Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
HOW TO E G A HOME.

HOW TO BEGIN A HOME.
Did you ever hear a gray-haired man
Or woman say: "Ah, well, if had my
life to live over again, and could have
my present experience to guide me, |
would manage things very differently"
But the fortunate individual does not
exist to whom that chance has been
given. Once again, time never returns, |
and therefore it is of the greatest i'm
portance for you. dear readers, who are
rich in youth and hope, to use these
golden days to advantage.
You are beginning a home. Yours is
a grand opportunity. What will you
make of it? What sort of home shall
this be, to which you go, 1 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, oryour
dat, or your small apartment, as
may be, is hemmed in with sacred
-
privacy.
Larger or smaller, determine that
your home shall be carried on honestly.
Pay for things as you get them. Be re-
solved to live within your income. To
this end let husband and wife be per-
fectly candid with each other. There
should be a 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 profession.
Domestic fnanciering is commonly
carried on in a loose, hap-hazard way,
to the last degree absurd. You, hand
IN hand at the altar, do not dream that
SO sordid a thing as money could ever
give either of you a headache.
Well, take my advice and it never
will: Buy nothing for which you can
not pay, keep out Of debt, and have q
common purse, each partner being full
~ in the confidence of the other. And
as we are stewards of the Divine bounty,
let it enter into your home plan to give
Systematically, as God propers you, to
the poor, to home and foreign missions,
to the cause of God and the coming of
His kingdom.
Begin your home in a spirit of unself-
ishness. 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 a house
and breaks its routine like neighborli-
ness. Be at home to friends, and let
the home veal an air of welcome to all
who come within its doors.
A home should have it's ideal to which
it aspires. OF all people they are the
most to be pitied who are satisfied with
to-day, in the sense of having nothing to
climb to tomorrow. "To live that
each tomorrow find us farther than to-
day. should be our aim. Be the fur
nishing plain, be the margin for luxury
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 de-
lightful to have to economize, so that
the new picture on the wall marks an
event in the home history, and the new
rug on the floor is an episode, and the
new book on the shelf is cause for a fam
lily festival.
Talking of home history, why not
write one? Why not set down. day by
day. in Il 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 Il volume as above
rubies.
DO not isolate the new home by beino
strangers and pilgrims, with no rest for
the solcs of Your feet, among the
churches. Have a church home from
the beginning: a pew, and Il place, and
a pastor, and Christian friends of your
own, SO that your household shall he
one OF the lights on some golden candle
stick that shines in your community for
Jesus.
Guard against small displays of tenn
per; against jealousy, against Slight mis-
understandings.
Husband and wife should be chief
friends to each other, and no entering
wedge of alienation should disturb or
fracture their intimacy.
"lt is the little rift within the lutte.
that by and by will make the music
Love must rule the happy home. and
love must be long-suhering sometimes.
since we are men and women; not saints
' and angels.