, 1875-07-31
Reauttfying Orr Hames

heaultfyfHg Our Homes.
Following is an essay read by Mrs.
L. W. Walker, of Chileno Valley, be.
fore the Petaluma Grange, June l2,
1875:
The first home our Heavenly Father
gave his earthly children was the Gar
den of Eden-a paradise of loveliness
and beauty. He planted the garden
with HE own hand and word. Along
the shaded walks and winding streams
he set the fruitful trees and hun. the
climbing vines, beautiful flowers of
every variety of shape and tint 70
please the eye, and fruits of richest
flavor to crafty the taste and satisfy
for food. Birds sang their sweetest
melodies among the branches of the
trees, and all came with beauty and
/ song 10 adorn their garden home.
/ Where our bOuntiful Father has done
50 much should we not do our little to
beautlty and make attractive the littTs
spot we call our own, where the most
OF our days are spent, and where we
expect our happiness to be complete if
anywhere on earth ? There is moth
ing that rises so near the heavenly as
the hOme-the household, father and
mother, brothers and siSters-the ties
of kindred and friends that bind Us to
each other. Nowhere can we find SO
much unSuliied comfort and enjoy
ment aS in the calm retreat of home.
" Hid pleasures and palaces though we MAJ
roam,
Re It e7er so humble there's no place like
home
IT'S the scene of our earliest recol-
lectlOns and our last earthly rest and
comfort, and ever through life no land
50 dear, no skies so fair, as our child
hoods home. 1t should ever be a
heaven of refuge for the careworn hus-
band, aud a temple of peace for the
gentle, loving wife. A pleasant, hap
py, refined home makes nobler men
and women, and weaves an influence
that is never forgotten. II need not
be in artificial splendor, in costly paint.
ings and statuary, that wealth alone
can buy; but the quiet, simple adorn-
ments where love and peace are found,
where order and harmony reign su-
preme.
We can all enjoy, every day, some
beautiful flower reared by our own
hand and set in our own windows
pleasure and delight TO all. Flowers
are called the children of paradise
they came forth with man 10 win him
back to innocence, by their Ioyeliness
and purity; they are the most fitting
emblems TO adorn the brow of beauty
the bride in her loveliness, the Joy
ous in festivity. They cheer the dark
hours in the chamber of the sick, and
fill the heart with gratitude and trust;
ami they beautify the resting place of
the dead with the most expressive
symbols of life and immortality.
Every returning spring brings them
forth again, with new life and beauty.
VIII not He who thus clothes with
glory the lilly, which is but for a day,
much more clOthe us with immortal
beauty. whose years, like His own, are
eternal?
And so also with trees. 1t was as
much the design to give them grace
ful forms TO please the taste for the
beautiful as it was to load them with
delicious fruit for food. There is
almost companiOnable IN
tree; they endear our homes with
many pleasant memories. With what
pleasure We remember some favorite,
cherished tree that extended its shell
tering arms over US in years gone by.
'Tis the thought of hone, with its
thousand pleasing associations, that
guards and keeps the wanderer from
its loved circle from temptation, from
evil and from wrong; tits the beacon
star that is ever before him.
81 Tis the charm of his childhood, the light of
his home,
That blinds him and keeps him where'er he
may roam;
IT'S The voice Of its spirit, so calm and so
still,
That teaches him honor and shields him from
i'll
Then well love our dear homes, though
times flowing wave
Is evermore bearing us on to the grave;
Its hopes and its joys like green islands shall
be,
Md the surging OF Lies tempestuous rea;
And when from on high the blest 5Ummons
shall come,
Our watchword from earth skan be, Heaven
and home"