Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-01-21

The AhGOS
: lstence and liberty by repudiating ways
! In its eyes too patriarchal So these
young folks make efforts TO set them.
selves UP lavishiy in the latest fashion
| and rid themselves Of useless property
ut dirt cheap prices. Instead Of filling
their houses with objects which say.
Remember" they garnish them with
| quite new furnishings that as yet have
no meaning. Wait. I am wrong; these
| things are often symbols. as ii were. OF
a facile and superficial existence In
their midst one breathes certain
/ heady vapor OF mundanity. They re-
cali the life outside. the turmoil. the
rush. And were one sometimes dis
| posed TO forget this life they would
call back his wandering thought and
say. Remember" In another sense.
do not forget your appointment at the
club. the play. the races. The home
then becomes n sort OF halfway house
where one comes to rest a little be
tween two prolonged absences 1t isn't
a good place to stay. AS IL has NO
soul. II does not speak to yours. Time
to eat and sleep. and then off again!
Otherwise you become as dull as O
hermit
We are all acquainted with people
who have a rage for being abroad. who
think the world would no longer &C
round IL they didn't figure on all sides
OF II. To stay at home Is penal. There
they cease TO be In view. A horror
Of home life possesses them to such O
degree that they would rather pay to
be bored outside than be amused gratu-
itously within.
In this way society slowly grayitates
toward life in herds, which must not
be COMPOUNDED with public life. The
life in herds Is somewhat like that of
swarms of flies in the sun. Nothing so
much resembles the worldly life of n
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 ravages made in modern so
ciety by the spirit of worldliness. and
IL we 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.
The masses have timed their pace by
that OF people of fashion. They, too.
have become worldly. Nothing can be
more so 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
-
ed the same. There is the same fire In
the same chimney. Whence comes it
that IL lights only an incomplete circle
when in olden times young and old sat
shoulder to shoulder? Something has
changed I'm the minds of men. Yielding
to dangerous impulses. they have bro
ken with simplicity. The fathers have
quilted their post of honor, the wives
grow dull 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
home life, to value our domestic tradi-
lions. \ pious care has preserved GER
tain monuments OF the past. So an
tique dress, provincial dialects. old
folk songs. have found appreciative
hands to gather them up before they
should disappear from the earth. What
a good deed, TO guard these crumbs of
great past, these vestiges of the
souls of our ancestors, Let us do the
same for our family traditions, save
and guard rs much as possible of the |
patriarchal. whatever its form.
But not every one has traditions to |
keep; all the more reason for redou- |
bling the effort to constitute and foster |
n family life. And to do this there Is
need neither of numbers nor n rich |
establishment To create q home you |
must have the spirit of home Just as
the smallest village may have its his |
tory. its moral stamp. so the smallest |
home may have It's soul Oh, the spir
IL OF places. the atmosphere which sur |
rounds us in human dwellings. What
a world of mystery, Here. even on the |
threshold. the cold begins TO penetrate;
you are Ill at ease: something intangi-
bic repulses you. There no sooner does
the door shut you in than friendliness
and good humor envelop you. 1t is
said that walls have ears. They have
also voices. a mute eloGuence. Every
thing that dwelling contains Is bath
ed In an ether OF personality. And I
find proof OF its quality even In the
apartments of bachelors and 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
IL. even in his fashion OF arranging his
and books. All is the
same TO me. There one breatbes in ami
nation, contagious Joy In life. The
visitor hears repeated In countless
fashions: Whoever you are, guest of
m hour. / wish you we'll Peace he
with YOU
Words can do little justice TO the
subject OF home, tell little about thc
effect Of favorite flower in the win
dow or the charm of an old armchair
where the grandfather used to sit.
Offering his wrinkIed hands IN the