Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1873-10-16
Home Keeping Versus House
Keeping.

The truest homes are often in houses
not especially well kept, where the
com fort and happiness of the inmates
rather than the preservation of the
furniture, is first consulted. The
ohIect of home is to be the cen ter, the
point Of tenGerest interests. the pivot
on which family life turns. The first
requisite is to make it attractivo-so
attractive that none of its inmates
shall care to linger long outside of its
limits. All legitimate means sbonIJ
be employed to this end, and no effort
spared that can cOntribu te to the pur
pose Many houses called homes.
Kept with waXy neatness by painstak
ing, anxious women. are so oppressive
in their nicely as to exclude all home
feelings from their spotles3 precincts.
The very name of homo is synony-
nous with personal freedom and re
taxation from care. But neither Of
these can be felt where such a mania
for external cleanliness pervades the
household as to render everything else
suhservicnt thereto. MANY house
wives, if they see q speck on the floor
or wall, Or even scrap of thread or
bit Of paper on the floor, rush at it as
if it were the seed Of pcstilence which
must be removed on the instant. Their
temper depends upon their maintcn-
ance OF perfect purity and order. III
there is any failure on their part, or
any combination of circumstances
against them, they fall into a pathetic
despair, and can hardly be lifted. They
do not see that cheerfulness is more
needful to home than all the spotIess.
ness that sver shone. Their disposi
ton to wage war upon maculatness of
any sort increases until they become
slaves Of the broom and The dust pan.
Neatness is one thing, and state of
perpetual house cleaning quite anoth
er.
Out of this grows by degrees the
feeling that the certain things and
apartments are too good for daily use.
Hence, chairs and sofas are covered.
and rooms SLUT up, save for special
occasions, when they are permitted to
reveal their violated sacredness in
manner that mars every pretense of
hospitality. Nothing should be bought
which is considered too fine for the
fullest domestic appropriation. Far
better is the plainest furniture, on
which the children can climb. than sat
in and damaslz which must be viewed
with reverence. Where anything is
reserved or secluded, to disguise the
tact is extremely difficult A chilly
air Wraps it round, and the repnlsion
OF strangeness is experienced by the
most insensihle. ~
There are few persons who have not
Visited houses where they have been
introduced to what is known as the
company parlor. They must remem
bor how uncomfortable they were
while sitting in It; how they found it
almost impossible to be at ease, and
mainly for the reason that their host
and hostess were not themselves at
ease. The children were watched with
| lynx eyes, lest they should displace or
soil something: so that the entertain
ments of friends became very much
| like a social discipline. They must re
call, too, haw sweet the fresh air
seemed out of doors, and how they
inwardlv vowed in leaving that tenn
thing more than politeness would be
required to intice them to return.
Home is not name, nor form.
nor routine 1t is a spirit, pres
ence, principle. Material and meth j
od will not, and cannot make it. 1t
must get its light and sweetness Of
those who inhabit it from flowers and
sunshine. from the sympathetic ma
lures which, in their exercises of sym
patlIy, can lay aside the tyranny of
the broom and the awful duty of end
! less scrubbing.