The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-11-26
PLEASANT HOMES.
The Attraction Necessary to Make Home
Happy.

The Attraction Necessary to Make Home
Happy.
Homes must be attractive to be happy
homes. This does not necessarily imply
a large expenditure Of money. 1t is a
cause for sincere gratitude that the hut
of the peasant car be made bright and
CHEEKY as well as the home of the King.
There is such a thing. where there is an
abundance of wealth, as OVERRIDING orna-
mentation and making it heavy and uD.
inviting. We have been in parlors that
were ruined by too lavish display Of
wealth. That is not the way to make a
home bright. The first step in that di-
rection is for the husband and wife to
be bright and light hearted themselves.
1t has been said more than million
times that if the wife desires to keep her
husband. she must always be cheerful.
gOOd-natured and smiling. and that her
home must be in good order, never for
getting to have his supper we'll cooked
and hot. In other words, every time
this is said, the statement seems to be
intended to be made, that the happiness
of the husband depends wholly upon the
wife. She must amuse the husband,
and between amusing him and the
children the poor woman will often
have her hands more than full, for if
she has a husband that expects thus
to be entertained, she will likely find
him the most petulant child in the circle,
and will often wish that she had strength
and authority enough to spank and put
him to bed It is the duty of the wife
to do her part toward making the home
pleasant and cheerful, and it is the duty
If the husband to do just As much as
the wife does. He has no excuse for not
doing it. No plea of WEAKNESS is suf-
ficient. The wife is weary. too, perhaps
more so than he is. 1t Is his duty to
meet her smiles with smiles, and her ef-
forts to make the home one of content
ment and cheer with equal effort. His
home is no place for HIM to play the
drone in. His particular business, when
he enters his home, is to show that he
knows that he is q member of the fam
lily and not q mere boarder. Let him
relieve the wife of all the responsibility
he can, play with the children, romp
with them like a school-boy. put them
to bed. and rock the cradle, if such an
unwise thing as rocking the cradle is
done in the home. If both husband and
wife will vie with each other in making
the fireside happy, they will do justice
to each other, and take very long step
toward making model home.
Then comes the Ornamentation, that
the wife will need attend to. Asa rule,
the husband had better not NEEDLE with
that matter, for we are trying to make
a cheerful. pretty home. and ornaments
arranged by men would likely have al
most any other result. Let the wife at
tend to that, and if she sets herself
about it. the effect will be pretty, how
ever meager the means she has to work
with. We have often been astonished
to see how much a woman could do in
that direction with scarcely anything to
do with. But little money spent to
aid her will be q good investment.
Pictures are very cheap. The chrome
is pretty and it costs but little, and it
looks much better ON the wall than
nothing. In q word, If You would keep
the children at home and make them
contented. and indeed if You would keep
yourselves at home, do your hest to
make the home just the prettiest that
you can Western Rural.