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

at the right angles or triangles and at
the proper distances, but no draperied
shelves or brackets, no rustic vases
trailing ivy over the walls and win
doWs,n red cushioned chairs or chintz
window curtains, no bright carpet
covered ottomans, or crimson draped
table filed with papers aud mag
azines, suggesting taste, refinement
and knowledge of how to put leisure
to use.
What is the good? Why, man alive,
don't you remember your wife when
she was the belle of the neighborhood
and the lightest hearted girl in the
whole neighborhood? Look at her
now-gray, lank, dull, grabbed. Who
would recognize her Then your chill
dren what comfort do you take with
them All they want is to get away
from home; and the most of them
have gone; gone without education
save the meagre chance the village
schools afforded them; gone without
the memory of any brightness or
pleasure in their lives, without that
culture of the heart and mind which
would be safeguard to them, and en-
able them to hold their own with per-
sons whom they must meet in their
Journey through life.
Already one, a son, has mated with
girl whom you dislike and consider
greatly his inferior in social position,
because he hadn't the pluck to address
himself to young ladies', his natural
equals, on account of the superior ad-
vantages they had enjoyed; and the
chances are that the future of the
whole family will be attuned on the
lower key at which you have set it,
your railroad stock and money in the
bank Notwithstanding.
1t was not your fault Z Perhaps not
altogether, but it was mainly You
set yourself to make money, and you
discouraged everything which had not
a distinctly utilitarian object in your
eyes. You kept the money bag, and
you drew the string so tight that it be-
came a misery and modification to
even hint at wanting any. for any p1r-
pose whatsoever. Did this do YOU
any good? No; it only made you
worse. You gradually deprived your
wife of the qualification of her most
innocent tastes, of society, of books,
of her favorite periodicals.. She had
no opportunity to pick up new ideas,
and no time to carry them out; little
by little she sank into the hard worked
uncared drudge that she is now.
Birthdays, Christmas trees, have
never been known in your house; you
would have frowned upon all such
'senseless doings.' Turkeys and chick
! ems were fattened to be sold to fools
that had more money than brains, and
you thought yourself so wise i'll sit
ting down to salt beef on Christmas
day, with the money for the prize
turkey in your yocket.
But do you know what will become
of your money! Have you any
thought of how it will be spent? You
know you will never spend it your
self; you care for nothing but to
scrape it together. So long as you
| live your wife cannot enjoy it. and be-
sides, poor woman, she has outlived
the power of enjoying anything. In
all probability 1t will enable your sons
to end their lives an drunkard's dis,
honored grave, They have no knowl-
edge how to put money to best uses
they have not been taught to appreciate
books, pictures, music-the delights
of refined and entelligent life. They
have seen their mother treated as 9
, drudge: they will treat their wives sc
too. In spending money they viii
think only of their own selfish indul
gence, and indulgence with them takes
, its most depraved forms, for they havt
seen and known nothing better, and
: abuse is the natural reaction from
restraint which defrauds of the knowI
, edge Of rightful use. You have asked
: all your life, What is the good Of thi
a and that? What is now the good Q
your money to you, or to anybod,
: else?
q Suppose you had used it, or at leas
: a part of it, to put brightness and col
d or into your life, to keep the bloom il
It your wife's cheek and the sparkles il
J her eye, to make their home pleasan
e and attractive to your children, t,
1 give them such an education as woult
have enabled them to seek the seciet
:, of their equals, at the same time throw
n ing them upon their own trained re
a sources for livelihood Would no
d this have been better than to kee
d them waiting like hungry rats for th
; chance which your death will affor
: them to rush headlong to destruction
d Cheerful, good tempered, williD
d persons, who see always the happ
y side, are invaluable for the color whic
5, they put into life; and such mistres
OF a household is blessing beyon
l. all price.
IS A snatch of song, the game on
n winters evening, the crumbs for tt
N robin outside the door, the hospitabl
b. welcomes. the pleasant family SUI
u pnses, are all bits of bright color, liE
~ the scarlet threads in rag carpe
re which illume the pathway Of homel
n duties Much depends upon the mott
OF er, upon her talent for little things, I
he render the home life lovely and a
1t tractive but much also depends upo
es the father, upon his sympathy and Ell
it couragement as well as substantial a
Id in seconding her efforts.
at Plenty of good papers and mag
~ zines is the most important feature
an intelligent home. They are Il
in cheapest and best of educators, Il
81 wisest and truest of friends The We
s last thing wise man will relinqui'
ch is the silent companion who comfor
ID, and consoles him in sorrow, insen
sst bly, leading him away from its CO
~ temptations, and weaves the brillia
ak colors and activities of the outsi
or world into the dull gray woof of
ire existence.
III
ia Holmes county has notorie
40. for furnishing more children of t
ad school age in proportion to its poI
Oh lation than any county in the Sta
SA 1oaE 49,,