Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-02-12

that the rats had utterly destroyed the
manuscript, but without any discompo-
sure and without any fret or bad temper
he again picked up his gun and pencil
and visited again all the great forests
of America and reproduced his immor-
tai work And yet there are people with
the ten-thousandth part of that loss who
are utterly irreconcilable who, at the
loss of a pencil or an article Of raiment
will blow as long and sharp as a north
east storm.
Now, that man who is affable in pub
lie and who is irritable in private is
making fraudulent overissue Of stock,
and he is as bad as a bank that might
have s4OO, 900 or $500, 600 Of bills in
circulation with no specie in the vault.
Let us learn TO show piety at home. " II
we have it not there, we have it not any
where II we have not genuine grace in
the family circle, all our outward and
public plausibility merely springs from a
fear of the world or from the Shiny,
putrid pool of our own seltishness. l
tell you the home is a mighty test Of
character What you are at home you
are everywhere, whether you demon
strate il or not.
Again, I remark that home is a ref
uge. Life is the United States army on
the national road TO Mexico, a long
march, with ever and anon a skirmish
and a battle. At eyentide we pitch our
tent and stack our arms; we hang up
the war cap and lay our head on the
knapsack; we sleep until the morning
bugle calls us to marching and action.
How pleasant it is to rehearse the vic
tories and the surprises and the attacks
Of the day, seated by the still campfire
Of the home circlel
Yea, life is a stormy sea. With shiv-
cred masts and torn sails and hulk
aleak, we put into the harbor Of home.
Blessed harbor, there we 60 for repairs
in the drydock of quiet life The can
die in the window is to the toiling man
the lighthouse guiding him into port.
Children 90 forth to meet their fathers
as pilots at the Narrows take the hand
of ships. The doorsill Of the home is
the wharf where heavy life is unladen.
A Refuge. Safeguard and School.
There is the place where we may talk
Of what we have done without being
charged with self adulation. There Is
the place where we may lounge without
being thought ungraceful. There IS the
place where we may express affection
without being thought silly. There is
the place where we may forget our an
noyances and exasperations and trou-
bles. Forlorn earth pilgrim, no home!
Then die. That is better. The grave is
brighter and grander and more glorious
than this world, with no tent from
marchings, with no harbOr from the
storm, with no place to rest from this
scene of greed and gouge and loss and
gain. God pity the man or woman who
has no homel
Further. remark that home is po-
litical safeguard. The safety of the state
must be built on the safety Of the home.
The Christian hearthstone is the only
cornerstone for a republic. The virtues
cultured in the family circle are an alb
solute necessity for the state. If there
be not enough moral principle to make
the family adhere, there will not be
enough political principle to make the
state adhere. "NO home" means the
Goths and Vandals, means the nomads
of Asia, means the Numidians Of AT
rica, changing from place to place ac-
cording as the pasture happens to
change. Confounded be all those Babels
Of iniquity which would overtower and
DESTROY the homel The same storm
that upsets the ship in which the fami-
" sails will sink the frigate Of the con-
stitution. Jails and penitentiaries and
armies and navies are not our best de-
fense. The door of the home is the best
fortress. Household utensils are the best
artillery, and the chimneys OF our
dwelling houses are the grandest monu-
ments Of safety and triumph. No home,
no republic.
Further, / remark that home is a
school. Old ground must be turned up
with subsoil plow, and it must be har-
rowed and reharrowed, and all the in
huences thrown over their heart and
life will come up in after life luxuriant-
". Every time you have given a smile
of appreciation all the good cheer Of
your life will come up again in the
geniality Of your children. And every
ebullition of anger aud every unccntrol-
liable display Of Indignation will lie fuel
to their disposition 20 or 30 or 40 years
from now-fucl for bad fIe a quarter
of a century from this. You praise the
| intelligence of your child too much
sometimes when you think he is not
aware of it, and you will see the result
of it before 10 years Of age in his an
moving affectations. You praise his
beauty, supposin, he is not large enough
TO understand what you say and you
will find him standing on high chair
before a hattering mirror. Words and
deeds and example are the seed Of char
acter, and children are very apt to be
the second edition of their parents.
Abraham begat Isaac, so virtue is apt to
90 down in the ancestral line, but Herod
begat Archelaus, so iniquity is trans
mitted. What vast responsibility comes
upon parents in view Of this subject
Oh, make your home the brightest
place ON earth if you would charm
your children to the high path Of virtue
and rectitude and religion! Do not al
ways turn the blinds the wrong way.
Let the light which puts gold ON the
gentian and spots the pansy pour into
your dwellings. Do not expect the little
feet to keep step to dead march. Do
not cover up your walls with such pic
lures as Vests Death on a Pale
Horse" or Tintoretto's Massacre Of
the Innocents. Rather cover them, If
you have pictures, with "The Hawking
Party" and 1.-THE Mill by the Mountain
Stream" md 1.-THE Children Amid
Flowers" and 1.-THE Harvest Scene, "
and 1.-The Saturday Night Marketing. !"
Home Duties.
Get you no hint Of cheerfulness firm
Iorasshopper's leap and lambs frisk and