF late,
TO change il; among others the success
which follows those who violate 1t
most audaciously. 1t is no matter
how they get rich-if they only get
rich enough!
HPlate sin in gold
And the strong lance Of Justice heartless
breaks.
Arm IN rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it."
The passion Of America to-day, is
the passion for wealth, and its weak
ness is the weakness for display. Both
are bad, no doubt, from q moral point
of view; still, both are productive Of
good. But for the first we should be
content, as we once were, with stage
coaches and sailing packets, and but
for the last we should be content with
the old, worn-out homes OF our anees-
tors. Now we are content with neith-
er. The change which has come over
us in regard 70 our hOme-life, is an
evidence that we have gTown-We
will not say more cultivated or more
refined (for that would sound more
offensive) but more cosmopolitan. We
are not merely Americans, we are eiti-
zens of the world. We have learned
something by our travel. To be sure,
we are laughed at abroad, especially
for our extravagance, but let those
laugh who win. They do not laugh
in London over the rare books which
we purchase for our libraries; nor do
they laugh in Paris over the pictures
which we purchase for our galleries.
We bring back more than we take
away. This is nowhere so apparent
as in many American homes. 10 Is
not merely that the walls which were
once bare are now crowded with pic
lures, nor that the rooms which were
called libraries now contain books; it
is in the general air of elegance and
refinement, which pervades the whole
household, and which, in itself, IS
liberal edncation.-FTOH the Atdfne