Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-08-20
HAPPINESS IN THE HOME.

Charlotte +. Bates. IN Con0rsOationalist.
|
HAPPINESS IN THE HOME.
A Precious Possession and How It NAV
BE Observation-Disclosures Love and Prfnci-
pie the Best and Most Enduring Founda-
tion.
Usually, if we have precious possess
sion we do not hold it lightly. 1t is q
vase, a gem, a picture. flower; it
cost labor and trouble, care and ex-
pense to bring it to the adornment of
our homes, and we are conscious of its
value, and solicitous that it shall nei-
Their be married nor mislaid. 1t is the
tangible evidence of a part of our
wealth, and we show how much we
prize it by our tenderness in its hand
ling, by the protection we bestow upon
| it, and the manner in which we display
it to our friends.
There is an intangible and precious
thing which may be part of our per-
sonal wealth, but which is held by a
tenure more subtle and less easy of
definition than that by which we own
| the material possessions. refer to our
home happiness. Every household
should be happy. Where, instead Of
being positively SO, the home is only the
abode of an Indifferent tranquility, not
| to say stagnation, or, still worse, where
it is the scene of asperity, friction and
petty strife, something is very wrong.
| Even in the Christian household it is
well not to take too much for granted.
There are husbands and wives who are
/ IL go
who make daily sacrifices for each
others benefit, and who still have so
| fallen out of the habit of sweet, lover
like demonstration, of daily petting and
caressing. of tender compliment, that
they would blush and grow embarrassed
should they happen to indulge in what
ought to be the everyday fashion and
coin of their lives. Is there anything
| much sadder than to observe neglect,
| ii not rudeness, in the manner OF
a husband to the wife who has been his
| LIES partner for half that life, or to
hear that acerbity of the tones, and see
GOODNESS in the looks of wife, who
| should know her good man too well to
put his love and temper to SO trying
test.
Our babies get their full share OF
kisses and petting, bless their dear little
| faces and helpless hands and feet. An
infants utter helplessness gives it a
claim on every heart. But many a
growing lad and lass, quite beyond the
prettily interesting season of infancy,
arrived at the awkward age of betwixt
and between, when impulse is eager,
and experience is slight, and youthful
confidence is overbold, and temptations
throng, would be better for more of
loves expression in the home. We can
not err in being too atfectionate.
If love be made daily ministrant to
any one in this world, it should be so
to the aged pilgrim, whose way has
grown lonely, whose life has taken on
the neutral tints of sober eve, and to
whom, by reason of infrmity, the
grasshopper is burden. Even if old
age be querulous and exacting, as
sometimes it is. youth and strength
should be patient and gentle.
The happiness of home is conserved
by perfect openness as to the style of
| living which may be maintained there
in. A home which is managed in a
style which, though not extravagant,
is drain upon the family income,
which keeps somebody wakeful at
night, which it is terrible strain to
maintain honestly, is managed in mis-
taken way. Better narrow quarters
| and plain furnishing than ample space
and everlasting wrong. Better the
simplest viands on the table than the
menace of bill at the butchers and
the fact of an increasing account with
| the grocer. and no money to pay it
with. Better the dress of calico than
the silken gown, if silk crowd out
mental comfort and weave itself into
wrinkles on the brow.
Home happiness is often imperiled by
incessant fault-tinding. A chronic
fault-finder in the house is as pitiless as
hail-storm, and he or she blights the
plants of affection as surely as a frost
destroys the blossoms. Unfortunate
are the interiors where the young peo-
pie live in dread of Aunt Mary or Uncle
John, of papa or mamma, who are not
only never satisfied. but who seem to
think that duty demands that they shall
wave and snap whip over the heads
| of all with whom they come in contact.
faint beginnings of fault-finding dis
position, we should fight against and
repress it with all our strength.
Home happiness is enlarged when the
home is not too self-centered. Nothing
is more directly educational to children
than frequent presence of honored and
beloved guests, who bring with them a
pleasant breeze from the outer world
and break the usual routine by intro
ducing new topics and inviting excur-
| sions into new fields of thought. The
amenities of life, which should not be
overlooked or sighted when the family
is by itself, are seldom forgotten when
there is company under the roof, and
politeness-even ceremonious polite
| ness-is social lubricator.
The best, most enduring home happi-
ness is founded upon Christian love and
principle, and that is the sweetest earth
" habitation in which Jesus is owned
| and peace rules.-Margaret e. Sangster,
| IN Interior.
/ The Test.