The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-13
The Duties of Wife
and Husband in
the Home.
EACH SHOULD HELP THE OTHER.
Woman's Place is in the
Home and the Man Must
Assist Her.

part:
Man was made to live III society. He
is as much a social as moral and ra-
tional being. OF the various ties of our
social nature, none are more striking
than those of natural affections; and of
the various forms of social connections
none are more interesting than that of
home life. 1t is the appointment of
God. In the blessings which result from
it; in the. advantages which it supplies
during the helplessness of infancy and
the dependence of old age; in the aid
which 1t gives to virtue; in the motives
which it presents to exertion and i'm
provenIent, and in the sources of con-
ISOLATION and happiness which it fur
nishes, there is no stronger illustration
of divine goodness. Indeed if there is
in the wide and benevolent sphere of
his beneficence one spot brighter than
the rest, where its rays are concentrated
in their effulgence; if there is indeed
any heaven on earth, you may find it
in the bosom of a virtuous loving, de-
voted family.
There is a magic in the word home"
which touches the feeling soul and
comes to the imagination encircled with
innumerable associations. We must
extinguish the best feelings in our ma
ture before we can become Indifferent
to home. Let it be humble and obscure:
let it ever be dark with affliction and
sickness, it is only rendered the more
dear to kind and generous heart. 1t
was the remark of a Hindu philosopher
that man is nothing until he becomes a
triad. Some one else has said that no
home is complete that has not a baby
in it. or one thing l suppose we may
be sure, that it is not good for man to
be alone. He was not made to be
alone; not made to live worked hui
man unit in complete isolation. For
every Adam there is an Eve. For every
half of a human life there is somewhere
the other half, in the joining of which
the twain becomes one. And from this
Wilderness of our dual life comes the
domestic life.
Then there are families of families;
widening out of the first human rela-
tons, and society comes into existence
The state is born, and states joining
hands become married into nations. and
nations grow into universal brother
hood. Sometimes the two halves of
our one life get strangely mismated,
but this does not fault the divine ar
rangement. We are so made that home
and the domestic life are essential.
And out Of this primal institution grows
all of her institutions of human society
Their welfare, the quality of their
growth. the kind of life that is within
them, will depend on what home is, or
upon what it is made to be.
think the truest definition of home
is this: 1t is the sanctuary of the do
nestle affections; the shrine of the
purest virtues on earth. I believe it to
be~right and duty to make our homes
as beautiful and as attractive as our
ability, great or small will admit To
make them rich without and within: to
surround them with beautiful gardens
with shady walks and the beauty and
fragrance of flowers, and to gather into
them not mere tinsel and glitter but
that Which has substantial excellence,
which instructs as we'll as pleases,
teaches as well as shines, ministers to
refined taste and a true enjoyment
Here is work not merely for fathers
and mothers, but for brothers and sis
ters, to make this place we call home
as attractive, as rich in outward and
inward embellishments as it can be
made oy your aggregate means and the
united labors of your hands.
Vast numbers of young people mate
themselves for life with very little
thought of what is involved in mar
riage. or how they shall live together,
of what their home shall be or how
they shall build it UP as the shrine of
domestic virtue and happiness. There
is no life plan, no purpose, no prepara-
tions based upon any serious view of
what are the duties pertaining to the
new life, the discharge of which can
alone fill the new home with the sun
shine of contentment and peace. Many
are the homes full of contention and
strife because in that home they were
married, but never mated.
There are in these days great many
wives and motherswho think that home
is very contracted sphere, that 1t has
not sufficient verge and opportunity,
that life shut up within its narrow en-
closure is too monotonous, too weary
ing, too slavish and unsatisfactory. 1t is
because of this false thinking and false
seeing, that woman is letting her true
power slip from her hands. She makes
a mistake when she calls the circle of
home pent-up sphere. 1t is a great
and broad world of itself and rightly
presided over, filled with all forms of
truth, purity. goodness and charity,
with every sweet and sanity presence.
it will act with a strong, elevating and
redeeming power upon the outside
world of business, of politics and gross
materialism, where are all forms of an
tagonism, and hate and wrong and vice
and sin. Our homes should help trans
form worldly and sensual lives and shed
y
desolate places.
Some men seem to think that the
weight of home cares and the burden
| of home duties should rest upon the
wife alone. There are those who would
convert their wives into household
| drudges, who rarely make wifely and
| motherly labors light by ready SYM
pathy, by kind word, by a helping
1 hand or a loving smile. Many a young
wife has been utterly broken down, has
had her life converted into a torture
| by the frown or ill-natured comments
or the disappointing conduct of her
| husband, when her first attempts at
| home-making have been little awk-
ward.
Let your homes be so constructed that
| they shall be filled with the purest air
the sweetest and softest sunshine, and
let the spirit of good cheer reign DOM
| inantly there. Make home a place
where the mind can unfold. Have
| books and papers everywhere. It is
said that a child learns his habits Of
speech, his rudiments of education
| from the ordinary conversation Of the
home more than from any other
source. The home should have no ex-.
elusive monopolies. Courtesies Of
| manners is of the primary importance;
! il is a Christian duty. There is a
/ more intimate connection between our
manners and temper than most persons
are aware of. To learn to govern our
words, is one Of the first steps to-
wards the government Of the temper
| If we can refrain from any expression
of our anger we have done much to-
wards suppressing the sentiment it,
| self We should cultivate an attach
ment for the home and the pleasures
which 1t may be made to yield.
| Every man owes to his family what
| time he can spare from the services he