The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-03-04

keep house. Many a woman that could
have endured martyrdom as well as Mar
garet, the Scotch girl, has actually heen
worn out by house management. There
are a thousand martyrs Of the kitch-
en-. It is very annoying, after the vexa-
tions of the day around the stove or the
table, or in the nursery or parlor, to have
your husband say, "You know nothing
about trouble; you ought to be in the
store half an hour" Sympathy of occupa-
ton! IL the husbands work cover him
with the SCOT of the furnace, or the odors
of leather or soap factories, let not the
wife be easily disguised at the begrimed
hands or unsavory aroma. Your gains
are one, your interests are one, your losses
are one; lay hold of the work of life with
both hands. Four hands to fight the bat
ties; four eyes to watch for the danger;
four shoulders on which to carry the trials.
1t is very sad thing when the painter
has wife who does not like pictures. 1t
is very sad thing for a pianist when she
has husband who does not like music. 1t is
a very sad thing when wife is not suited
unless her husband has what is called
sgenteel business" So far as ] understand
"genteel business it is something to
which a man goes at ten O'Clock in the
morning and from which he comes home
at two or three O'Clock in the afternoon,
doing nothing. That is, believe, 'gen-
teel business" and there has been many
wife who has made the mistake of not
being satisfied until the husband has given
up the tanning of the hides, & inning
of the banisters, or the sYngg of the
walls, and put himself in CO SIS where he
has nothing to do but smoke cigars
and drink wine, and get himself
into habits that upset him, go
ing Down in the maelstron, taking
his wife and children with him. There
are good many trains running from earth
to destruction. They start all the hours of
the day and all the hours of the night.
There are the freight trains; they go very
slowly and very heavily; and there are
accomm odation trains, going on toward
destruction, and they stop very often, and
let man get out when he wants to. But
genteel idleness is an express train; Satan
is the Stoker and Death is the engineer;
and though one may come out in front of
it and flying the red flag of "danger" or
the lantern of Gods word, it makes just
one shot into perdition, coming down the
embankment with shout and wall and
a shriek-crash, crash! There are two
classes of people sure of Observation-Disclosures,
those who have nothing to do; secondly,
those who have something to do, but are
too lazy or too proud to do it.
I have one more word of advice to
give to those who would have a happy
home, and that is, let love preside in
it. When your behavior in the domestic
circle becomes mere matter OF calcu-
lation; when the caress you give is merely
the result of deliberate study of the posi-
ton you occupy, happiness lies stark
dead on the hearth stone. When the hus-
bands position as head of the household
is maintained by loudness of voice, by
strength of arm, by fire of temper, the
republic of domestic bliss has become a
despotism that neither God nor
man will abide. Oh, ye who prom
ised to love each other at the altar,
how dare you commit perjury? Let no
.
lection. It is easier to kill that flower
than it is to make it live again. The blast
from hell that puts out that light, leaves
you in the blackness of darkness forever.
Here are a man and wife; they agree in
nothing else, but they agree that they viii
have home. They will have splendid
house, and they think that if they have a
house they will have a home. Architects
| make the plan, and the mechanics execute
it; the house to cost 100000. 1t is done.
The carpets are spread; lights are hoisted
curtains are hung; cards of invitation are
sent out. The horses in gold-plated har-
ness prance at the gate; guests come in
and take their places; the flute sounds; the
dancers go up and down; and with one
grand whirl the wealth and the fashion
| and the mirth of the great town
wheel amidst the pictured walls. Ha! this
! is happiness. Float it on the smoking
viands; sound it in the music; whirl it in
the dance; cast it on the snow of sculp-
ture; sound it up the brilliant stairway:
flash it in chandeliers. Happiness, in
deed! Let US build on the center of the
parlo- floor throne to happiness: let all
the guests, when they come in, bring their
flowers and pearls and diamonds and throw
them on this pyramid, and let it be a
] throne, and then let happiness, the queen
mount the throne, and we will stand
around, and, all chalices lifted, we will say
| "Drink, o queen! live fcreverw But the
/ guests depart, the flutes are breathless, the
+; last clash of the impatient hoofs is heard in
the distance and the twain of the house
i hold come back to see the queen of hap
! piness on the throne amidst the parlol
/ floor. But, alas! as they come back the
| flowers have faded, the sweet odors have
become the smell of charnel-house, anG
! instead of the queen of happiness there
sits there the gaunS form of anguish. witt
bitten lip and suni-en eye, and ashes in hel
hair. The romp of the dancers who have
left seems rumbling yet, like jarring thun
ders that quake the floor and rattle tbs
glasses of the feast, rim to rim. Tht
spilled wine on the floor turns into blood
The wreathes of plush have become wrig
/ Cling reptiles. Terrors catch tangled il
the canopy that overhangs the couch
| A strong gust of wind comes through
the hall and the drawing-room ant
the bed chamber, in which all tn,
4.