Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-01-14
olsmAhrLlHo An OLD HOME.
Il Furnishes an object Lesson Is to the e.
ssntials Of Home Keeping.

sonuasS OF nome Keeping.
III every young couple. rich as well
as poor. could be brought face to face
with the accumulations Of family life
whlch have extended over two genera.
tions. they would find themselves freed
IRON many an unsatisfied craving and
cease from nourishing many covetous
desires
At recent bargain sale" of fur
niture in a great shop, there was a no.
ticeable sprinkling of very young pur-
chasers; so few years had passed over
their heads that a looker-on felt per-
picked to imagine the STRIPPING hus-
band and the girl wife seated at the
head and foot of the dining tables they
We're scrutinizing. They walked apart
to consult as to whether they could
make the slender purse cover the addi-
tional ten dollars which was demanded
for some bit of mirror inserted in the
sideboard, or an extra monstrosity Of
machine carving on the back of the
chairs. Everywhere around them were
more conspicuous. more expensive, more
snowy things; stretch their few dollars
to their utmost limit the girl wife's eyes
still wandered GENEROUSLY to the things
out of reach. All the joy of their
plenishng was dulled by desire for
the unattainable. The young mans
face lost its eagerness; after all. he
could not give his bride her hearts
desire
There was an ascending scale of
price; distinct demarcation OF as
cending degrees of wealth. but a COM
mon look of regret that each in turn
could not have something yet finer
than the best within their reach. De-
scending in the elevator with the
looker-on, brown young farmer, hold
ing with distinctive American courtesy
his vain little wifes white silk parasol
sol CO looked utterly disheartened. She
who had chosen this absurd piece of
tinery for the country road had evil
IDENTIFY been unwilling to have anything
he was able to give her. Her heart
had been wen by curious adornments
and the glitter of glass.
BY sharp contrast the observer had
been called to decide what was of real
value. what of little worth. from the
stored belongings of a large family
who had gathered accretions of ma
teral things from the four quarters %
the globe. If there is a method of
teaching the folly of accumulation. it
is this stern one of sitting in judgment
upon the taste and value of the result
of so years of family purchasing and
boarding.
One thing stands out in strong ans
incontrovertible evidence; only tn"
simple. radically good things are Of
.n,a hp-
leves," all modern pretenders to an
tiquity, all inferior copies and shams,
take their places in the review like de-
tected criminals. They may still have
some smartness left. they may yet
have Ian air of their own but you do
not want them at any price. The one
lovely dignified piece of old solid ma
hogany, with as little show about ii as
duchess in travelling dress, shows its
good breeding in every line and tells
it's blue blood in the dull red glow 1t
caught under the sun Of Santo DO
mingo, and the eager hands of dividing
heirs reach out simultaneously towards
it among a dozen gilded limitations of
the Napoleonic era or make believe"
Louis XVI. sofas and lounges.
If one has not money enough to buy
| two good things, let him be content
with one. BY good things l mean true
| things: not cotton that looks like vel
vet; not damask with a cotton back;
not imitation anything.
! Another point in evidence was how
easy it is to have too much. Turn out
| the furnishings Of any large family
dwelling for the cool inspection OF a
| disinterested judge. and his first ques-
| ton would be: why did they have 50
much? When they bought the new.
why did they not make some poorer
| household happy with the old?' 1t
\ never seems to occur to the average
| householder. when a new lounge re-
| places the one discarded, to find some
| feeble woman and endow her with 81
precious a luxury. 1t is made way for
| the old put, nine times out of ten,
where it is announcement to leave 1t.
because it is too good to throw away.
It's incalculable value to some one else
does not seem to enter the possessor S
mind naturally. That house is in mos;
healthful condition in which only what
is really conducive to family comfort
and pleasure is retained, and the
rooms which are not overburdenea
|
| invariably the most elegant.
| The certain sorrow which clings, like
| a DESTROYING barnacle to ship. was
| also proved beyond a question to be
\the result of Accommodations of soa-
| yenirs of the dear and sacred dead
Mementoes which can be used and re-
main a part of active daily life. or
things like pictures which delight the
ewes, or books which. read again, re
new happy hours Of first acquaintance
with their delightful contents, are
helps to happiness-links in that
golden chain which is not severed. oriy
hidden. by the descending veil OF sep
aration which falls behind death. But
corruptible, useless. and often even
unpleasant things. kept because OF
their former owner, are absolute IN
iuries to the living. and become. as
the wears go on, a Dissertation rather
than conserver of halloWed
memory.
A notable instance came once pe1ore
the writer's observation, where trunk
opened by mistake in dusty attic
sent forth a cloud Of moths from the
decaying wardrobe of a child, whose
cast-off garments might have warmed
some poor little girls ill-clothed oodV