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The Family Sitting Room

The Family Sitting Room image
Parent Issue
Day
25
Month
January
Year
1861
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The ibllowiug Rrtiule is copied from the ■ House and Garden, a inonthly magazine, published in Oliio,-- " This is the pleasantest room iu the house. It is that to which the heart of tlie abaent, or homesiek child, always turns ; it is the Caaba of every domestio Meoea. It is the room that makes home; and henee, vve cali it the famüy room. There is thefountain of the household life ; henee, to mauy of us it is kuowu as the living-room Though these words are not found in any dietionar-y, they are found in every heart. Ilere the family sit together - here thosa domestic accomplishments, writing, sewing, and reading, are carried on. This is the only room that ia found in every house - large or small. There may be no parlor, no dining-rooiu, no bedroom, no kitchen, but a family room there ahvays is. It may be used for a drawing-room, or a dining-room, or a sleepiug-room, or even a kitchen, but it always remains the familyroom. All.other usos are and exigent, this is permanent and perpetual. As this is the pleasautest in the heart, it should be made the pleasantcst in the house. It should be large and airy ; its location should invite the sunshiue and air. The furuituro should be plain enough net to be formal, and not too plaiu to be comfortable. If there is spaee enough, a : few flower-pots should grace one of the I windows, A book-ease is indispensable, [ and childrec'e books to iill one or more of [ its ábelves. " Robinso-n Crusöe," ': Arabian Nights,'1 and " Pilgrim's Progress" , should not be wanting in any family that ; can aflbrd them. Engravingg, now so cheap and giod, and particularly stereoscopic views, oughtto be the uim of every housihold. And here let us say, that every one can afford toget what hu feally wants. What we oannot afford to gt, is what our euvyor vanity er ft ves. The best things for us are those which our heart desires - which we can uppreciate - which expres;] uur charaoter, and are au extensión of oursekes. Whether such thiugs are books, pictures, or flowers, we eau get them ; and these, as belonging to the heart, belong to the family room. The window of this room should have a good outlook ; for from it come in niany tho'ts and suggestions to stimulate and adorn the inner life From the window of this room the children first studv nature. Here, eagerly crowdiug to the panes, they listen to the monotnous rain, or watch the falling leaf Here they follow the snow as it comes down in exciting whirls ; or dreamily, and with distended eyes, gaze at the large flakes ginking to the ground so pure and noiselessly, as if shaken ft om the wings of an angel. Here it is, that each day starts afresh the stream of household life. Here, after breakfast, when the larger children have gone to school, and the father to bis business, the mother, with the smaller children playing about her, sits doing her more quiet work ; peacefully and evenly the current üows on past noon till tea-tiine, when the larger children, with stronger voices and louder tread, have come from school, and the father from his business; then the stream deepeus and widens, and the fainily life is again at full tido. From this point it bogins to ebb. One after another of the tributariea dries up. Little hands grow still, little voices are hushed, little eyes closed; the roar of the grate is hushed, its eyes of flame grow dim, and o'ne by One the red coals are quietly smking to Bleep, uuder the gray ahes ; the candle 's near the soeket, and the mother, tho'tfully hiying aside 1 er work, gathen up the loose things, putting aside the ehildren's toys, and little shoes and stockiugs, quietly takes the candle, and like a guardián angel, passes out of the family-room, and the day is done. Who can forget the family-rooin ? It is the family school room, and should be made the household shrine Let the parlor, with its finery and formality, be forgotten ; 'the though t oí the bedroom may never wake in the miad of the absent child, but let not the eitting-room, the living-rooni, the familyroom die out in the heart of your children, for from that sacred cell is the future house of your child to grow."

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus