The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-02-03
Home. Sweet Home.n

1t is very sad fact that great many
persons in moderate circumstances nev-
er have home or enjoy the calm but
inexpressible delight of sitting under
their own vine and fig tree. In the
large cities, particularly, it is rare that
those who belong to the middle class
feel able to purchase home of their
own. Some are too proud to live in
such a house as could be purchased
with the means at their disposal, and
prefer. rather than sacrifice their pride,
TO rent the property of another, OF live
in the perennial discomfort of boarding
house life. In neither case can one feel
bound by any ties, other than those of
necessity, to the hearth-stone around
which he gathers his family for the brief
interval during which he is likely to
agree with his landlord. He owns no
share in the roof that covers him or in
the walls within which his goods are
temporarily enshrined. The ravages of
time upon the structure cause no other
emotion than that of irritation. He has
never learned to love the bricks and
stones of that house, having no propri-
etary interest in them. 1t is to him
and his family merely a temporary
abiding place, from which he may be
called upon to depart at any time. 1t
is manifest under such conditions as
these that no one can fully appreciate
the fact that ''there'S no place like
home'' unless, indeed, they have had
the blessed opportunity of learning that
truth in early life. While it will be
generally agreed that the manner of
life, in this respect, of the masses in
every large city is to be deplored, it is
not so easy to suggest remedy. In
cases where false pride stands in the
way of acquiring pleasant, if not mag
nifcent, home, sympathy would be en-
tirely wasted. Those who prefer to
sustain appearances rather than
make home for themselves which is
within their means, and can become a
very sanctuary of love and domestic
happiness as the years go by, are be-
yond the reach of any sentiment but
pity. They barter all the possibilities
of home life for the empty satisfaction
of seeming richer than they are, and
deserve the discomforts which they
bring upon themselves. Year after year
persons of this class expend in rents Or
for board, sums which, if devoted to
monthly OF quarterly payments, would
soon put them in possession of pleas
ant home. Not a palatial residence
upon the avenue, perhaps, but neat
house upon some quiet street or in a
desirablesuburb, where they could erect
family shrine that would not be de-
spoiled by brutal expressmen on the
first day of May each year. The horri-
BILE nightmare of May moving would be
dispelled ct once and forever by such a
course, and as the children of the fam
lily grow up, and, one after the other.
leave the family hearth, fond memory
will always turn with pleasure to that
one quiet spot, glorified by so many as
sociations of the past. Such associa-
tions do not cluster around temporary
abiding places. The family that within
score of years has occupied dozen
or more habitations has no Mecca to
which its scattered members can jour-
ney as opportunity serves, and towards
which their thoughts may turn at all
times. If the practice of living in rent
ed houses continues, the coming gen.
Grafton will not have the faintest con-
ception of what home is.