The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-01-01
THE FAMILY HEARTH-sTONE.

THE FAMILY HEARTH-sTONE.
No room in the home so perfectly typi-
fies the communism of a family, the
true uniting in diversity of the indi-
viduals, as the sitting-room. 1t is the
centre of the social life of the house
hold. 1t is mothers ROOM" There
she is oftenest found in her moments of
leisure, ready to hear, to sympathize, to
console and to advise. Here the father
frolics with his children, here they lis
ten to song and story read aloud, here
the troubles of the day dwindle and dis
appear, or are softened and lesseued by
united sympathizing and soothing sur
roundings; here nuts and mild jokes are
cracked, and rosy apples and fragrant
oranges lend their flavor and juicy rich
ness to the homely scene, while without
the wind blows, the rain falls or the
snow flies.
To make this room the ideal hearth
stone, its furnishings should contain ele-
ments that appeal to the tastes and pur-
suits of each of the members of the
household. There should be room, if
possible, for favorite chairs and for
shelves or bookcases, and tables for
each ones choice of books and papers,
and for undisturded corners and coy
hooks, if each has only chair and foot
stool, or portion of drawer, or cur
tanned shelf. Places where the studious,
the ambitious. or the thoughtful can
work out their pet projects, or keep
safely their treasured plans and posses
sions, ready for the sudden inspiration
or the industrious mood, which quite as
often seizes one amid the family chatter
as in the solitude of ones own room. To
secure all this will require considerable
outlay as well as much unselfish thought
on the part of the home maker. The
outlay, however, can usually be modi-
fled, adding purchases from time to time
as family growth and taste may show
them to be desirable, Indeed, the true
furnishing of such a room, after GER
tain point, must be matter of growth,
Given the bare bones of chairs, carpets,
table and curtains, the rounded form
and vigorous expression of the sitting
room must grow out of the mental and
moral life of the family, grow out of
that social, intellectual, and spiritual
food on which the family feeds. OF
course furnishings selected with this
aim in view will be as varied as families
are for what expresses comfort and gives
help and solace to one family would be
tiresome, inane, oTcOmfortless in others.
Each home writes its own history sooner
or later in its furnishings and arrange
ments. Even straitened means-that
oft berated foe of family luxury-cannot
prevent the telling of the tale. Year by
year slips by, pun chase after purchase is
made, chapter after chapter is written.
What we most desire we bend our cir
cumstances to secure, and therefore the
homes does express in the long run what
we are and what we feel. This being
true, let us not be impatient; let us pro
Cttu anu CtlG-
fully, that our home centre may not ex-
press sordid lives, ungenerOus nature or
narrow minds.
The home is for the family and not the
world, and there should never be mo-
ments hesitancy if narrow means COM
pei the furnishing of but one room-a
parlOr or sitting room. Let the sitting
room come first. 1t should never, on
the other hand, be the receptacle of
brOken-down or useless drawing-rOOm
furnishings. Good plain articles which
are yet honorable in their strength and
usefulness can frequently be put into
the sitting-roOm when the state of the
family finances has allowed something
handsomer to be bought for the draw
ing-room. Too often the sitting-rOOm
receives but rickety tables, cracked
ornaments, spotted upholstery, and
chairs whose springs are warped out of
any comfoTtgiving properties they may
once have possessed. So, in bringing
any furniture from the parlor to the sit
ting-room, let the housewife see tn it
first that it is restored to strenth and
rendered clean and inviting in all ways.
1.-THE best is good enough for my own"
should be her watchwOrd, not ANY
thing for MS, and our finest for our