Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1918-12-28
GOING HOME

man or woman going home at the enc
of the day. The fierce heat of the
sun has passed, the intense high light
Of midday has softened into restful
glow, the strain of effort is over, and
the passion work has given place to
the peace of deserted fields and
streets. It was a normal instinct
which sent the worker forth, eager
and alert, in the morning. 1t is the
response to deep craving which
sends him home at nightfall. The re-
ward of labor is the rest which it ac-
hieves, and the joy of rest is the
sense that it has been earned.
The alienation of day and night
is a symbol of the order of life in
which work and rest succeed one an
other in beautiful and health giving
rhythm. The worker goes out to
himself when he takes up his tools;
he returns to himself when he lays
them down at the end of the day. He
pours out his vitality as the water
pours out of a hidden spring; if he is
a real worker and not mere drudge,
he gives himself in the toll of his
hand and his brain, and when night
falls his WEAKNESS is not mere fatigue
of body, it is depletion Of vitality. Be-
fore he can give himself again he
must find himself! and when one
goes home he finds himself.
To vast multitude Of men the
thought of going home makes the
heaviest burdens .bearable, the most
crushing responsibilities spur to
effort, the most complete surrender
Of ease and pleasure, not sacrifice
but a price gladly paid for a happi-
ness which is beyond price. The strain
of the day is forgotten at the door
which opens the peace of perfect I'M
dcrstanding, the pressure of hours
and tasks is relaxed by the sound of
a voice which is musical with 1ove
and faith and peace. In such home
coming there is not only the supreme
reward for the work of the day that
is ended; there is also the renewal of
strength mad courage for the day that
is to bring new strife and toll.
The joy of going home is not in the
ease and comfort that are waiting
there; it is in the peace that flows
from love, the stiffness that follows
the tumult Of storm, the clear stmos-
phere in which the dust of the high
way is laid and the worker sees
again the ends for which he is striv-
ing; in the quietness of usch home
the toll of life is not only sweetened
but its spiritual meaning shines clear
again after the confusion of details
has vanished. Under the heat and
burden of the day the strongest man
sometimes wonders if life means any
thing but prolonged strain of muscle
and brain; in the stiffness OF home
its blurred ends, its ultimate achieve
ments shine like the stars above the
highway when the dust has been laid.
The home is not primarily place
for WORK but for life, work lies below
and beyond it, but the companionship
which transforms a house into home
is sharing of the rewards of work;
freedom, reposc, refreshments, vision.
There are houses full Of conveniences
ard Injuries in which no one is at
home; the men and women who live in
them are homeless. To such men
ard women, to whom marriage IS a
mere social contract and the family
a mere social arrangement, there IS
no going home, no refuge for the
spirit, no place of understanding and
vision. There are no more pathetic
figures in the world Of today than
these homeless men and women; rest
less, discontented and unhappy and
utterly bird to the tragcdy>of a life
in which there is no going home.
STANLEY Beck in the American