Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29

l
unbleached m s n
!. ! !
| .%A and smelling of cam
Mk'MYN fire. and other afro
| NAE@.GsslG cious odors I have
| ZS.NTuI seen so many kinds
| \&ADWN NNVih and classes of homes
| SAEt> EI in my half-continent
| HLNYInN Nile trip this summer that
| tIHIkNAtYS / feel as though 1t
W. eNN(S would be a hard mat
| Tr,m ter to appreciate suf-
| hciently my own coy abiding place, which,
If 1t is not palatial, is at least roomy and
| comfortable, and is home. 1 never fully
| realized before the pathos of Payne's heart
hungry cry. There's no place like home, -
| and doubt If any one can who has never
| known the discomfort of stopping at all
manner of places. sleeping in all kinds of
| beds and eating all sorts of food.
There are shades and grades in homes,
| of course. A Navajo Indian wouldn't like
| our homes at all. He would dislike the
closeness of the atmosphere and the doors.
And he would object most strenuously to
| the white mans bed and the white mans
| board. The dusky Mexicans would dislike
our carpeted rooms, eye with apprehension
our latrobes and ranges, our furnaces and
steam coils, and die of starvation If the
cook failed to put red pepper in the pastry.
And so 1t goes. Home means much to those
people who value it, but the measure of
| value depends upon the potency of the in
fiuenceS that surround the home in QueS-
| ton, and how far its comforts and con-
| veniences respond 10 the demands of our
natures. Dick exemplified that view of 1t
| the night after we got home. Dorothy had
gone off to see some of the girls, and Dick
| had come In for one of his talks" which
usually mean q Smoke" with his manly
| form in my favorite chair and his feet on
| INV fn 70
Now, this is solid comfort, Sara" he
| managed to say between puffs. THE fell
| lows who have no homes have my SINGER
est sympathy"
1 was struck with a sudden thought, and
so asked him what his definition of q home
might be.
What n axes homer quered. watch
Ing the glow on the end of his cigar, and
wondering If woman could get ernanci-
pated enough to take as much comfort with
an after-dinner cigar as man. The glow
frightened through the dusk in the room
and then died in white ashes again before
Dick replied gently:
Home and Women.
"A woman, Sara. 1t Is woman who
makes or mars home for a man. You
may think that is narrow view to take of
the matter, but that is the way 1 feel about
1t. What do you suppose L cared about
| coming to this great barn of house when
there woman 1 cared for here to
welcome me? man can satisfy all the
ccarser demands of his nature at the club
or a hotel. He can be fed, get a place to
| sleep, and have even better service, If he
pays for 1t, than he can get in the average
| home, but that does not constitute happi-
| ness. There is one corner of a mans heart
| that nothing on earth can fill but wo-
| man. At first 1t is his mother or the one
| who stands In a mothers place to him,
best, 1t is his wife. A good woman can
make hut a home for a man, if she tries,
and she can make palace a purgatory If
| she Is SO minded"
Then Dick was called for and went
away, after bestowing on me one of his
bears hugs, which he calls an embrace
Dick Is such a tender, loving brother. He
has never seemed to grow away from his
sisters, as so many boys do, and he still
keeps up the childish custom of a good
night and good morning kiss. Not many
young men who have cast their first vote
for President say that. Yet it does a
mother so much good when her grown-up
children show in almost the only way left
| them that they love her just as they did in
Childhood. l think, sometimes, that the
present generation Of children are too mat
ter-of-fact in this respect They take so
much for granted themselves, and expect
everybody else to do the same. 1 know
| mothers who would give year from their
shortening lives to have their big boys
their grown-up sons and daughters, come to
them at night for the good night kiss, the
tender, loving pat of the hand, just as they
to be cuddled.
'Since 1 have stood in the place of a
mother to Dick and Dorothy, and long be-
fore that in fact, they have kept up the
habit Of coming to me In the twilight hour
whenever 1t has been possible to talk over
the events of the day, it's pleasures and its
pains. Often We have not five minutes to-
gether, but, however short the time 1t Is
one of those breathing places in the hurry
of life that not one of us would like to skip
L miss our evening talks is what they
always say when l am away from them
for a day or two. l like to hear them say
1t. too; for l know that they will never get
very far from the influence of home ties as
long as they can come and talk to me as
openly as they did when they were toddling
little ones.
The Mothers Kiss.
"Once, when Dick was only seventeen, he
had for a frierc a smart youth Of advanced
ideas. He called his father governor and
styled his mother the old lady, I didn't
like that boy, but trusted to Dicks innate
manhood to rid him in time of so undesirable
an acquaintance. The youth was bright, and
had thoroughly fascinated my brother. One
night he came home with Dick to remain
for day or two. When we came to sepa-
rate for the night Dick tumbled my hair
and mussed my laces, in the usual fashion
of big boys who embrace with the same en-
ergy that they exert in base ball. and the
youth laughed at him. When out of my
hearing, as he thought, he called Dick a
'mollycoddle,' and asked him If he was al
ways going to be baby. My! how mad
Dick did get at him.
"Ill never get too big nor too old to love
my sisters he said; and as long as l love
them 1 shall let them know it in my own
way, and you can like it or lump it, just as
you please, VIII Felton, Then he got
little ashamed of talking to a guest in that
manner, and said, apologetically, to the
youth:
You SCI, FELTON,, my mother liked to
have me kiss her, and she said when l was
just little fellow that as long as could
come and kiss her goodnight she knew
that my heart was all right. But II the
time ever came when didn't want to put
my head on her shoulder or touch my lips
20 hers she would know that I had said or
done things that would grieve her, and
would be ashamed to come for comfort to
heart that had hurt! You can laugh If
you want to, but tell, you fellow can't
swear and cheat at cards and think de-
basing thoughts and keep low company and
then go and kiss his mother goodnight.
She'll find him out every pop. and her sorry
face will make him hate himself, even If
she never says word to him. He just
makes up his mind that his mothers hap
piness and peace of mind are worth more