Remember poor Moses
in Goldsmith's " Vicar of Wakefield," who thought he had made a
fine bargain for his father when he exchanged his horse for a parcel
of shagreen spectacles, and beware of bargains if you wish to practise
economy.
LIFE AT HOME.
"Domestic happiness, thou only bliss
Of paradise that has survived the fall !" — Cowper.
" The first sure symptom of a mind in health
Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home." — Young.
^^^^#1 OW little do people think, when they speak of a home
./M^^ as happy, or the contrary, of the many influences and
i^iw circumstances which combine to make it so. It is
mWE'^l more difficult to describe a happy home than an un-
happy one, because while one single obstacle or defect
will suffice to mar the perfection of any home, a great number of
advantages and good points may fail to make it happy. Every
member of a family may be in sound physical health ; there may be
abundance of all the necessaries and even comforts of life ; the prop-
erty or income of the father may be a certain one, so that the grim
shadow of want cannot cause apprehension of poverty in the future,
and yet with all these ingredients of contentment and prosperity the
horn? may be far from a happy one. One virtue will not make a
perfect or consistent character, but one vice will mar any number of
virtues. So in the home, one disturbing element will mar the har-
mony of the whole. Any one member of a family may blight the
peace and happiness of the entire household.
Take the case of an ungovernable temper. Everybody is liable
in turn to be the unfortunate occasion or victim of it. The fire of
home may burn ever so brightly and all the surroundings be ever so
cheerful and cosy, and as one peeps in and sees one girl at the piano
and another at her knitting, or one brother reading aloud some de-
lightful story or poem while the others listen, one would fancy that
(222)
LIFE AT HOME. 223
here at all events peace and good will, mutual help and affection had
made their dwelling upon earth. One, perhaps, is telling an experi-
ence which has happened to the speaker during the day, and, as it
is comic or serious, it amuses or deeply interests the whole family
circle. But while the tale is being told an unsteady footstep is heard
outside the door. A father, a son, a brother, as the case may be,
bursts into the room with flushed face and angry or incoherent
speech, disclosing too plainly that drink is his undoing, and the peace
and happiness of the little circle is at an end for that evening, and
perhaps for days or weeks to come. The drunkard can make a
wilderness of the home which else would blossom as the rose.
Page 142
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
Remember poor Moses in Goldsmith's " Vicar of Wakefield," who thought he had made a fine bargain for his father when he exchanged his horse for a parcel of shagreen spectacles, and beware of bargains if you wish to practise economy.
"Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of paradise that has survived the fall !" — Cowper.
" The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home." — Young.
^^^^#1 OW little do people think, when they speak of a home ./M^^ as happy, or the contrary, of the many influences and i^iw circumstances which combine to make it so. It is mWE'^l more difficult to describe a happy home than an unhappy one, because while one single obstacle or defect will suffice to mar the perfection of any home, a great number of advantages and good points may fail to make it happy. Every member of a family may be in sound physical health ; there may be abundance of all the necessaries and even comforts of life ; the property or income of the father may be a certain one, so that the grim shadow of want cannot cause apprehension of poverty in the future, and yet with all these ingredients of contentment and prosperity the horn? may be far from a happy one. One virtue will not make a perfect or consistent character, but one vice will mar any number of virtues. So in the home, one disturbing element will mar the harmony of the whole. Any one member of a family may blight the peace and happiness of the entire household.
Take the case of an ungovernable temper. Everybody is liable in turn to be the unfortunate occasion or victim of it. The fire of home may burn ever so brightly and all the surroundings be ever so cheerful and cosy, and as one peeps in and sees one girl at the piano and another at her knitting, or one brother reading aloud some delightful story or poem while the others listen, one would fancy that (222)
here at all events peace and good will, mutual help and affection had made their dwelling upon earth. One, perhaps, is telling an experience which has happened to the speaker during the day, and, as it is comic or serious, it amuses or deeply interests the whole family circle. But while the tale is being told an unsteady footstep is heard outside the door. A father, a son, a brother, as the case may be, bursts into the room with flushed face and angry or incoherent speech, disclosing too plainly that drink is his undoing, and the peace and happiness of the little circle is at an end for that evening, and perhaps for days or weeks to come. The drunkard can make a wilderness of the home which else would blossom as the rose.