The HOME A HOME OF ONE'S OWN

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3097, 8 September 1899, Page 6

The HOME A HOME OF ONE'S OWN

THE VALUE IT POSSESSES FOft THE iNDIVIDUAIL AND THE nATI6N. ''' Che Peace and HfeppfneM TK4t Arm jfannd Only Under Ont'l Own Vi»B mad FiC Tree— The Pouibllitjr of. Attainment : to H«n of Small Incomes* Napoleon said that the man who had a wife and children had "given hostages tofortnne. " In a yet stronger tense have the. man and woman made a be* ' ginning toward permanent success who have found for themselves a home, fiox the possession of which they are both willing unwaveringly and steadfastly to use systematic self denial. When a young couple have ceased to roam about from one undesirable flat to another and need no longer talk of "when we lived in East ——street or Westr streefc? but can cozily speak of "our. : little place, " they have risen. 20 .per. oant in their own self esteem and are at least 100 per' cent richer in the true -joy-bf living. Insensibly my. illustration takes a financial form, since money, the power to obtain this blessing, lies at the root of the : matter. ! Always a strong adherent to the advantages of country living, it is to me natural to associate the very idea of homemaking with rural surroundings. When God created bur primal progerii ; tors, we are told that he placed then iv a garden as the best, the happiest, environment the divine wisdom could devise for their development. Amid things which have grown with their growth and perfected under their care, men and women still find a peouliar peacefnlnesa that no one oan define and a happiness impossible elsewhere. That heart ownership whioh comes only to the man and wife who have won and made their home is oftenest found in suburban towns and villages, and rarely extends to the dimensions of an acre. The tres that shades the door, the vine that climbs over the porch, the pretty little garden in the rear, are loved not as inanimate things, but ai part and parcel of their lives, and the falling of a leaf and the fading of a bud are a sorrow. It is quite a different homecoming to a man who sees his children standing at his pretty gate ready to run down the safe and quiet street and finds his wife at the open door .than when he is lifted by a creaking elevator to some unknown height, where danger threatens the young lives if the door is but left ajar, and he has to look for a number to tell whether he is on his own (rented) floor. From the hour a man arid" wife own their individual, personal home a thousand new interests enrich their lives, and the dwelling and its surroundings are so a part of themselves that a loose shingle or a stain on the doorstep is of serious importance. However extreme the theories of some of the "land for tho people" philanthropists may be there is a deep integral truth in the basis of their arguments. Men and women are happier, are morally elevated, are better citizens, for owning their share of. God's earth. I have long believed that the happiest people now living in our country are the skilled mechanics of our rural cities and towns, whose ambitions are limited to the acquisition of an unincumbered home, well built, and set in a lot large enough to insure privacy and a garden. While watching the long drawn out repairs of an old country house I came in contact with a notably intelligent and representative body of workmen. At dinner hour they grouped themselves, under the trees, to the fruit of which they were made welcome, or found pleasant places to avoid the noontide | heat. They were buoyant, heartily ! cheerful, with a quick neadineas to laugh with sincere merriment. They discussed politics, town improvements, ; school taxes and general conditions of the oountry ; they had enthusiasm aad hope. I talked much with these men. An eagerness possessed me to find a olew to the reasons for the wide difference in ! their view of life and that of my own oircle of young friendß. I was left in na doubt. They were, every man, either already "freeholders" or nearing that distinction. Their oottages sprang up in every direction where the large landholders left half an acre to spare. They 6lopt under their own roofs, they lay down proudly, sure that wife and children were sheltered from the power of ; removal or ejectment and that they were, personally, increasingly of valu« to the community in which 1 they lived- 1 -> The best of these workmen earnedsl,ooo a year, apart of them from |SSO to $700. It seemed to me incredible that they had been able to buy land in such a town anrl improve it; still less credible that they could build and furnish Buch cottages as they lived in. They were more than ready to explain their system of saving through the various" o no-operative and building schemes of i which the town had many. : It has ever since remained a problem bo me, increasing in complexity. and interest as the years go on, why young sonples, with twice the income of these t thrifty and happy mechanics, remain. . aomeless and live in cramped fiats and :iny apartments which, if they have' •.hildren, ar9 but enlarged cages/ while ;he same opportunities these men used ire open to them for obtaining the treasure of a home inalienably theirs, i jn whioh they can expend the taste arid .ngenuity which are inherent in ttiQSt,... fouug Americans; Perhaps it is want of ; mderstanding of the ease with which' ihey can attain the result, a ;: lack of J somprehension of the responsibility andt^ irust worthiness of Rssociations-of v vari-- f ma sorts organized to this end.— N«W (fork Post. . "