Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-04-27
Saint Maru's Beacon

HARMONY IN FAMILY LTFE.-
That there may be harmony in fam
lily life it is necessary that the men-
bers should love each other and have
a common purpose, their own mu-
tual welfare and happiness, but it is
not necessary that they should be
alike in char acter, in tastes and
dispositions, or even that they
should always agree in Judgment.
1t has frequently been observed that
husbands and wives who live togeth-
er comfortably aud maintain long
honeymoon sometimes differ widely
in their characteristics. One is
complementary to the other, to use
a figure of speech from the art Of
painting. Their dispositions are
not of the same color, not even diff
ferent shades of one color: they diff
fer radically, but in such a way as
to produce harmony of effect That
which some people call harmony is
mere unison, a much less complex
kind Of agreement. The higher
effects of music are not those Of
unison, but those of harmony.
The notes, though they differ, ufsse
and blend together. This is the
kind of harmony that should rule
in families. Where there isnoth-
ing but unison there may be peace,
but it is stupid in character. The
members of a harmonious family
should sound different notes, bnt
not a such times as to produce dis
cord. Nothing is pleasanter than
to observe family of this charac-
ter, each member with a distinct
individuality, with his own talents
and ambitions, but each in full
sympathy with the other, and all
working together peacefully and
happily because united by love. 1t
would be fatal to the welfare of such
a family to introduce the idea Of
unison, that all should be made
alike and follow the same paths,
interested IN the same fields of labor
and enjoying the same amusements.
Such unison would mean sacrifice
Of individuality somewhere, an
abandonment of natural DISPOSE
tons or a neglect of Unborn talents.
1t is one of the faults of education,
carried on as it necessarily is on the
factory system, that it tends to make
men and women alike in their at
tainments and their habits and
modes of thought. If men could
afford it, it would be better to make
education a true system of culture
of the individual child; but that
being impossible, care should be
taken to protect individuality as
much as possible, and this can be
done in the home circle by aiming
ut harmony, not at unison. Fash
ions change in all things. There
have been times when it has been
the aim of gardeners to cut and
prune the trees on n lawn to fan
tastical shapes, or else to make them
all grow alike and stand forth like
well-dressed sentinels in uniform.
The trees if left to themselves would
grow as nature intended, maintain
ing a general form according to
their kind, but with variety al
most infinite, and such trees the
world has again come to like best,
having become wearied Of gardener
art as applied to them. Here and
there one will appear which for some
cause of accident or environment
takes form that is Objectionable.
Judicious pruning may restore its
good looks without destroying its
characteristic features. Sc also the
children who arc allowed to grow
up as nature intended may devel-
op faults that need correction, but
they should not have their indiyid-
uality destroyed in an attempt to
make them like their sisters and
brothers. Unison is not to be
decried. 1t is inoffensive in social
life as in music or in painting, but
the higher laws of harmony produce
grander effects in works of art, in
musical compositions, and above all
in the home life of the family where
there should be nothing but love
and sympathy, though the members
may differ as much as do the trees
of one species in forest.-Sun.
HER DISADVANTAGE.
A mermaid sat in her pearly cave
And sighed, as she combed her hair:
what conQuests could make i'll