The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-12-19
The Decoy of HOnse Feeling.

The following extracts are taken from an ad-
mirably written article in the New York Meth
oltst on modern customs and especially the |
boarding house system, which is fast destroy
ing all the old time memories and hailo"ed
associations of "Home, sweet Home:
"Greed and craving tor excitement are TAX |
ing the place cJ the domestic affection and at
: tE'7tsT-l Il FOR it.Aoid Places Ms,ich o4ace
Our homes themselves are passing away. Pa
rents chafe at being left alone, and remove to
join their children, or sell the old place and go
to town to live. The homestead, in the hands
of strangers, is no longer home the new place
never gets SO uatural:z :zed as to seem home.
Speculation invades the neghborhood which
had been given up to queG and domestlclty
Railroads and manufactures come along, trade
arises, property becomes valuable the farm is
cut up into building lots, the house is torn
down, or turned into shop or tenement. How
many hearts have been wrenched from their
moorings by this process no one can estimate
1t is going on all the time at an acceeratlng
rate, and bids lair to set our whole native pop
ulation aGrift. We ;.alr alroady grown to re-
gard all our homes as articles of traffic. IT we
own house, it is only as a possession which
we may hold for year or two, ~ui sell at tAe
first offer of good price; but it is hardly ever
regarded longer as heart-tressure which is to
become identified with our life The custom
OF living in hotels and boarding houses, which
is growing fast, particularly in the cities, is a
further step downwards. Its tendency is to
extnguish the last spark of domesticity.
Happily, influences are at work to counter
act the spread of the decay at home. Great at
tention has been paid within the last few years
to the collection and preservation Of memorials
Of the early settlement aud early families of
the country. The smallest scraps Ofdocument,
history, or remins nscence are carefully sought
oat and treasured up. Numerous local histor
ical societies make these subjects their espe-
cial care, and are diffusing an interest in it.
Genealogical societies and bureaus, especial
ly devoted TO the collection OF family memo
rails are meeting with mach encouragement
and success. Several valuable works have
been published through these instrumentali-
ties, which have much more than merely in
dvidual or local interest. A pleasant fashion
is growing up of holding family gatherings, TO
which all persons of a common name, or who
can trace their descent to a common ancestor,
are invited. Calls for such meetings are be-
coming quite numerous; we have Seen accounts
of several of them, from which they appear to
have been occasions of genuine rational en-
joyment. These researches and these meetings
| are needful and wholesome in the present con.
! 7tias- of Our society. Tkeir in6uelne is ta
draw back the hearts of our scattered peopeto
the oldvmemories, to cultivate fellowship and
the affection of kindred among those who were
becoming too fast estranged from each other.
| The value OF family ties in keeping our huge
country together can never be sufficiently es-
| timated."