FullReads

They do not behold home with the same eyes as did the writer of the following lines:–

“‘Home’s the resort of love, of joy, of peace;”
So says the bard, and so say truth and grace;
Home is the scene where truth and candour move,
The only scene of true and genuine love.
‘To balls, and routs for fame let others roam,
Be mine the happier lot to please at home.’
Clear then the stage: no scenery we require,
Save the snug circle round the parlour fire;
And enter, marshall’d in procession fair,
Each happier influence that governs there!
First, Love, by Friendship mellow’d into bliss,
Lights the warm glow, and sanctifies the kiss;
When, fondly welcomed to the accustom’d seat,
In sweet complacence wife and husband meet;
Look mutual pleasure, mutual purpose share,
Repose from labours to unite in care!
Ambition! Does Ambition there reside?
Yes: when the boy, in manly mood astride,
With ruby lip and eyes of sweetest blue,
And flaxen locks, and cheeks of rosy hue,
(Of headstrong prowess innocently vain),
Canters;–the jockey of his father’s cane:
While Emulation in the daughter’s heart
Bears a more mild, though not less powerful, part,
With zeal to shine her little bosom warms,
And in the romp the future housewife forms:
Think how Joy animates, intense though meek,
The fading roses on their grandame’s cheek,
When, proud the frolic children to survey,
She feels and owns an interest in their play;
Tells at each call the story ten times told,
And forwards every wish their whims unfold.”

“To be agreeable, and even entertaining, in our family circle,” says a celebrated writer, “is not only a positive duty, but an absolute morality.”

We cannot help quoting the following passage from Miss H. More, as an admirable illustration of true sweetness of temper, patience, and self-denial–qualities so essential in a wife and mistress of a family:–“Remember, that life is not entirely made up of great evils, or heavy trials, but that the perpetual recurrence of petty evils and small trials is the ordinary and appointed exercise of Christian graces. To bear with the feelings of those about us, with their infirmities, their bad judgments, their ill-breeding, their perverse tempers–to endure neglect where we feel we have deserved attention, and ingratitude where we expected thanks–to bear with the company of disagreeable people, whom Providence has placed in our way, and whom he has perhaps provided on purpose for the trial of our virtue–these are the best exercise; and the better because not chosen by ourselves. To bear with vexations in business, with disappointments in our expectations, with interruptions in our retirement, with folly, intrusion, disturbance, in short, with whatever opposes our will and contradicts our humour–this habitual acquiescence appears to be the very essence of self-denial. These constant, inevitable, but inferior evils, properly improved, furnish a good moral discipline, and might well, in the days of ignorance, have superseded pilgrimage and penance.” Another remark of the same author is also excellent: “To sustain a fit of sickness may exhibit as true a heroism as to lead an army. To bear a deep affliction well, calls for as high exertion of soul as to storm a town; and to meet death with Christian resolution, is an act of courage in which many a woman has triumphed, and many a philosopher, and even some generals, have failed.”