Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1905-04-06

| tween two prolonged absences. 1t isn't
good place TO stay. As il has no
| soul, II does not speak To yours. Time
| 10 eat and sleep. and then off again!
! Otherwise you become rs dull as Il
| hermit.
We are all acquainted with people
| who have Il rage for being abroad, who
think the world would no longer 20
round if they didn't figure on all sides
of It, TO stay at home is penal. There
they cease to be In view. \ horror
Of bone life possesses them to such
degree that they would rather pay to
be bored outside than he amused gratu.
itously within.
In this way society slowly gravitateS
toward life I'm herds, which must not
be COnfounded with public life. The
life in herds is somewhat like that of
swarmS of flies in the sun. Nothing 50
much resembles the worldly life of Il
man as the worldly life of another
man. And this universal banality de
strOys the very essence of public spir-
ii. one need not journey far to dis
cover the ravaEes made in modern So
if VIC have so little foundation, so lit
tie equilibrium, calm good sense and
initiative. one of the chief reasons lies
in the undermining of the home life.
Tho MASSES have timed their pace hy
that of people of fashion. They, too.
have become worldly. Nothing can he
more 50 than to quit ones own hearth
for the life Of saloons The sQualor
and misery Of the homes are not enough
to explain the current which carries
each man away from his own. Why
does the peasant desert for the inn the
house that his father and grandfather
found so comfortable? 1t has remain
ell the same. There is the same fire in
the same chimney. Whence comes it
that il lights only an incomplete circle
when in oldCn times young and old sat
shoulder to shoulder? Something has
changed in the minds of men. Yielding
10 dangerous impulses they have bro
ken with simplicity. The fathers have
quilted their post Of honor, the wives
grow duh beside the solitary hearth,
and the children quarrel while waiting
their turn to go abroad, each after his
own fancy.
We must learn again to live the
homo ffc. 10 value our domestic tradl-
tions. \ pious care has preserved Ger
tain monuments of the past. So an
tiquc drcGs, provincial dialects. old
folk songs, have found apprcciativc
hands to gather them up before they
should disappear from Tic earth What
n good deed. to guard these crumbs Of
n great past. these vcstigcs OF tic
souls Of our ancestors! Let us do the
same for our family traditions. save
and guard ns much as possible of the
pHtrinrchal, whatever its form.
But not every one has traditions to
keep; all the more reason for rCdnU-
bling the effort 10 constitute and foster
a family life. And to do this there IT.
need neither OF numbers nor n rich
establishment. To create a homo YOU
must have The spirit Of homo. lust u8
the smallest village may have It's his
tory, lis moral stamp, so the smallest
home may have its soul Oh. the spir,
it OF places. the atmosphere which sur.
rounds MS in human dwellings! What
Il world of mystery! Here. even on the
threshold, the cold begins to penetrate;
you arc III at case; something intangi-
bic rCpulSes you. There no sooner dOca
the door shut you in than friCndliness
and good humOr envelOp you. 1t Is
said that walls have ears. They have
also voices, Il mute clOqucnce. Every
thing that a dwelling contains Is bath
ed in an ether Of personality. And
find proof Of its quality even in the
apartments of bachelors ana solitary
women, What an abyss between one
room and another room! Here all is
dead, Indifferent, commonplace; the de-
vice Of the owner Is written all over
II, even in his fashion Of arranging his
photographs and books. All Is the
same TO me. There one breathes in ami
nation, contagious Joy IN life, The
visitor hears repeated IN countless
fashions: whoever you are. guest Of
an hour, l wish you well. Peace be
with you"
Words can do little justice to the
subject Of home, tell little about the
| effect Of favOrlte flower In the Win
| dow or the charm of an old armchair
where the grandfather used to sit,
Offering his wrinklcd hands to the
kisses Of chubby children. Poor mod
Crns, always moving or rcmOdeling!
We who from Transforming our cities,
! our houses, our customs ana creeds
have no longer where to lay our heads,
let us not add to the pathOs and emptl-
ness OF our changeful existence by
abandoning the life Of the home. Let
us light again the tiame put out on our
hearths, make sanctuaries for our
selves, warm nests where the children
may grow into men, where love may
find privacy, Old age repose, prayer
an altar and the faiheTiand q cult,