St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-05-24
American HOme.Life.

the home and its daily life are intended
to be the nucleus and source of all in
ward happiness and higher develop
ment of character. As woman's king
dom and mans refuge, home should be
the choice garden spot of the soul. the
nursery of every virtue, public and pri-
vate, and the earthly paradise Of atfec-
tion and refined enjoyment. And one
of the saddest features of our modern
life is the tendency which it creates to
shatter and scatter these precious home
Jewels. Fierce and destructive excite
ments and the constant friction of out
ward business and social activity are
slowly consuming the sanctity and the
sweetness Of the retirement and the
privacy of home. Many grievous enc
mics are working their way into this
home citadel, silently neutralizing or
capturing its moulding and modifying
forces. and turning its batteries against
itself. In ancient warfare walled cities
that were well prepared to resist every
| species of external assault often sue
cumbed to the unsupported foes that
| were harbored within. And so in our
modern life, while the legal home is
stoutly defended against all forms of
| attack from without, the inward reality
is, we fear. gradually crumbling toruin
| from the deadly influences which are
permitted 10 spring up and grow inside
the inclosure. The little foxes are said
to spoil the tender vines. and, in like
manner, the unnoticed domestic evils of
| our modern home-life are stealthily
robbing it of much of its legitimate
fruitfulness and fragrance.
One view of unhealthy home-ife is
obtained by reading the daily and
weekly records of divorce courts.
These records do no not always make
pleasant reading, it is true. but they
never fail of being deeply suggestive to
every thoughtful mind. In them. the
curtains which usually hide the privacy
of home are voluntarily thrown apart,
and we are permitted to get glimpses
of scenes that are being enacted when
husbands and wives and families are
settled down by themselves. And it
would seem from these multiplying dis
closures that true and real domestic
purity and peace are wofully absent
from many of our American homes.
DiScord, contention. strife, mutual sus-
picion and recrimination. with all their
horrid brood of consequences. seem 10
constitute the regular inmates of cot
tages and mansions whose outer walls
bear no marks of the terrible warfare
going on inside. Home, to some of our
people. must be nothing more than
lodging and boarding-place, a building
or an establishment where they keep
their personal effects, where they go at
night to get some supper and find bed.
and from which they get away As soon
as possible in the morning. The idea of
making it the sanctuary of their atfec-
tions, the comfort and solace of their
hearts and minds at the close of
weary work-day of business activity,
the one spot in all the world where they
can unburden themselves of care. anxiety
and sorrow, and retire into the land
locked haven of repose and of calm and
tranquil enjoyment, seems not to enter
into their plans or desires. In cities,
men hire or buy houses. marry, and set
up housekeeping, and then wish to be
bothered with domestic duties and re-
sponsibilities as little as possible.
Women marry for support and = place
to live. and. having secured these, go
outside for the largest part OF their ne
cessities and pleasures. And thus the
home is speedily transformed into
mere place of temporary rendezvous
for eating, sleeping and dressing. No
wonder that both parties soon get tired
of home life and of each other, and then
fall to quarrelling until the divorce
court sewers the legal bond that once
made them family unit.
An equally unpleasant reflex of
modern home-life is witnessed i'm the
shocking exhibitions of youthful crim-
inality which are daily coming to light.
Murders bv children and school-mates
are now quite common. Pistols are
carried by boys who are hardly strong
enough to hold one out at arms length.
Within a very short time regularly
organized gangs of youthful .'cow-
boys" have been discovered and broken
up in the public schools of an Eastern
city. These little culprits had chosen
leader or captain, had place of meet
ing. carried pistols, and spent their
leisure hours reading the cheaper and
wilder sort of dime novels of the
"Buffalo Bill'' order. What commen-
tary on home-life these facts present!
Ii is lucky circumstance that Ameri-
can families are small. iftheir neglected
and demoralized children are to be thus
turned loose upon society. Family
government and parental restraint have
become merely negative quantities in
some homes. Parents hate each other
and their neighbors, indulge in all kinds
of personal and social vice. and their
children naturally follow the examples
put before them. And 20 we go on
toward-what?
1t would be perfectly useless to try
and lay down set of rules by which
these growing evils could be remedied,
as each defective home would be case
by itself. requiring specific rather than
general treatment: but the first step To
be taken in the way of reform is to show
up existing evils in their undisguised
hideOusness, and the still greater do
mestic and social calamities to which
they are constantly leading. No abuse
can be corrected until it is thoroughly
understood and realized, and before
our American home life can be liftedto
q higher plane of purity and power. it
must be exposed to public view and its