The Sweet Word ‘Home.’

New Zealand Mail, Issue 877, 21 December 1888, Page 4

The Sweet Word ‘Home.’

1 Homo 1 It is a charmed word. Through that one syllable thrill untold melodies, the laughter of children, the sound of well-known footsteps and the voices of undying affection. Home! I hear in that word the ripple of meadow brooks in whichT knee-deep, we waded ; the lowing of cattle.coming up from the' pasture, the sharp hiss of the scythe amid thiok grass, the creaking ;i>f the hay-rack where we trampled down the load. Home 1 Upon that word there dropUthe sunshine of boyhood and the shadow of tender sorrows and the reflection of 10,000 fond memories. Home 1 ‘ When I see it in book or newspaper that word seems to rise and sparkle and leap and thrill and whisper and chant and pray and weep. -It glitters like a shield. -It springs up like a fountain. It thrills like a song. It twinkles like a star. It'leaps like a flame It glowes like a sunset. It sings like an angel. And if some lexicographer, urged on by a spirit from beneath, should seek to cast forth that word from the language, the children would come forth and hide it nnder garlands of wild flowers, and the wealthy would borne forth to cover it up .with their t diamonds and pearls ; and, the kings would hide it nnder their crowns, and after Herod had hunted its life from Bethlehem to Egypt and- utterly given up the search, some bright, warm day it would flash from among the gems, and breathe from among the flowerß, and toss from among the coronets, and the world wonld read it, bright and fair and beautiful and resonant as before, Home ! Homo 1 Home !'—Dr Talmage.