The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-11-28
THE H0ME-LovING AMERICAN.
May Roam a Good Deal, but Has Some
One Place Kept for Him.

Vae race Kept Tor Him.
The American is much given to roam
ing about loose in his large country like
restless child in IN. unfamiliar room
here and there quiet corner shows that
ne Is taking possession; but for the most
part there are too many places that in.
vlte him for him to remain long in any
one Of them. He Is, nevertheless =
home-loving body. He may manage n
contrive for years in A due-out. a ,oe
caDln, or fashionable hotel: but he nre
1ers to have someone belonging To him
stay at home somewhere and keen .
place for him.
In her younger years the American
woman is not al all the sort of person
likely to obiige hin. IN this particular
she does not seem to have the instinct
Tor home IN the same degree as her for.
bears, but has, instead, an instinct fo,
freedom and independence, sharDened Nv
long repression. Home, if it deprive heI
Of these things, is no place of delight to
her, but a place of restraint. She fears
herself free from it and HES her forth to
boarding house and lunch club, taking nm
her abode with fair degree Of content.
ment, in a little room devoid of all pret.
tiness. Indeed, the room in which the
business girl spends her few hours OF
rest and adornment is likely to be much
less attractive than her personal appear
ance would lead one to expect. 1t is q
sleeping place, merely, cared for as little
as mans room.
The instinct may be crowded out, but
1t is still present, and asserts itself in
various ways-most noticeably at her of.
hce. Here she keeps q slender vase
filled with flowers bought with her hard.
earned dimes and quarters from the
stand on the street corner. Here, too, is
a drawer, lined with clean white paper
and filled with little boxes Of pins, nee.
dies and thread, scented soap, and q
powder puf-the hidden modern proto.
dear to her mothers girlhood No one
could mistake her desk for mans ex.
cept on the most cursory survey Of it. II
ner china closet is reduced to an lc>
water glass, see how bright she keeps
It. and how jealousy she guards it from
the sacriligious fingers Of the office boy
ms other girl, too, who has flown fa1
aneld IN the pursuit of knowledge, does
what she can to make her college room
homellke. just why the poster should
have achieved SO honora BILE a reputation
as a means to this end may be a, matter
OF wonder to the next generation, but
this one has set it's seal upon it as well
as upon window seats and sofa pillows
as the certain symbols of home. The
college girl has them all, as we'll as a
cnaflng dish and teakettle, and in dispos.
ing Of them in the tiny space that is hers
is comforted of her Inconsistencies. She
sends her mother long descriptions of her
surroundings, accompanied by little anna
teur blue prints, as sort of link between
this temporary abiding place and tine
home she never appreciated till she left
it. On Thanksgiving day, when the big
box comes, filed with cookies and pre-.
serves, her heart overhows" and she
shares all she has, and in return gets
little dishes of dainties from other girls
and with them vicarious glimpses into
other homes. The girls trip from room
to room, laden with gifts and vocal with
chatter about their goodies and the dear
people who sent: them. They describe
infinitely to one another the familiar lido.
syncrasies OF their uncles and annts,
and discover, rs they hold forth to sym
pathetic listeners, an interest in peculiar.
tiles which heretofore have been merely
maddening. In the retrospect, short as il
is. these things are sOftened and seen in
truer perspective. The talk grows
wistful and tender as the day deepens.
and over these hives full Of working bees
falls, with the Thanksgiving twilight,
the blessed shadow of home.