The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-04-06

claims: This is what people too often
neglect to inquire They make Il mis-
take We treat the invader as very
poor and simple people do a pompous
visitor For this incommOding guest
of a day they pillage their garden
bully their children and servants ano
neglect their work Such conduct is
not only wrong; it is impolitic. One
should have the courage to remain
what he is in the face of all corners
The worldly spirit is full of imperti
nenceS. Here is Il home which has
formed characters of mark and is form
ing them yet The people, the furnish
ings, the customs are all in harmony
BY marriage or through relations OF
business or pleasure the worldly spirit
enters. 1t finds everything out ol
date. awkward, too simple. lacking the
modern touch. At first it restricts it
self to criticism and light raillery. But
this is the dangerous moment. LoOh
out for yourSelf-here is the enemy.
If You so much as listen to his reason.
ingS. tomorrow YOU will sacrifice Il
piece Of furniture, the next day Il good
old tradition. and so one by one the
family hcirlooms dear to the heart
will 20 t. the hric-a-brac dealer-and
f1lial pioty with them.
In the midst of your new habits ana
in the changed atmosphere your friends
Of other days, your old relatives, will
be eXpatriated. Your next step viii
be to lay them aside in their turn The
worldly spirit leaves the old out of
consideration. At last, established in
an absolutely transformed setting. even
you will view yourself with amaze,
ment Nothing will be familiar, but
surely it will be correct-at least the
world will be satisfied. All. that is
where you are mistaken. After hay
ing made YOU cast out pure treasure as
so much junk it viii find that your Dor
rowed livery fits you i'll and will hasten
to make yOu sensible of the ridiculous
ness Of the situation Much bette
have had from the beginning the cOur.
age of your convictions and have dc.
Tended your home
Many young people when they marry
listen 70 this voice of the world. Then
parents have given them the example
Of Il modest life but the new genera
ton thinks if ?ttirmS IFS RIGHTS to OK
istence and liberty by repudiating ways
i'll its eyes too patriarchal. SO these
young folks make efforts to set them
selves up layishly in the latest fashion
and rid themselves of useless property
at 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. | am wrong; these
things are often symbols. as it were, of
facle and superficial existence: In
their midst one brcathes certain
heady vapor of mundanity. They re-
cali the life outside the turmoil the
rush. And We're one sometimes dis
posed TO forget this life they would
call bacl; his wandering thought and
say, Remember" In another sense,
do not forget your appointment at the
club, the play the races. The home
where one comes to rest Il little be-
tween two prolonged absences 1t isn't
a good place to stay. AS it has nc
soul. it does not speak to yours. Time
to eat and sleep, and then off again.
Otherwise you become as dull as a
hermit
We are all acquainted with people
l. -
think the world would no longer &c
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 home life possesses them to such 8
degree that they would rather pay tC
be bored outside than be amused gratu
itously within.
In this way society slowly gravitatcs
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 s.
much resembles the worldly life of Il
man as the worldly life of another
man. And this universal banallty de
strOys the very essence of public spir.
it, one need not journey far to dis,
cover the ravaGes made in modern SO
ciety by the spirit of wOrldliness, and
if we have 50 little foundation, 50 lit.
tie equilibrium, calm good sense ana
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 squaloI
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
ed the same. There Is the same fire in
the same chimney. Whence comes il
that it lights only an incomplete circle
when in olden times young and Old sat
shoulder TO shoulder? Something has
changed in 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
thof- t,,,,, 10. no o,nl, ct,,, I, g..