The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-12
HOME HAPPINESS.

all that it implies may not be inappro-
pirate.
1t is impossible to exaggerate the
Importance of happy home: homes
where contentment reigns, where all
the members are at peace with God
and with one another, and where there
is mutual love and forbearance in the
family circle.
What is required to make a home
really happy? 1t cannot be wealth,
as some would seem to imagine, be-
cause the happiest homes are often
those where the bare necessities OF
life alone are found. Two things
suffice: firstly, unity; secondly, the
careful fulfillment on the part of each
member of the family of those duties
that are allotted to him or her. Where
these two things are present the
other factors that go to promote happi-
ness follow as natural result.
Unity.
1t is a sad thing that many people
reserve all their unpleasantness for
members of their own family circle.
Men who are docile towards their
employers and cheerful with their
COMPANIONS are often gruff and over
bearing when they return to their
homes; women can be sharp and
spiteful at home who are never so
when they are among outsiders; and
very often young children who are
not ill-tempered or quarrelsome in the
school or playground can never be
at peace for a moment with their
brothers and sisters. There never can
be peace in the home where there
is not among the members that civility
and courtesy which is shown to
strangers, together with the kindness
that has it's source in love. Each
one must give and take at home, as
elsewhere, and selfshness must not
be allowed free play when only men,
bers of the family are present.
FulfiIIment of Individual Duties.
Each member of the family has
different duties, and it is well to see
clearly what these are and how they
are to be performed. The father is
the bread-winner. 1t is he who is
to provide for the upkeep of the home
and maintain his family in the best
condition he can. The father who
does not do this faithfully renders
home happiness all but impossible.
The drunkard who spends the money
that belongs to his family in the
qualification of his own sinful pas
sions, the shirker who prefers the
pleasures of idleness to a good posi-
ton, the careless workman who gives
satisfaction to no employer-these are
causing unhappiness to their wives
and. children and shall be called to a
severe account by God for the wrong
they have done and the suffering they
have caused.
Besides providing for his wife and
children, it is also the duty of the
father to see that the other members
of the family do their part. He is
to see that the mother cares her
children, that the children go regular
ly to school, and that, in a word, all
is as it should be in the home. The
power of his good example is great,
and unless he fulfills his own duties
he can do but little toward procuring
that the other members of the family
do theirs. The father who does not
provide for his family properly can
not earn the respect of wife and
children, nor can he hope to win their
love.
The Mother in Relation to Her
Husband.
The mother is, in many ways, the
most important person in the home.
She is largely responsible for the
maintenance of union in the family,
and she it is who chiefly moulds and
guides her children's lives. The
duties of the mother towards her hus-
band are to make the home comfort
able, and in all things to be his help
mate by her love and her devotion
to him. Many man is driven to the
public-house by the sight of the mis-
cradle home that awaits him. And,
on the other hand, the tender care
of many a complaining woman's
heart would. certainly be touched if
she could realize how her seemingly
idle and worthless husband hungers
for happy home, a "homely" home,
a home worth working for. 1t costs
but little extra trouble for a woman
to keep her house clean and tidy, and
but few realize how essential this is
to happiness. The woman whose
house, though poor, perhaps, is spot
less and orderly, who has we'll
cooked meal waiting for her hus-
band at the end of his days work,
and who greets him with a smil-
ing, cheerful face when he returns
heme-tired, mayhap, and worn after
the labours of the day-such woman
y is not likely to lose her husbands
love. But the woman who is dirty
and untidy, and whose children and
home bear the marks of her, care
y lessness, whose only reception for her
husband is an unappetizing meal and
IA grumbling and lscolding tongue,
must not be surprised if her husband
spends as little time as possible under
his own roof.
The woman that goes about her
days work systematically, and does
not waste her time in idle gossip
will have no difficulty in. making her
home dear to her husbands heart
Shn Sbould NOT ho NUacfnful or fond