Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-10-09
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y..ss.......- s. ing. ...., 81. .ss.s. -.

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i. -. tss,,......-. ing. Ill.,. :~."et.'
The trGeet homes arc often ia houses
not especially well Kept, where the COM
fort and happiness of the inmates, rath-
er than the preservation of the furniture
is first consulted, Tile object of home
is to be the center, the point Of tender
est interest, the pivot on which family
life turns; The first requisite IS to make
it attractive, so attractive that none of
it's inmates shall care to linger long out
side its limits. All legitimate means
should be employed to this end, and no
effort spared that can contribute TO the
purpose Many houses called homes,
kept with waXy neatness by painstak-
ing, anxious women, are so oppressive
in their nicely as to exclude all home
feeling from their Spotless precincts.
The very name of home is synonymous
with personal freedom and relaxation
from care. But neither of these can be
felt where such a mania for external
cleanliness pervades the household as TO
render everything else subseryient there
to- Many housewives, il they see a
speck on floor or wall, or even scrap
of thread or bit of paper on the floor,
rush AT IL, us IL IL were lIlt sNGNl III ItGb-
thence which must be removed on the
instant. Their temper denends upon
their maintenance of perfect purity and
order If there be any failure on their
part, or any combination of circum-
stances against them, they fall into a
pathetic despair, and can hardly be lift
ed out. They do not see that cheerful
ness is more needful to home than all
Al. IcE ~,
disposition to wage war upon maculate-
ness of any sort increases until they be-
come slaves of the broom and dust-pan.
Neatness is one thing, and state of
perpetual house-cleaning quite another.
Out of this grows by degrees the feel
ing that certain things and apartments
are too good for daily use. Hence,
chair and sofas are covered, and rooms
shut up, save for special occasions, when
they are permitted to reveal their yiolat-
ed saeredness in manner that mars
every pretense of hospitality. Nothing
should be bought which is considered
too fine for the fullest domestic appro-
priation. Far better is the plainest fur
niture, on which the children can climb,
than satin and damask which must be
viewed with reverence. Where any
thing is reserved or secluded, to disguise
the fact is extremely difficult. A chilly
air wraps it round, and the repulsion of
strangeness is experienced by the most
insensible.
There are few persons who have not
visited houses where they have been in
troduced to what is known as the COM
pany parlor. They must remember how
uncomfortable they were while sitting
in it; how they found it almost impos-
sible 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 entertainment of friends became
very much like a social discipline. They
must recall, too, how sweet the fresh
air seemed out-of-doors, and how they
inwardly vowed, in leaving that temple
of form and fidgetiness, that something
more than politeness would be required
to incite them to return.
Home is not a name, nor a form, nor
a routine. 1t is spirit, a presence, a
principle. Material and method will
not; and cannot make it. 1t must get
its light and sweetness from those who
inhabit it, from flowers and sunshine,
from the sympathetic natures which, in
their exercise of sympathy, can lay
aside the tyranny of the broom and the
awful duty of endless scrubbing.-
'sHonae and Society, .Scribner's .tor Oc-
tOber. ...... u