jHE ideal home, like the ideal life, should aim at com-
pleteness and perfection. I use the word " ideal " be-
cause it exactly expresses a high mark to be aimed
at, and I use the two words " completeness " and
"perfection," the one to denote quantity and the
other quality. The first reminds us that there must
be enough — that is, neither deficiency nor superfluity ; the second,
that what there is must be the best of its kind.
In reality, perfect completeness and complete perfection are never
attained by man either in his life or in his home. Physically, men-
tally and morally man is an imperfect being. Even the strong man
armed finds a stronger than himself Our vision is limited and
imperfect, and both the physical and intellectual eye can see but a
short distance, and are bounded by a narrow horizon beyond which
there stretch circle after circle beyond our ken until they fade away
in infinity. But an old historian makes this the great difference
between man and brute, that while the brute looks always downward
and earthward, man looks upward and beyond himself Yet we
must never think that the eye in us is the centre of the universe, or
forget that
" There are more things in heaven and earth
Than are dreamed of in our philosophy."
Because we cannot attain completeness or perfection is no reason
(ii8)
THE LIBRARY IN THE HOME.
119
why we should not aim at the best and highest. The mere ambition
and endeavor carries us a long way up the mountain of progress.
One of the greatest men who ever lived seemed to be wholly filled
with this idea. He urged his fellow-men to aim at being perfect as
God is perfect, although he was oppressed by the perpetual con-
sciousness of his own and other's imperfection. St. Paul's mind was
that of a spiritual and intellectual architect who aimed at making
life a perfect building, fitly joined together in all its parts, each part
in harmony with all the rest, and all blending upward into one sym-
metric spire. The home should be the same, complete in its
furniture, no bare walls or floors, no rubbish strewed around and
every chamber informed by harmony, which is only another word
for perfection.
To approach toward this completeness and perfection, one of the
first things needed is to know what is wanting, and should be added,
as well as what is useless and should be thrown aside. A great
heathen philosopher discoursing about friendship expresses his
wonder that while the multitude of men are so eager to provide
costly furniture, and elegant appendages to life, they neglect to
provide themselves with sincere and faithful friends, whom he con-
siders to be life's noblest furniture.
Of course, in the making of our home, as in the making of our
lives, there will always be something which we cannot complete.
The finest architecture will have some imperfection or defect. We
shall find the convex where the concave would be better; the
rounded for the pointed, the inclined for the straight, the elliptical
for the spherical. So must it ever be ; whether in life or in the home,
so long as man is the builder.
" The unfinished window in Aladdin's palace
Unfinished must remain."
This thought should stimulate and not dishearten us. Let us see
what the defect is, and supply what is wanting if we can. The great
120 THE hearthstone; OR, LIFE AT HOME.
Page 71
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
jHE ideal home, like the ideal life, should aim at completeness and perfection. I use the word " ideal " because it exactly expresses a high mark to be aimed at, and I use the two words " completeness " and "perfection," the one to denote quantity and the other quality. The first reminds us that there must be enough — that is, neither deficiency nor superfluity ; the second, that what there is must be the best of its kind.
In reality, perfect completeness and complete perfection are never attained by man either in his life or in his home. Physically, mentally and morally man is an imperfect being. Even the strong man armed finds a stronger than himself Our vision is limited and imperfect, and both the physical and intellectual eye can see but a short distance, and are bounded by a narrow horizon beyond which there stretch circle after circle beyond our ken until they fade away in infinity. But an old historian makes this the great difference between man and brute, that while the brute looks always downward and earthward, man looks upward and beyond himself Yet we must never think that the eye in us is the centre of the universe, or forget that
" There are more things in heaven and earth Than are dreamed of in our philosophy."
Because we cannot attain completeness or perfection is no reason
(ii8)
why we should not aim at the best and highest. The mere ambition and endeavor carries us a long way up the mountain of progress. One of the greatest men who ever lived seemed to be wholly filled with this idea. He urged his fellow-men to aim at being perfect as God is perfect, although he was oppressed by the perpetual consciousness of his own and other's imperfection. St. Paul's mind was that of a spiritual and intellectual architect who aimed at making life a perfect building, fitly joined together in all its parts, each part in harmony with all the rest, and all blending upward into one symmetric spire. The home should be the same, complete in its furniture, no bare walls or floors, no rubbish strewed around and every chamber informed by harmony, which is only another word for perfection.
To approach toward this completeness and perfection, one of the first things needed is to know what is wanting, and should be added, as well as what is useless and should be thrown aside. A great heathen philosopher discoursing about friendship expresses his wonder that while the multitude of men are so eager to provide costly furniture, and elegant appendages to life, they neglect to provide themselves with sincere and faithful friends, whom he considers to be life's noblest furniture.
Of course, in the making of our home, as in the making of our lives, there will always be something which we cannot complete. The finest architecture will have some imperfection or defect. We shall find the convex where the concave would be better; the round for the pointed, the inclined for the straight, the elliptical for the spherical. So must it ever be ; whether in life or in the home, so long as man is the builder.
" The unfinished window in Aladdin's palace Unfinished must remain."
This thought should stimulate and not dishearten us. Let us see what the defect is, and supply what is wanting if we can. The great
120 THE hearthstone; OR, LIFE AT HOME.