I’m back from my “oh-my-gawd-I’ve-actually-been-to-ten-states-in-two-weeks” summer trip. Don’t ask. While gone, I thought fondly of friends, loved ones, and my sweet pup, and couldn’t wait to be back in my own apartment. Here’s an excerpt on the joys of home, from The Household Guide, or Domestic Cyclopedia, written by Professor B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols. While their description gets a bit wild at the end, it seemed appropriate.
1902: Home
Home! What a Hallowed Name. ~ How full of enchantment and how dear to the heart! Home is the magic circle within which the weary spirit finds refuge; it is the sacred asylum to which the care-worn heart retreats to find rest from the toils and inquietudes of life.
What is Home? ~ Ask the lone wanderer as he plods his tedious way, bent with the weight of age, and white with the frost of years, ask him, what is home? He will tell you, ‘it is a green spot in memory; an oasis in the desert; a center about which the fondest recollections of his grief-oppressed heart cling with all the tenacity of youth’s first love. It was once a glorious, a happy reality, but now it rests only as an image of the mind.’
Peace at Home. ~ Peace at home, that is the boon. ‘He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.’ Home should be made so truly home that the weary tempted heart could turn toward it anywhere on the dusty highway of life and receive light and strength; should be the sacred refuge of our lives, whether rich or poor. The ties that bind the wealthy and the proud to home may be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble hearth are of true metal and bear the stamp of heaven.
Home. ~ Let thrones rot and empires wither. Home! Let the world die in earthquake struggles, and be buried amid procession of planets and dirge of spheres. Home! Let everlasting ages roll in irresistible sweep. Home! No sorrow, no crying, no tears, no death; but home! Sweet home! Beautiful home! Glorious home! Everlasting home! Home with each other! Home with angels! Home with God! Home, home!
Source: Jefferis, Prof. B. G. The Household Guide, or Domestic Cyclopedia. Atlanta, Ga.: J. L. Nichols & Co., 1902.
~ pp. 22-24 ~