The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-02-06
The Value of Beauty.

At recent agricultural meeting IN
Pennsylvania it was discussed whether IL
was worth while, from monetary polnt
of view, to ornament farm grounds. lt
is remarkable that, of the great number
of things discussed, no question, seemed
so very interesting. One would tn,nk
that such subject needed no discussion;
but when we drive through the country
and see so many farmhoLses not only
without beauty, but absolutely without
comfort-and even in defiance OF all
beauty, as if cheerless, miserable condl-
ton were actually preferable--it is clear
that the question was not at all a polntiess
one.
One speaker at that meeting put the
matter in practical light in this way:
If, he asked, we are buying apples in the
market, and have two samples before us
both large, both of equally excellent
flavor, both, in fact, precisely the same in
every respect, except that one Is Oh
green, uninviting tint, and the other red
and rosy-which do we take? Indeed,
there is in every breast a love OF beauty
and in many respects it is all we live for.
We like this world because it is beautiful
because the flowers bloom, the trees grow,
and the birds sing because our eyes, ears
and all our senses are pleased; and De
cause it is beauty that lends more than
all tlIcl tltnltllb liiOSt tlidi VI ii'S
which so delight us; and, whether we
are conscious of it or not, it enters largely
in all our calculations as to what we shall
buv and what we will own.
TO make our homes beautiful should be
the one object of our lives. The mere
making money is all very well. 1t is in
d, ed one of the virtues. He who is will
ing to work, and is anxions to make and
to save money by his hard labor, may
have vices but he is seldom so coarsely
bad as the shiftless spendthrift who, while
ridculing the saving habits of parents or
| friends, is yet willing to borrow from or
spend money for them But too often
these praisewortty, frugal, and saving
habits degenerate into rule of life, ana
very little happiness or good in any shape
results from the money made. A very
! little of these savings-a very little time
spent on beautifying ones home-put
new phase on existence; and we really
believe men would live an average of ten
years more than they do if they were to
say once in while "begone dull care" in
the mere matter of mouey-making, and
devote little time each day or so to max
ing a sort of Eden of their home and the
surroundings. But it is not so much of
the mere pleasure that we would speak.
There is actual money in beauty. As the
speaker above said of beautiful apple, so
it is of beautiful farm. AS general rule
a place in which taste is exhibited, and
everything is kept up in nice style, will
bring double that of one in which misery
and ruin rules complete. It's to be noted
however, that these pretty places are sell
dom for sale. Those who cultivate these
tasteful habits with the view of selling
their places in consequence Of improving
them, seem to thrive in every other way ;
and in time come to the conclusion that
they can afford it, and may as well enjoy
life in the midst of beautiful surroundings
as to sell out for other people to enjoy.
The Press