The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-03

and wearing out of the few choice things
you take with you; the buying again fol
| cash, aud great deal of it; the freight,
| the car fare, the prairie schooner fare, on
no fare-all these and many more will
soon eat up quite fortune. To be sure
| there is less to move each time 1he
| household effects become pathetically less
at each move; there are fewer choice things
to pack up; they become broken or lost OF
sold or cease to be treasured as keepsakes
for the refinements of life cease TO oe
valued-and the expense is sadly, though
necessarily, lightened. Bot keep repeat
| ing the moves, and the final move VIII De
! Over the hills to the poOr-house.
But great as is the financial loss, 1t is
not TO be comprred with other losses still
more piteous. The purse is not the only
| good that dwindles out along the mover :
| road: the wine of life. the best flavor, the
| joys, the spiritualities of life, are also lost
| by the way Moving a home is like trans
planting a tree. 1t is in the order OF
| nature that a fruit tree shall be trans
| planted from the nursery to the broad
orchard: but it is not in the order OF nature
that it shall be transplanted once year
| thereafter. When once planted III It's
own permanent abiding place, the tree, as
If conscious of its destiny begins to send
its roots deep in the ground for moisture,
and its branches high into the air for light.
It's rootlets pierce the mold and coil
about everything that promises nourish-
ment, and their myriad little mouths feed
up on the bread of the soil. And the limbs
reach out their leafy branches toward the
sky as If to warm their countless little
hands in the heat of the sun, and catch
the rain and dew and the crumbs of food
with which the air is freighted. And SO,
from earth and sun and sky and air and
all about, the tree patiently and laborious-
hove ctr
riches for the time of fruitage.
Suppose, now, in the midst of its growth,
you undertake to transplant it again. You
must interrupt its life: you must cut OF
those deep roots: you must tear loose and
break of thousands of those little fbers
that have threaded the earth for yards
about; you must trim off its tallest limbs
you must despoil it of its beauty, and cut
down the very boughs that begin to have
promise of fruit. You plant it again.
Crippled, though not discouraged, it will
try life over again, though feebler than at
first. And should you keep at this ruth
less business of spade and knife, the trees
growth viii be slow and scrawny, and
soon there will appear signs of decay in its
vital trunk, and some warm spring its
leaves will be too feeble to come out into
the light. Its life is gone.
Not unlike this is the planting and trans
planting of home. When once the home
life is properly constituted, it seeks enclOs-
ure and shelter and fixedness. 1t tends to
entrench itself in the earth beneath and
lay hold on the heavens above. From its
own sacred center il sends out life tendrilS
TO all about. It's affections cling to the
walls though but four, and smooth and
bare, and entwine themselves about the
trees and shrubs and flowers in the yard,
and every object of sight and sound. Its
love builds for itself a sanctuary of rest
and peace and Joy Friendships are form
ed which grow only the more strong and
precious with the passing years. Religious
fellowships are begun, which grow more
sacred with every experience of joy and
sorrow. Children are born and cOnsecrat-
ed to the Lord, and put under the care of
trained and conscientious teachers, to be-
come the pride and hope and Joy of your
life The home thus becomes a vital part
of the community, and the community
vital part of the home. This sacred inclos-
ure of home, these helpful friendships
these sweet and tender communions of the
church, these faithful disciplineS of the
schools, constitute the rich and heaven
watered soil in which human life grows
and thrives and bears fruit. These are the
things that enrich life and make it worth
the living. Without them life is sterile
and joyless. Every valued acquaintance,
every long lived friendship, every right
ana permanent adjustment TO your fellow
men, adds to the preciousness of life, the
blessedness of living. But the full enjoy
ment of these things is impossible without
a permanent abiding place.
This haliowing of home, this enrichment
of friendship this Identification of life and
interest with the life and interest of the
is only the valued possession
of him who feels that there Is community
which is his community, and place
l., III =. he, 4, -
human life. like the growth OF tree, re
quires a fixed environment and time for
development. To tear up home In the
midst of its growth and move 1t, Is like
tearing up tree by its roots and trans
planting it, 1t cannot be done without
loss. If the habitual mover simply had
TO leave his furniture behind in a second
hand store, that would be bad enough.
But much more is abandoned. There is
left behind precious sense of neighbor-
ship, occupation, friendship, associations
that have been the very best
food of his life All these are ruthlessly
snapped asunder, and he goes to a new
place to take root again, a thing that will
require years. And before the life feeders
of that new home are again deeply and
ramifying the new soil, there
comes another tearing loose and rending
Of friendships and associations. No one
can go through such experiences for any
considerable portion of his life without
carrying to his grave sense of his irrepar
able loss.
This moving about experience weakens
1ne's hold on life It separates one from
the life forces of society. 1t weakens the !
home instinct and deadens the home build |
ing aspiration. The social propensity be- |
comes less facile, and there is less incentive |
% exercise it. Such people act as if they 4
we're stopping for a night at the hotel. /
They do not care to form acquaintance. |
Their church membership dropped /
through their hOley pockets on the road. |
They are going to stay for so short time |
hat they will not join. They'll loan |
couple of children to the Sunday school; but /
hey cannot make themselves feel that |
hey are in any substantial sense "a part of |
heir church, or part OF the community /
n which they are stopping. They feel that 1
hey are putting up at a hotel. Their sense |
If responsibility is blunted. They have |
ost their hold on the best things in life.
in the dry air; and unless soon
set permanently out in the field. they will 4
)e dead to what is most valuable in this
Jrief life.
These domestic, social. educational. re-
igious and spiritual blessings which come
rom a long residence in one place are
iisSipated and lost along the road of the
rec utnC mover. lie sees lDeul ueelns
lway, and feels their loss; but he keeps on
them by frequent changes. in
he hope some day of making his fortune.
After a time his expectation mOderates. so
hat he only hopes to increase his income
/ little by change. and in time you find
lim securing the country for place where
le can make a bare living.
The hope of fortune is supposed to
Justify any sacrifice of spiritual good.
however great. And it is assumed ~
lxiomatic that any financial gain. how