And the centre of all that once was bright was the home fireside.
W^hat stories were told by its red glow and flickering flame ! What
books and magazines were read aloud beside it ! How much sweet
talk of absent ones ! The wind that shrieked amid the leafless trees,
or round the corners of the street, made us draw closer to it. Then
the heroic story, the pathetic poem, the narrative of hairbreadth
'scapes, the ghost story or tale of highway robbery, would hold us
spellbound. But neither winds nor waves, nor ghosts nor robbers
scared us till we went to bed, for we felt safe from physical and
spiritual harm so long as we could see the live coals burning on the
altar-hearth of Home.
HOME-MAKING AND HOME-MANAGEMENT.
" In many a village window burn
The evening lamps ;
They shine amid the dews and damps,
Those lights of home !
" Afar the wanderer sees them glow.
Now night is near;
They gild his path with radiance clear.
Sweet lights of home.
" Ye lode-stars that forever draw
The wear)' heart,
In stranger lands or crowded mart;
O ! lights of home.
" When my brief day of life is o'er,
Then may I see,
Shine from the heavenly house for me
Dear lights of home."
|0ME writer has said that the best security for civiliza-
tion is the home, and that upon its perpetuity rests the
future of the world. Certain it is that without home-
life humanity would be lost to all the nobler condi-
tions of existence, and be incapacitated from elevating
itself The foundation of existence is home, and
about its walls are entwined all the sweet memories of earth. Its
inner temple, real or ideal, is the shrine at which all enlightened man-
kind worships, and its altar is the Mecca of the heart, the Abdul-el-
Kader of the soul. Poets have written of it — minstrels have made it
the subject of song, and to all the world it has been an inspiring
theme and a bright anticipation.
To the masses it exists as yet ideally only. The average man and
woman know nothing of its beauty, its rest, or its blessings. It lives
(36)
HOME-MAKING AND HOME-MANAGEMENT. 37-
in tradition, is known to their hearts in the form of aspiration and
desire, but is a reality only to the few. " The place where angels
dwell — that is home," reads the old German legend, and the real
interpretation of the word is not far different.
It takes but little to make a home. It requires little to beautify it,
but that little lacking, home can exist only in aspiration and in
imagination.
Harmony among those composing the family-circle, and a degree
of worldly comfort secured, home may indeed be a reality, and to
assist those who are trying to rear one, and to aid the seekers after
refinement, beauty and economy in it, these hints are offered !
To make home-life beautiful, to give to it a charm which it ought
to possess, to turn the hearts of the young to it with renewed affec-
tion— can any task be more inspiring or deserving of success?
Page 17
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
And the centre of all that once was bright was the home fireside. What stories were told by its red glow and flickering flame ! What books and magazines were read aloud beside it ! How much sweet talk of absent ones ! The wind that shrieked amid the leafless trees, or round the corners of the street, made us draw closer to it. Then the heroic story, the pathetic poem, the narrative of hairbreadth 'scapes, the ghost story or tale of highway robbery, would hold us spellbound. But neither winds nor waves, nor ghosts nor robbers scared us till we went to bed, for we felt safe from physical and spiritual harm so long as we could see the live coals burning on the altar-hearth of Home.
" In many a village window burn The evening lamps ; They shine amid the dews and damps, Those lights of home !
" Afar the wanderer sees them glow. Now night is near;
They gild his path with radiance clear. Sweet lights of home.
" Ye lode-stars that forever draw The weary heart,
In stranger lands or crowded mart; O ! lights of home.
" When my brief day of life is o'er, Then may I see,
Shine from the heavenly house for me Dear lights of home."
Some writer has said that the best security for civilization is the home, and that upon its perpetuity rests the future of the world. Certain it is that without homelife humanity would be lost to all the nobler conditions of existence, and be incapacitated from elevating itself The foundation of existence is home, and about its walls are entwined all the sweet memories of earth. Its inner temple, real or ideal, is the shrine at which all enlightened mankind worships, and its altar is the Mecca of the heart, the Abdul-el- Kader of the soul. Poets have written of it — minstrels have made it the subject of song, and to all the world it has been an inspiring theme and a bright anticipation.
To the masses it exists as yet ideally only. The average man and woman know nothing of its beauty, its rest, or its blessings. It lives (36)
in tradition, is known to their hearts in the form of aspiration and desire, but is a reality only to the few. " The place where angels dwell — that is home," reads the old German legend, and the real interpretation of the word is not far different.
It takes but little to make a home. It requires little to beautify it, but that little lacking, home can exist only in aspiration and in imagination.
Harmony among those composing the family-circle, and a degree of worldly comfort secured, home may indeed be a reality, and to assist those who are trying to rear one, and to aid the seekers after refinement, beauty and economy in it, these hints are offered !
To make home-life beautiful, to give to it a charm which it ought to possess, to turn the hearts of the young to it with renewed affection— can any task be more inspiring or deserving of success?