Homekeeping Versus Housekeeping

While, in the main, we endorse the writer of the following, there cannot bc too inuch stross laid on the tact that an illkept house must inevitably breed discontent and discord : " ïhe truest homes are often in houses not espeoially well kept, where the comfort and happiness of the inmates, rather than the preservation' of the furnituie, is first consulted. The object of home is to be the center, the point of tenderest interest, the pivot on which famüy life turns. ïhe ñrst requisito is to make it attractive, so attractive that none of its inmate8 shall care to linger long outside its .imits. All legitímate means should be employed to thisend, and no effort spared Lhat can contribute to the purpose. Many louses called homes, kept with waxy neatness by painstaking, anxious women, are so oppressive in their nicety as to exclude dll home-feeling f rom their spotless pre cincts. The very name of home is synonymous with personal freedoni and relcxa;ion from care. But neither of these can 5e feit where such a mania for external clennliness pervades the household as to ender every thing else subservient tbereto. Vlany housewives, if they see a speek on loor or wall, or even a scrap of thread or )it of Dauer on the floor. rush at it. as if it were the seed of pestilence, which must be removed on the instant. Their temper dependa upon their maintenance of perfect purity and order. If there be any failure on their part, or any coinbination of circunistances against thein, they f all into a pathetic despair, and can hardly be lifted out. They do not see that cheerfuluess is more needful to home than all the spotlessness that ever shone. Their dis,position to wage war upon maculateness ot any sort inureases until they beoome slaves of the brootn and dust-pan. Neatness is one thing, and a state of perpetual house-cleaning quite another. "Out of this growa by degrees the feeling that certain things and apartments are too good for daily use. Henee, chairs and sofas are covered, and rooms shut up, save for special occasions, wheu they are permitted to reveal their violated sacredness in a maiiner that mars every pretense of hospitality. Nothing ghould be bought which is considered too fine for the fullest domestic appropriation. Far better is the plainest furniture, on which the children can climb, than satin and dainask which must be viewed with reverence. Where anything is reserved or secluded, to disguise the fact is extreinèly difficult. A chilly air wraps it round, and the repulsión of strangeness is experienced by the most insensible. " There are few persons who have not visited houses where they have been introduced to what is known as the company parlor, They must remember how uncomfortable they were while sitting in it ; how they found it almost impossible to be at ease, and mainly for the reason that their host and hosteRs were not themsfclves at ease. The children were watched with lynx eyes, lest they should displace or soil something ; so that the entertainment of fiiends became very much like a social discipline. They must recall, too, how sweet the fresh air seemed out of doors, and how they inwardly vowed, in leaving that temple of form and fidgetness, that something more than politeness would be required to incite them to return. " Home is not a name, nor a form, nor a routine. It is a spirit, a presence a principie. Material and method will not, and can not niake it. It must get its light uud sweetness from those who iuhabit it,. from flowers and su'nshine, from the sympathetic uatures whioh, in their exercise of sympathy, can lay aside the tyranny of the broom and the awful duty