The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1875-12-02
they knew of the far away spleEdors OF
the armament. They were strangers to

hem. But now, and here, 10 This origin
ERA, and under these happy conditions,
Taste is on a mission for the people. It
is to educate, purify refine. Il is to 90
its work no longer for the palace and
temple, buta far higher and holier place
than those the home. Good taste will
teach the possessor of even the smallest
farm how to improve its capacities for
to the best advantage;
and if this good taste is joined, as i'll
should always and. may always be. to
good practical judgment, he will be able
to do this. SO as to repay in the increased
value of the property most literally for
all the time and labor spent upon il.
Every farm, even on our most level pral-
ries may by good management be made
in few years into charming picture
and those more broken, whether into the
rugged knobs or our high woodlands,
or the grand, rolling sweeps Of our
river valleys. may each be formed into =
landscape of surprising loneliness.
Landscape gardening, in all its elaborate
and expensive features, is possible only
to the wealthy few and the neighbor-
hood of large cities, But its rudimenta-
ry principles may be most profitably
studied and applied by him who on the
remotest border has but q little home
stead to adorn. Isay profitably, because
/ hold what your experience will en-
dorse, that aside from the advantage |
have insisted on, the attractive farm will
sell for enough more than the ugly one
Of equal capacity, to reward the effort.
And the benefits do not even stop here;
u vacant hundred acres of land surroun-
ded by highly improved farms, will
command double the price Of one
equally good. lying in the midst of
neighborhood cursed by the dry rot OF
cold and stupid shiftlessness.
This exterior adornment of the home
although it may be inspired by selfish
desire for an enhanced pecuniary value,
yet has in it an element of generosity.
in that it operates for the pleasure Of
others than the owner. All who can see
may enjoy, and thus its beauty becomes
the common heritage Of many. and ex-
erts its beniicent influence on the null
titude. But the inner sanctuary Of the
home, the living. working, sleeping
rooms Of the family, also claim their
share Of attraction. The development
and cultivation of the interior beauties
OF the household is peculiarly the work
and duty Of tho woman. Let her first
develop and cultivate the sentiment Of
beauty in her own soul, and good taste
will preside in her arrangements, 90 that
with little or no added expense her home
will change from den Of confusion and
disorder into very fairy bower Of love-
illness. Study harmony Of colors. neat
ness of design, gracefulness Of position.
Banish gaudiness, coarseness, stiffness,
above all Danish dirt. Let the walls,
the curtains, the carpets. the covering Of
furniture harmonize or contrast, and
buy each new article with especial ret
erence to the color and shape Of the old.
Buy no water colored daubs 10 hang up
on your walls and deface taem but save
your money for . tasteful chrome or .
neat engraving, that will be welcome
guest in your household. Good taste
and not wealth is the touchstone of beau
tifying the interior of the home. Taste.
with wealth. or without it, is refining,
enobling, elevating power. reaching be.
yond the material, the physical, the tenn
porary, to the intellectual. the social. the
moral, the eternal. The mission is to
refine and purify to exercise from the
disposition the low thought, the vulgar
purpose; to shackle the will and curb
the temper to lash back to their ken
nels the ours of envy and detraction.
Ii is this moral quality Of good taste,
and this moral influence of beautiful sur
rouudings, which after all makes the
lessons have tried to read worth learn
ing. The breadth Of this influence. and
the crowding necessity for its exercise.
in these days OF threatened peril from
dishonesty and corruption, makes the
the subject well worthy the considera-
ton of the statesman and the publicis,,
and elevates it into position Of national
importance. We are proud to point out
the indicat; ons Of splendid future for
country. The races Of people who
founded it and have built it up, are the
interiors Of the best blood, the best en-
ergies, and the best principles Of all pre-
ceeding time, The continent on which
we live, By its climate and con6guration.
its soil and products, its agricultural and
mineral resources. is fitted for the thea
ter in which are to be grandly worked out
all the magnificent possibilities Of hu-
mainly. But We are warned BY the
crumbling ruins Of the past. that nation
al existence depends on individual intel
lipence and purity. We are standing
upon . craggy moral height, but the
plain beneath rs is piled with broken
temples. and the storms that shattered
them are raging around Us still. Out Of
the mute desOlation in which they were
entombed stand forth the gaunt skeletons
Of Babylon and Corinsh; the blistered
monoliths Thebes and KArnak. the ashy
palaces Of Pompeii; the open sepulchers
Of Palstar amongst the roses; the pros
trate shrines Of Tarnath on the Oranges !;
the fallen cromlecees Of StOnehenge ;
the broken iacades Of Uxmal-even the
rounded hillocks along our western river
bluffs, relics Of N older, perhaps .
broader civilization than ours, which On
our own battlefield ofGestysburg fought