The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-04-19
American HOme-Life.

to be the nucleus and source of all in
ward happiness and higher develop
ment of character As womans king
dom and mans refuge, home should be
the choice garden spot of the soul, the
nursery of every virtue, public and pri-
yate, and the earthly paradise Of allec-
ton 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
cumhed 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
Gttack from without, the inward reality
is, we fear, gradually crumbling oruin
from the deadly influences which are
permitted TO 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-life 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 homo are voluntarily thrown apart,
aud 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 to
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 90 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
masking it the sanctuary of their all'ec-
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 themselveaofcare 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 rs possible.
Women marry for Q support and place
outside for the LARGEST mart of their ne
cessities and Measures. And thus the
home is speedby transformed into q
mere Mace of femnorarv rendezvous
for eating. sleepino anG dressing. No
wonder that both parties soon get tired
OF home-life and of each other. and then
fall TO ouarrellinp untiI the divorce
court sewers the local bond that once
made them = family unit.
An equally unDleay;tnt reflex af
modern homc-Iife is witnessed in the.
exhibitions az vonthfpI Grim
inality Which are daily coming to lioht.
Murders by children and sch0ol-mStes
are now quite common. Pistols are
by bows who are hardly strono
enouoh to hold one ont At arm's lenot6'
Within a very short time reoulsrlv-
ORGANIZED ramos of youthful .,cow-
boys'' have been discovered and broken
nm in tbe publi, schools of an Eastern
civ These little cnlnrits had q chosen
leader or caDtain. had a place Of meet
mo carried nistols ond spent their
leisure hours readino. the cbeaner and
wilder sort Of dime novels of the
.'Buffalo Bill'' order, What a commen-
tary on bome-life these facts present,
II is n lucky circumstance that Ameri-
can families are small, iftheir NEGLECTED.
and dcmoralized children are to be thus