Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-02-24
HOUSES md HOaEEs.
sEsstshss Of tAs Various Kfaaa to Re FO15ia
IN The gFarId


Sketches Of ths Various Efsids TO Re F0lsld
IA the World.
It Is not strange that with all the
houses there are In the land there
should be comparatively so few homes?
aays Belle Thistlethwaitei in the Toronto
Globe. The building may be of wood
or brick. its furnishings may be rich or
poor, its carpets so costly or so shabby
that one would hesitate to have them
in general use, it may possess all the
modern conveniencesa or all the ancient
Inconvenience, but not till we have
spent some hours or days with its oc-
cupants under their own roofs can we
decide whether the house is or is not a
home.
1t Is true that everybody calls the
place where he sleeps and eats "home, Z"
because It is a convenient designation.
but the homeless look is readily dis
cerned. There are people with plenty
Of money, and influence, and friends
who have no home. They have become
accustomed to the want Of that which
they cannot buy.
There are so-called homes where the
husband and father goes at night, look
ING sad and worn-out from the cares of
the day, and where he emerges twelve
or fourteen hours afterward, looking
sadder and more worn-out from the
cares of the evening and morning. This
Is the sort of home where the wife
never comes to the door to smile and
wave her hand at parting, and where
the children, instead of running down
the street to "meet papa are apt to
mysteriousIy disappear when he comes
in sight He is quite willing that they
should disappear. He seldom speaks
to them except to say: stop that
noise!7 do as you're told this NOM
emit, sir!" or II wish that baby wasn't
always kicking up a row." If the chill
dren answer these remarks they are
punished; If the wife answers them an
angry alteration may ensue. Every
one Is IN an unpleasant frame of mind
the older ones taciturn and morose,
the younger ones quarreIsOme and dis
conteuted. At the supper-tabIe the
family is ike q company Of animals,
who feed noisily and hurriedly, and
leave the moment they have had
enough. The father usually spends his
evenings out, and the boys envy him
that privilege and longingly anticipate
the time when they viii be allowed to
follow his example. "The grown-up
girls regard the place as a sort of COM
bined millinery, Undressing, and dress
making establishment, where, besides
sleeping and eating, they do nothing
but fit themselves to make what they
believe TO be an attractive appearance
in public halls and streets.
The true home in no way resembles
this. The true home is perfect place
Of refuge from all the storms Of life.
Above its portals should be written,
'AlI care abandon ye who enter here. "
Things may go wrOng-indeed, it seemE
at times as though that were the natural
tendency of things-but the evil con-
sequences of their wrong-doing, instead
of being talked about and aggravated,
and fretted over, are quietly modified,
or averteds or passed over IN silence.
1t is q place where children are happier
than anywhere else in the world be-
cause nowhere else do they have such
pleasant words, or see such bright
looks, or receive so much genuine kind
ness. Not that they should be spoiled.
Why is it that people are afraid to treat
a child with decent consideration, for
fear of spelling him? One might as
well tell a farmer that he must moi
| keep his young animals comfortable. as
by that means he viii certainly spoil
/ them. In all probability he would
reply that they would never thrive IN
less they were kept comfortable. It Is
/ not so easy to make a child happy as il
is an animal, for the reason that the
child has a mind, and much Of his I'M
happiness rises from that source.
An old bachelor who talked q good
! deal about wives and homes, was asked
why he did not have one Of each instead
/ of having so many ideas about them.
! @Ah, " he said, 'if I had not had some
/ ideas might have had them both.
To make ones home approach as
nearly as possible to ones highest idea
Of what it should be is to have an ideal
/ home. There are many homes, ele-
gantly upholstered and richly adorned.
/ that to the spiritual sense reveal moth.
/ ing but barrenness and dreariness; but
the true home is occupied by the spirit
Of love, and in its light the meanest
furnishings reflect a beauty impossible
/ to understand or to resist.
]