Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1875-01-28
Color--What ItDoes for


There is q great lack in many of our
iYes--a want which we feel more than
see and which we can rarely express.
Sometimes 1t is the result of circum
stance, sometimes of habit and tradi-
ton, sometimes of honest, rugged,
downright principle. Whatever the
cause the results are nearly the same
life becomes dull or hard and always
monotonous to us. We may sigh for
a change, or we may look upon it sas
the Inevitable result of moral condi-
tions, and make up our minds to en-
dure it to the end ;sbut in any case it
is endurance only, it is not enjoy
ment
remember, some ten or twelve
years ago, cold, leaden atmosphere
which extended over at least two of
the Spring months. During the whole
of that time the snow lay upon the
ground, the sky was thick and gray,
the atmosphere dead apparently, for
no motion or lifting of that dull, dense
pail gave signs of life.
The wearied and long continued mo-
notony wasS terrific strain, upon the
nerves. "A litt1e more and if seemed as
if it wouldsdriv the whole world mad.
But one morning the sky broke, the
the sun shown through, some spears
of tender grass lifted their heads, a
small violet peeped out, and the earth
became at once another dwelling place :;
it sparkled in green and purple and
gold.
It is this awful Tigidness and neu-
trality which settles down upon so
many of our lives which kills or re-
duces US to apathy, and for which peO
pie not unfrequehtly take medicine,
drugs, when what they want is life,
color-color to break in on the dread
full coldness and torpor which are q
living death.
American men and women, espe-
cially the New England type, have G
tendency to neutral tints, which ex-
presses itself in all their beings and
doings and belongings, Pro badly il
was caught from their Puritan ances
tors, and has been rendered still more
marked as characteristic by the soil
and atmosphere in which they live.
tits none the less true, however,
that many beautiful natures have been
crushed by it; that it has been made {
religion, sort of gray, wooden god
which every one must bow down anC
worship. Whatever was not in ac
cordance with it was frivolous, ire
ligious, or in bad taste. Warmth anC
beauty and brightness were despiseC
as SO many temptations to effeminacy
and cOldness, hardness, rigid rules
severity, and discipline cultivated
plain houses, plain dress, plain furnl
ture, plain living, fixed and rigorous
habits of body and mind all well il
their way, but petrifying rather thar
tending to large and beautiful growth
Fortunately, counteracting influ
ences came with the influx of man
nationalities, or the results would hav
: been still more serious. A new coun
ty offers few enough opportunities 70
: the cultivation Of the sweetness, th
graces, and the amenities of life. ]
is bare enongh ofall that which make
live lovely and enjoyable to render
p worth while to put in sunshine an
bits of color here and there, even /;
the sacrifice Of something which ma
seem essential
Yet, there are few country homes
s. this favored land which lack necess
ties few even which lack comforts
but there are thousands from whic
JOY andseladness have been banishet
: from the Absence Of human intere
and the presence of a cold, dead ne
trality which is more difficult to brel
up than it is to pierce stone walls +,
the icy barriers which leap up befol
the onward march of northern civil
zation.
What do you want of it? What
the good of itP And if it is not abs
= lutely needed, imperatively demande
Se for shelter, food, or raiment, the wi:
I is thwarted, the desire crushed out,
dies for lack of sympathy and encou
agement.
;. We have all of US seen homes Whe
food was abundant, clothing sufficie
and warm, all the physical necessiti
r,s provided for, but where the hearts al
lis minds of the inmates we're starved.
nv ou shiyer involuntary as you pa
such a house. Outside there is q re
tengular squareness and stiffness
trailing vines, no hanging baskets,
pretty Venetian blinds to shade
the glare of the summer sun, and Al
ed by little Vatican coloring, ei
the pretty effects of light and sia
which assists-so much to make up