The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-09
Love of Home.

How shall the sentiment be called
out, cultivated, perpetuated: and why
is such stress laid upon il: and how
can our sex best aid in the work?
There is a very wide and deep sig
niticance in the announcement that
God is love that the great center,
source, creator of all things is owe
that He, from whom we come. and to
whom We go; from whom we derive
not merely our being, but our nature,
our primary Instincts, thoughts, feel
ings and tendencies, is simply this
Lore. If we think about it a little we
must feel that the leading principle of
creation, the secret spring, the motive
power, the very essence OF all life and
action is, or ought to be, Love. When
we are most actuated and controlled
by it, we are nearest the original like
ness of man to his Creator. When we
feel and acknowledge it least, we are
furthest from Him.
All this is nothing new. How often
Wv oN DSSA toAu ~, ~ we
have read it, and yet, now and then.
these great primary truths come sud
denly upon us with the force and
freshness of entire novelty.
God is love. Then Love is every
where: controls everything colors
everything, and gives it's own stamp
and cnrroSnnnHinr vo1na 10 rhotouor
it enters as factor. Eliminate Love
from creation, and you have a universe
without God. Look with open eyes at
your most ordinary daily surround
ings, and you will see no element of
life that is not lit up, sweetened and
strengthened by its presence. 1t comes
freshly to me this morning that God
is Love, when think what an impor-
tant factor in the strength and pros
perity of a nation is the simple Love
of Home which is our theme to-day.
To love our home is to love not only
its four walls, or its territory bounded
by II fences, not only its familiar
aspects, its associations, its furniture,
its faces, its thousand memories and
Influences, sweet and bitter, whole
some and stimulating, which have
fixed our character and affected our
DESTINY for this world and the next
but it is 70 love also the sunshine and
the moonlight hat lie on it's walls anil
floors, the dew on its grass and flow
ers, the sky that hangs over it. A
man who loves his home loves his own
township and county better, loves his
own State better, loves his whole coun-
try better, and the woman who makes
Il home for a man that he can love in
this way, is doing more in the cause
of patriotism, in the service of reli-
gion, than if she were a lifelong
member of its highest legislative as
semhly, sat in its highest judicial
courts, or swayed its highest executive
departments.
To owe is to be like God, and the
wider the circle expands the nearer
and nearer we come to our great orig
inal. To love our Owl well and heart
lily, wisely and truly, is the way to
learn to love the interests of others.
and to love our brother well and truly
is next door to that love of God where
the soul finds it's noblest expansion,
its true destiny.
The family hearth-stone is the centre
pivot of the State, on which turn its
character, its prosperity, its influences,
good or bad; and the family hearth
stone is i'm the hands of the women of
the State. 1t is yours nay friend, to
make the homes of North Carolina so
lovely, and SO lovable that the men of
the State shall be noted for their self
respect, for their chivalrous regard for
the honor and happiness of their
women and children, for their respect
and obedience to the laws that protect
their neighbors' rights and interests.
for their abiding love of their own
State, for their broad and intelligent
national pride and patriotism all this
comes from Love.
Some of these good things our North
Carolina men do possess, and are. and
have long been noted for. They are
self-respecting, and they are law-abid-
ing;-they have many traits for which
we love and honor them, but they
lack chivalry, enthusiasm, State pride:
those finer and more generous char
acteristics which mark a wider de-
velopment and appreciation of the
great law of Love.
l speak as unto wise women Judge
ye NV friends if this be not true OF
mon And whose is the fault,
and how shall it be remedied:
IF there is anything in the whole
.,oa of tradition that l firmly believe