The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-11-13
The Ohildless Home.

The Ohildless Home.
Many newly-married people consider
ehildlessness a peculiarly fortunate cir
eumstanee. Itrelieves them from many
cares annoyances and veXatiOns. 1t
abolishes the nurse, sIeepless nights,
good Mrs. Winslow, and the cradle. It
gives opportunity for parties, balls, the
opera, and sundry trips to the noun
talns and sea-shore, which would be ex-
ceedingly incOnvenient if a little
trouble-maker had to be taken along or
left behind. There is nobody to litter
the floors, turn the show-articles upside
down, aad make confusion generally;
and there are no sobs nor squalls, which
those may call "musie" who have an
ear for such sounds, which our childless
people have not. And then, the land
lords are always so civil when they are
told, mo children" that is the "open
sesamen to any desirable suite of apart
ments or love Of a cottage. Indeed,
many of our newly-married folks look
upon no children as the universal pana-
cea for the ills of life, aud the infallible
recipe for eonnubial, and indeed all
other happiness.
But after awhile the brightest and
most engaging couples tire of receptions,
theaters, concerts, and the like. The
appetite for excitement becomes stated.
The relish for artificial enjOyments gets
cloyed. The desire for comfort and
quiet takes the place of the feverish
craving for active pleasures. To sit
down at home over an entertaining
book; to break the mOnotoDy OF an
evening by a pleasant chit-ehat, few
touches of music, or an amusing gamei
to be warned off to bed by velvet-footed
L. a,,1 fll-
ing the fancy with drOwsy delights
these things invariably come in time.
And then comes a yearning for some
thing the heart has not, looking for
what the room does not contain, feel
ing after what no provision has been
made for. But the cradle does not
come. The aversion to care, infantile
cries, and confusious of all sorts, has be-
come chronic; but little Two Shoes is
tyrant, and wherever he sets up his
small despotism, insists that the flaws
of disorder shall prevail. The desire for
somebody TO pet, and play with, and
dote upon, grows to a hunger, which,
alas, does not feed itself, and only gives
way to the more painful need OF that
sympathy, affection, friendship, solace
and support which none but child can
supply. There may be wealth; yet who
but a child shall keep at bay that great
brood of vultures and cormorants which
peck remorselessly at the life of whoever
has a purse? There may be social posi-
tion, and even fame; but how empty
and barren are all honOrs that must dis
solve with the breath of their wearer
The home may be a palace; but its
splendid halls will be cold and cheerless
as the fOrecOurt of a sepulchre, if they
are not made the portals of heaven by
the prattfe, the merry laugh, and inno-
cent hilarity of children, through whom
the Divine Paternity bestows perennial
youth, and hope, and earthly immor-
tality upon parents here.
OF all cheerless, unnatural places in
the world, childless home is quite the
most uncomfortable. There is some
thing oppressive in its vacancy. Its
stiffness is sitting. The heart faints
and cries for what is not there. The
home into which the Great Father has
once placed one of His little ones, for
however short stay, is transformed by
that visitation, and can never lose the
charm of that mysterious coming, nor
the light that streamed through the door
of the noiseless departure. That door is
open, and no hand can shut it; and Just
on the other side the unseen child en-
cages in gambolS, or is busted with
/ tasks, which it needs but little imagi-
nation, blended with faith for parents
heart, to bear. No home can ever be
| the same again into which one immor-
/ tai being rose to conscious life, and saw
I q heaven of love in mothers eyes,
/ Birth is the great sacrament. But the
home that has had no such baptism,
cold, dull, and dreary is it at the best,
with none of the poetry of life in it, no
| legends of angels trailing about it, and
no star shining over it to indicate that
| it is favored of Heaven.-GOLden Age.
The Lakeside lN[ich.l Peatster. Of Oct.