Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-12-09
THE PASSING OF THE HOME.
One Of the Saddest Phenomena of Mod
ern City Life.

a home is a tract of ground big or
little, partly occupied by some kind OF
dwelling and otherwise filled with flowers,
trees, vegetable gardens, the bric-a-brac
of a backyard, or anything else, so only
that some space of mother earth may re-
main whereon the children of the family
may disport themselves. where the illu-
sions of childhood may transform wood
piles into great ships cotheslines into
telegraphs. beanpoles into armies, old
sticks into horses and washyubs into
chariots. and in which, as the twilight
comes on and the shadows deepen, liv-
ing forms, to the childish imagination,
seem to hover and fit in the gloom from
one dark corner TO another. Above all,
for all purposes Of enjoyment or occupa-
ton II is ones very own, the one spot
where none else may come unlimited, but
which to him stands ever open, the scene
of his happiest hours, his refuge in time
of trouble. Within the memory of men
still young no family in America, outside
of a few congested districts in large
cities, was without home of that kind
The dwelling upon it might be a cabin,
cottage or a mansion but such as 1t was
1t was the owned or rented possession OF
one family. held sacred to the use OF
its members from the centre of the earth
to the clouds above. 1t was the home.
The passing of the home is the saddest
phenomena of modern city life. The ten
ement house-which We seek to disguise
under the name of "nat"-is most
wretched substitute for the humblest OF
homes. That our people endure them is
an indication of degeneracy. as it will I'M
questionably be the cause of a more rapid
descent 1t is morally certain that the
Vigor of the race can be maintained only
by personal contact with the mother
earth from which we sprang, which nour-
ishes and sustains us while we live and
which receives us to her bosom when we
die. Why this perhaps no one knows.
but ii is within the knowledge of all that
the vigor of the city is constantly re-
cruited from country life. To deprive
children of daily contact with the soil is
n sin.
The evil of the tenement house was not
realized until 1t passed from the slums,
because few of us know how the other
half lives, 1t is perhaps not so desperate
misfortune to those who live by manu-
al labor, for they get their contact with
earth in other ways, less veXed by the
conventions of society find access to the
soil by some means and pass, while still
young. to the occupations of their pa
rents. The most terrible effect of the ten
ement house is in the families of the
"salaried class as distinguished from the
wage earners," and who fit from fiat
to fiat, seldom remaining long enough
any lOI nome dSSOCldtlOHS 10 10
formed. There can perhaps be no home
associations worthy of the name which
are not connected with a piece Of open
ground In the sole possession of the fam
lily. 1t would seem that in our largest
cities this privilege can no longer be en-
Joyed except by the rich. A recent ed
itorial on the subject in the New York
Times states that during the year 1908
but tifty-siN single houses were erected
in that city, estimated to cost less than
$4,000, 600" This indicates that the av-
erage cost of a real home in that city is
over $4,000, and, of course, out of reach
OF any but the very well-to-do. Land
has become too valuable to be devoted
to such purposes. To secure an income
from the land its rental must be di-
vided among such a number of families
as can carry the load by united effort, and
they are packed in, over and under each
other and side by side until the requisite
force is assembled In this city until re-
Gently the 'three-fat" abomination has
been the usual limit for "genteel" people
Now regular tenements are being erected
In the pleasanter parts of the city. In
which childless couples huddle in four
room apartments" 1t is not good.