The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-26
THE VALUE OF HOME

Asa rule. the whole tone of home depends
upon the woman at the head of it; the aver
ag, home, not the overty-stricken one, nor
the wealthy one. In this average nome
whether sunshine shall enter the rooms,
VIE her the parlor shall be used and enjoyed,
VIII sther the table shall be invitingy spread,
whether the bright lights and bright nies
shall give warmth and cheerfulness on WIZ,
ter nights-whether, IN brief. the nome shali
be an agreeable or disagreeable place. Is usu-
ally az the womt.l determines. Men are pow
eriess in the matter. Some find solace for
dismal home in study; some, ccupation IN
business; some submit with wnat patience
they can; others are attracted by the CHEER VI
the tavern; and it is especially young uen
who are apt, ia consequence, 10 orlit inso oao
company and bad haoits. ~. re-
Perhaps the most critical period IN the lie
If yonne persons is when they leave the
home Of a parent to become, for several
vears. inmates of some other household.
There is no word that has such sweet. heart
thrilling music in its import as the simple,
vet meaning word, home, When roaming
far from our native home, in distant ana
strange land, among those who are strangers
to us. all many are the bright visions we
call up before our mind; and, as they pass 10
rapid succession before our ever-busy imagi-
nation, we can not help exclalmlng, Iheres
no place like home" What are the sunny
skies of Italy, where many OF the noblest and
greatest sons Of glory first drew their breath;
The vine-clad hills OF France, where clusters
of golden fruits grow in rich profusion, to
him whose heart yearns for the loved ones at
home, and whose prayers even now are
ascending to Heaven, with hope that he will
be spared 9 safe return to that sacred and
holy SPOT" where his best affections Irvine
with undying tenacity around his childhoods
home
There is magic power connected with the
name of home, that floods the mind with sad
or pleasing thoughts, and thrills the soul
with inexpressible emotions. How numerous
the objects OF interest which cluster round
the mind Every countenance, mother, hus-
band, wife, brothers, sisters, and children;
every room, picture, piece OF furniture, to-
gether with all the surroundings, the gardens,
walks, meadows, fields and pastures; the great
rock, the bubbling spring, the old WELL the
stately elm and grand oak; the orchard, too,
with its choice trees of pear, cherry, apple,
and plum. But these objects of fascination
are changing. Parents, husbands, wives,
brothers, sisters and children die. Happy
homes are broken up Tho who enjoy the
solsce of home to-day, may be tossed upon
lifes surging pillows tomorrow, pilgrims and
strangers. without friends or q home, sad,
lonely and detected.
The memory of home; the echo of the
songs of childhood; the vision OF the family
al ar, where once an unbroken band was shell
tered under the wing of divine protection,
and father, mother, sister, brother, now dead
or far away, sang the dear old heart-hymns
and Joined in the same prayer-all these and
vet more will revisit the soul, and keep alive
the heavenly spark early enkindled there.
Fathers and mothers think well Of your
responsibilities. A few years will make sad
changes in your homes. The bright and
gay throng Of children, that people your
house to-day, will soon emerge from child
hood. and 90 out from your presence to
the great battle of life. You have not
long to train them for the task. And
let it forever be borne in mind that
of all the schools, there is none like
the mother Her conduct lis ever before the
child as his example; her words are the seed
falling upon the virgin soil, and producing a
luxuriant harvest, either OF good or evil. Ii
is not in the power Of her instructions to
make him a great man, for that is generally
determined by law of, Providence; but, If
he inherit talents, she may add to virtue,
without which mere talent is splendid de.
formity. If be be destitute of extraordinary
gifts Of genius, the greater should be heI
efforts to develop, in their strongest growth,
such powers as he does possess; to teach him
the value Of industry, system, and perse.
yerance; above all, to Undue him with love to
man, 80 that, if he be not fitted to command,
he NAV learn to be useful citizen, good
man, honest in his dealings, charitable to the
poor, true to his friends, and forgiving to his
enemies
Such a character is worth more, to its pos
SCISSOR and to society, than the most exalted
intellectual endowments unaccompanied by
moral excellence. 1t will produce happiness
in the world, the respect and confidence Of
men, and be remembered in death, with love
and veneration.
Speaking of the value of good home, Hans
Christian Andersen, the eminent Danish
writer, said that his life was like beautiful
fairy tale and he was undoubtedly as happy
man as has lived. His success was 80 great
and so precisely adapted to his desires and
tenn perament that he tasted it all the way
down, rs his worldwide diocese of young
folks would have said. His father was kind
and tender soul, who had such strong poetic
susceptibilities himself that he filled his boy
mind and life with gentle fancies, and pre-
ferred to tell him fairy tales, and take him
when he could, to the theater-a delight to
which his slender purse was seldom equal
rather than to insist upon tasks and stuuies.
The child is father Of the man, and in this
instance the man, also, in the same sense was
father of the child. The father was shoe
maker, and his son says that be was not hap
py in his trade, as the son certainly would no
have been. The glimpse that we get of the
intercourse and relation of the parent and
child is very pleasing, and is just what tht
poet would have thought the proper relation
And since Heaven sends such children as i
will, and not such as parents might choose, il
is easy to imagine the intense delight of thu
elder Anderson in finding that his own secret
dreams and shy fancies were shared by thu
Younger, and that when he had done stitching
and stretching and hammering in the shop
he could stroll boundlessly in fairyland witt
his child. How strangely the picture Of tn
boy Andersen and his father contrasts will
that of John Stuart Mill and his father? AL
that either had was left out Of the childhood
of the other; and the impression OF Ander
sens whole life is as sunny and smiling ane
happy as that Of Mills is sober and almos
sad.
AN UNPARIoTIC PARAGRAPH. The Philadel
mia BuIetin has this statement: