Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-02-08
Duty of Living at Home.
BY REV. DIR. RANKIN.

What is home? 1t is fabric of con
genial society, of the domestic affections
A man buys or rents house; does this
make home? He puts into it furni-
ture and pictures; does this make it
home He brings to preside in it, to
beautify it with her presence and Wo-
manly skill and taste, true and gentle
wife; does even this make it home 2
1t furnishes the outward condition OF
home Home is made up of the affec-
tionate society of husband and wife
perhaps, of grandparents in due time,
and as its very bloom and fragrance, of
children also. | believe in children.
1t is a community of interest to which
all parties contribute their appropriate
share. A husband, father, must live
at home in order to contribute his share.
A wife must live at home in order to
contribute her share. By living at home,
| mean more than taking two or three
meals day there. / mean the max
ing of the place where other members
of the family reside, the center of ones
social life, rotating around it, returning
to it the first opportunity, lingering low
ingly there, as long as other duties will
permit.
For this reason am against indulging
in anything there that cannot be enjoyed
socially.
do not believe in smoking, because
it is an extravagant habit. I do not be-
lieve in it again, because it is unsOcial-
unless a man is prepared to encourage
his wife and children in the sameindulg-
encies, as our Celtic citizens do. If
man is inclined to read, let him take
something he can read have read aloud.
If the children are present, let him cater
to their tastes and capacities. If the
children are absent, let him select with
reference to the common taste and pref
erence of himself and wife.
The opposite to this life at home is
club-rOom life, life at hotels, life at lee
lures, and soirees and concerts. There
can be no homes among our people with
out living at home, without sedulOusly
guarding the interests of home. The
home is the unit of social power, Of con-
sentative power, of purifying power in
our civilization. There is a rage for in
dividualism, as though to have the great
er number of individuals participate in
the election of officers. in the making
and execution of laws, We're about to
perfect our political system. My own
judgment is that we need to look more
after social centers of influence. The
men and women that will engage in the
effort to constitute and maintain true
homes, best of all, Christian homes.
will prove the greatest benefactOrs of
the nation and this can only be done
by living at home, by living in and for
those that have agreed with US to cOnsti-
tute this sacred community.
Some of the best husbands whom l
know have some one or more evenings
which they assign to home life. They
consider themselves engaged to spend
such allotted hours with their wives and
children. Why not? What claim or
engagement should interfere with it p
Moreover, these model husbands and
fathers are always inyenting topics. or
games, or occupations that shall make
the allotted time they spend at home as !
pleasant and instructive as possible
Why not? Should a man devote all his
genius to making money. or sermons, or /
lectures, or editorials, or inventions, and |
never try it on home life, on the nature /.
of his children, on the comfort of his F.
wife There are various opinions about I
what is the great question Of the day |.
think it is the home question. And /.
our homes are to decide the future of I
American civilization. Let Us look to /
them.
EVENINGS AT HOME.-Thcre is no /
breastwork against evil, and no school /
of virtue and moral worth like the good /
home. And the good home is not mere
" that which furnishes edible dinners
and we'll kept rooms and clean beds, but
that which furnishes most satisfaction,
and joy to all its inmates.
And evening is the only time when all
the members of the family circle meet
together, and can mingle in happy and
Joyous intercourse. The occasion should
be provided for as it usually is not Our
should take the hint from
those who furnish public entertainments
and lavish thought and ingenuity enough
upon the occasion to make il attractive
and delightful and satisfying, that every
member of the household will feel the
happier for it, and look forward to its
return with expectancy, and be beyond
he reach of the thousand temptations
o spend the evening hours elsewhere.
Exactly how this is to be done must be
by hOusekeepers for them
selves They have resources and inge-
luity enough. will they but once see the
of the thing, and set their ,
Wits at work to develop the hint into
| beautiful and joyous reality. We
10 not mean that everybody should spend I
very evening at home. Let there be
Ill profitable and entertaining going. Get
III the delight and good that plays and
concerts can afford Still it viii be
Ound that the great public entertain
nents often excite more than they de- ]
light or edifv. and, if often INDUCED in.
produce WEAKNESS and a dissipation /
worse than fatigue The evenings at
home furnish the fitting alternate and ,
contrast to these public entertainments.
md each Is enjoyed the more for the
,thcr And TO make the evenings at !
nome truly delightful. every resource Of
culture and art may be invoked. Why
lot have succession of evening enter
ailments. giving one 10 reading. anOth-
r to music, a third to conversation, &
'Ourth to drama and a fifth to miscella-
leous plays Why not import into the
home circle some Of the talent to amuse
md entertain and edify which lies all ,
bout waiting for the invitation: And !
What one family cannot do alone two or
hree together, can effect. We're our
,eOplc to spend a tenth part of the time
nd interest and means they now throw
way on worthless eXcitements and utter
rivolities, in making their homes truly
lelpful and happy, we should prevent
lalf the crimes and stop half the vices
# society at their source 0y7sn Age.
THE KANKAKEE CoMPANY.-Our read
rs will do well to read this Company's
advertisement in another column. offer {
ne for sale 5000, 600 worth of their 8 {
,er cent. gold bonds, at 80 and accrued
interest, payable in 1881. As we under t
tand it. the issue of these bonds-secur-
d by mortgage on all the valuable :
of the Company-is limited to !
900, 600 The property consists Of lands }