HAPPY HOMES MAKE HAPPY NATIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1929, Page 5

HAPPY HOMES MAKE HAPPY NATIONS

What takes place behind the scenes in the home affects for good or ill the community in which we live, no matter what laws we may enact. A nation may have great military strength, great minds and industries, but unless it is strong in its homes it is a weak nation. One of the first requirements of a home is religion. Character is based on religion and there can be no good citizenship without character. Another essential is efficiency. 'lO work hard, to strain, to strive for a noble cause, is heroic, but to waste effort is folly. Efficiency is more :»n----portant in home than in factory; in the latter inefficiency merely wastes time and money, while inefficiency in the home wastes something more precious —strength and inspiration. Efficiency in the home piits the drudgery of house-keeping in the background and glorifies the task of homekeeping. It also gives the homemaker as efficiency. It does take money to time to cultivate a more abundant soul life, and more time to spend with her family and in community service. Beauty and comfort are as essential as efficiency. It doe stake money to have them in the home, but their achievement is dependent, not so much on coin as upon the love and interest which the homemaker puts into her home. Homekeepers need to think niore about the beauty and comfort of their homes, to study domestic science colour harmony, beauty or line, the balanced diet, and all the economics of housekeeping. And behind all these tangible things is an indefinable something which might be called atmosphere. it is made up of love and ioy and harmony and friendliness. It is not a selfish thing which is bounded by four square walls, but it bubbles over into the community and expresses itself in civic service. It is very important that we should put our heart and soul into our homes, for the kind of' citizens our hoys and girls will become is determined by the kind of horn es we make for them.