Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1883-06-06
How to Begin a Home.

Did you ever hear gray-haired man or
woman say, "Ah, well, if had my life to live
over again, and could have my present ex
perience to guide me, | would manage
things very differently" But the fortunate
individual does not exist to whom that
chance has been given. Once gone, time
never returns, and therefore it is of the
greatest importance for you, dear readers,
who are rich in youth and hope, to use these
golden days to advantage. You are begin
ming home. Yours is a grand opportunity.
What will you make of it What sort of
home shall this be, to which you go, trust,
while the joy-bells are still ringing for your
wedding? The first thing would say to
YOU is, do not begin in a clearinghouse.
Let your home from the first have the sweet
seclusion of being your very own. Sit at
your own table, spread for two. Shut your
door upon the rest Of the world, and feel
that your house. or your fiat, or your small
apartment, as may be, is hemmed in with
sacred privacy. Larger or smaller, deter
mine that your home shall be carried on
honestly Pay for things as you get them.
BE resolved to live within your income. To
this end let husband and wife be perfectly
candid with each other. There should be
financial basis, and a scale of expenditure,
thoroughly understood by each other. An
immense amount of friction, of humiliating
irritation, and trouble would be saved if
people who are beginning home life would
act with common sense and fairness about
money matters. The husband is the bread
winner. The wife is the loaf-giver. He
directly earns the family income She also
helps to earn it by caring for the internal
economy of the household and leaving him
free to attend to his business or his profess
ID l.
carried on in loose hap-hazard way, to the
last degree absurd. You, hand in hand at
the altar, do not dream that so sordid
thing as money could ever give either of
you a headache. Well, take my advice
and it never will. Buy nothing for which
you cannot pay, keep out Of debt, and have a
common purse, each partner being fully in
the confidence of the other. Aud as we are
stewards of the divine bounty, let it enter
into your home plan to give systematically,
as God prospers you, to the poor, TO home
and foreign missioDs,.to the cause of God
and the coming Of his kingdom. Begin
your home in spirit of unselfshness. Your
love for each other should not make you
careless of social duties. Exercise a simple
yet generous hospitality, inviting guests to
your house, and giving them of your best,
not in the way of food and lodging only. but
in the interchange of thoughts and opinions.
Nothing brightens house and breaks its
routine like neighborliness BE at home to
friends, and let the home wear an air OF
welcome to all who come within its doors.
A home should have its ideal to which it
aspires. OF all people they are most to be
pitied who are satisfied with to-day, in the
sense of having nothing TO climb to to-mor-
row. "To live that each tomorrow fluid us
for hnr hat, TO- axr oh ka ~. ID,
the furnishing plain, be the margin for lux
ury narrow, still let the frugal housewife
look forward to something better farther on.
You ought to think much of your day of
small things in this regard. 1t is delightful
to have to economic, 30 that the new pic
ture on the wall marks ali event in the home
history and the new rug on the floor is an
episode, and the book on the shelf is cause
for family festival. Talking of home his.
tory, why not write one Why not set
down, day by day, in a book, the pleasant
happenings of life? Your children--and
you will be blessed indeed if they fill the
home nest with laughter and song-will by
and by prize such volume as above rubies.
DO not isolate the new home by being
strangers and pilgrims, with no rest for the
soles Of your feet, among the churches
Have church home from the beginnings a
pew, and place, and pastor, and Chris
tian friends Of your own, 80 that your house
hold shall be one of the lights on some
golden candlestick that shines in your com
munity for Jesus. Guard against small dis
plays OF temper, against Jealousy, against
slight Misunderstanding. Husband and
wife should be chief friends TO each other
and no entering wedge of alienation should
disturb or fracture their intimacy. at il
the little rift within the lutte, that by and
by will make the music mute. Love must
rule the happy home, and love must be long
suffering sometimes, since we are men anc
women; not saints and angels. Ifyou wan
your home to rise in beauty and symmetry
build it on the Bible. | beg you to hsv,
family worship, always, at least once day
Read the Bible together, and togethe
seek the presence and the benediction of tn,
Master. That is a cold and cherries abod
in which there is no room for Christ Is
the time never be that your little ones a
they come, and your friends as they visi
you, shall be surprised at call to tamil,
prayers. Courage, dear young people, i
this appalls you at the outset 1t will sool
become your dearest and most hsllowe,
privilege. Begin right Go on right You
home will be type of heaven.-Selecfed.