The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-01-27
FIRESlDE TROUBLES.

FIRESlDE TROUBLES.
Exercise Patience, Courtesy and seif-Con.
troll in Our Little World of Home.
Humiliating as the confession may be,
the fact remains that in many house,
holds the chief danger to happiness
arises from the unreserves of love.
People who, on occasion, cheerfully en-
dure great hardships, and count it no
sacrifice to toll early and late. to eat
the bread of carefulness, to undergo
great privations, are yet not able to
live together in harmony in the every
day experiences of life. At home we are
naturally seldom on our guard, and, If
little wearied or worried or petulant,
we allow ourselves to speak hasty
word and to wound the tender heart OF
whose loyalty and disposition to for
give we are assured. Husbands to
wives, mothers to daughters, brothers
and sisters to one another, frequently
speak with degree of candor which in
polite society would be considered boor-
ish. if not brutal.
Not that in any circumstances we are
ever justified in slurring over the truth
or in uttering the false word; but very
often silence is kinder than speech, and
in home life it is always safe to wait
for the sober second thought before
finding fault, or condemning as crime
something which is simply an error OF
Judgment.
The little phrase, much ado about
nothing" might be used to describe
the beginning of most freside friction.
Perhaps the baby was fretful all the
night, and the mothers sleep was
broken; Bridget, who has never taken
out patent for saintliness, has had
trouble with her oven, or has let the
coffee boil fatal minute too long;
fathers favorite virtue is pune
tuality, and the boys are late at
breakfast; and somehow there is
general sense of discomfort, a
chill in the family atmosphere, and a
condition in which storm signals may
be taken for granted. One little word
brings on another, the original cause of
dispute is forgotten in the heat of pas
sion, until these people who would die
for each other. if the need came, are in
dulging in feelings of wrath and bitter
ness which poison the days delight at
the fountain head.
How petty in the presence of a real
sorrow or in the apprehension of q
great calamity, these undignified fam
lily squabbles appear! When extreme
illness or death visits the household, or
when one of its members is in some
imminent danger, how closely draws
the bond that unites those of one blood
in the mystic tie of kin. 1t seems
strange, then, that the little jealousies,
envies and dissensions were ever per-
mitted to mar the beautiful ideal of the
family. 1t is easy, however, to be wise
after the event The proverbial ounce
of prevention is far better than the
pound of cure.
An unfair favoritism is not infre-
quently the cause of discord in the fam
lily. One child is preferred to another.
This daughter is supposed to be her
fathers pet. The mother sees no de-
est or youngest son. The frst-born or
the baby has peculiar privileges accord
ed which the rest never dream that they
may share. tits the old story of Joseph
and his brethren, the sun and the moon
and the eleven stars bowling down to
one, and the others remaining unnoted
orignored. Family peace must always
rest on broad foundation of justice,
which includes the least as well as the
greatest.
1t is easy to say that where hearts are
true small exasperations are matters of
slight importance; never was there a
more stupid mistake. Into our com.
mon Saturdays and Mondays-our
struggling, anxious, busy days--we are
weaving the story of our lives There
are many worlds in this earth of ours,
but to each of us belongs in peculiar
and very sacred sense the little world
of home. Patience, courtesy and self.
control, with regard for the rights of
others rather than the thoughts of our
Importance, are infallible preventives
Of domestic jars.
1t would seem unnecessary, and still
the caution may be permitted: No mat.
ter how great the provocation, veil
should always screen family infrmities
from the gaze of the stranger. No one
outside the home should so much as
guess by any word or look of ours tina,
there are infelicities within it. We
must not reveal the caprices of the diff.
cult member of the family, nor suffer
anyone to suppose that the most within.
steal, captious or imperious person in
our household is trying to temper OF
nerves. Decency requires this. Chris.
tian grace makes the exercise of for.
bearance habit of the soul.-Conqre.
gationalist