HOMES

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 303, 20 December 1922, Page 12

HOMES

I. - . ■! Every woman at the back of her ; mind, cherishes one dear dream— i that sonso day she will have "a home • 'of, her own." It doesn't matter a scrap whether we work in a shop, an office, a factory, or in some one | else's house, we're all "sisters under our this matter of The. Big Dream. A "Home" of some kind is ian absolute necessity _ to the woman ; who IS a woman. I So the "Roomer" piles her cushions ■ and books, hangs her curtains < and ; pictures, ;arid plays "Let's Pretend." • IJy and bye, if Fate is kind, she will ; attain the Reality! ' * i; * * I wonder if we ever remember that , we'are putting little bits of our own identity into these Homes of ours—• whether they, are-permanent, or just . temporary make-shifts ? [ For it is absolutely true, that J houses and rooms DO acquire some ! Aura or atmosphere from those who inhabit thorn. The kindly', the joyful , thoughts and just as well \ a-s the hateful, morbid, worrying ones, will leave an imprint, will cling round tba walls, and will h/iunt the corners. A very sensitiv/; person feels most unhappy in a room which seems to be saturated with an atmosphere of im-rest; a spirit of depresj sion or discozt.l. ! # * # # We all have memories of some pari ticular rooms where sleep " would I never come. This i,s not, ;as some- ! people fondly imagine, in ■ the smallest degree with the tHsialth, lor "Un-.Health," of the pei'son conI eernstl. It is merely a matter of the : mental atmosphere (call it the So>ul Atmosphere , if you like) of the room —the invisible tilings that haunt It. Children are especially sensitive to j these influences,, rand should never be tortured, by being put to sleep in j rooms for which they seem to show any extraordinary dislike. « -x- * *

; What a fascination there is In a Keys House—a house that is Ours, even if it is only a tw o roomed wharc, just made fof us, ,and for nobody else, with its walls all fresh, and uncontaiuinatad by the worries, - perplexities - and unhappiness of other people. Just a sensitive film on which we may print all our own records.

Here .is a lovely l'.ttle "dedication* , for some lucky sister, who may be moving into "Her Home of Dreams Come True."

'■'May nothing evil cross this dooi , A.nd may ill-fortune n"3ver pry About these windows; may tiio roar A.nd rains go by. Strengthened by faith these rafteis will Withstand the battering and tne storm. This hearth, though all the world grows chill, Will keep us warm. Pqace shall walk softly through these rooms Touching our lips with holy wine, v Till every casual corner blooms Into a shrine. Laughter shall drown tlie rancorous

shout, And though, these sheltering walla

are th.tn, May they toe -strong to Hate out, And hold t«ove *a»