Family Unity.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 73

Family Unity.

"Unity is strength," and if there is unity in the home circle the buffets of the world will lose much of their sting. But it is a common, thing for the proverbial "skeleton in the cupboard" to lurk in homes which, to outward seeming, are full of happy and congenial inmates, and for the family circle to be anything but a united one while gaining the credit, from trotsKters, of being a im«W -of p«a-ce and sympathy. ■ The" home should be a fortress, as it were, against the ills of the world. There is a tower of strength in family love, which clings in misfortune as well as fortune, and is not influenced by the worldly motives that prompt attentions and socalled friendships from mammon-worship-pers outside. Yet, curiously enough, family love is often disregarded and thrown away, while- praise from strangers is coveted, and their general opinion eagerly sought after. — It ifi times of trouble ihat chraw together hearts of gold and test the worth of friendship, and bring out the best qualities in human nature, and call forth appreciation for tsue, disinterested" affection, that sometimes cannot be gauged in times of prosperity. In adversity, your fair-weather friends scuttle from you like rabbits to their holes; your true ones are glad of the opportunity to stand by you and show their sincerity. The prosperous, self-complacent person is a»t to pay too much attention to th*

opinion of acquaintances and to Cultivate a certain dishonesty of behaviour, in that he or 6he in order to be thought well of by those beyond the home circle, will be all smiles to the outer world, and perhaps reserved and uncompanionable to those at home. Bui this applies equally to a large army of people who can hardly be reckoned prosperous. It is a question of temperament, of course, rather than wealth.

Not infrequently a spirit of antagonism is felt rather than openly acknowledged in the home circle, the members of which seem to be out .of harmony one with another, and to' have little in common, though, perhaps, they never quarrel among themselves. But somehow they do not " pull together." The state of things may exist only between husband and wife, or permeate through 'the whole family. In any case, it creates a most unwholesome, mental atmosphere, and is a very uncomfortable state to live in. — Home paper".