HOME MOTTOES AND SENTIMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 84

HOME MOTTOES AND SENTIMENTS.

We were discussing fads and fancies the other day, and. a demure little woman who styled herself ''an unappropriated blessing" said she always cut out and tucked away fitting quotations or mottoes suitable for the home she hoped to have some day. In fancy she has them all placed in her air castle, and here are a number of them for .those who may be about „to see their castle ?n Spain take actual form in wood and mortar (says the Chicago Sunday Record Herald). ■ ".. The custom of having a hearth motto is a very old one, as is proved by many of the fireplaces in the eighteenth century. They are full of suggested hospitality, which was very real in these days. Of late there have been mottoes and sentiments of all descriptions framed ready to be placed in the various rooms of the household, but the-carving of the fireplace, library, and dining room motto as part of the decorative scheme is just being essayed in country houees on --This Side of the Water.— Over the fireplace, either above or below 1 the mantel, is the proper place for placing the motto. If the family owns a coat of arms with a motto, this is generally used in the ball fireplace. The following are some good sentiments:—• East or West, Home is Best. A mian's house is his oastle. Home is the resort of Love, Joy, and Peace. Our house is ever at your service. You are very welcome. Take the goods the gods provide thee. May we never want a friend. O,- ye fire and heat, praise ye the Lord. All' mine is thine. If one wants a Latin inscription try "Deus nobis haec otia fecit," meaning "God has given us this ease." A library done in with wood panelling and fireplace is especially fitted for a hearth motto, and mottoes placed over the doors.and windows, large old English lettering being used. Tbese lines are good . for such use:— There is an art in ■ reading. The monuments of vaTbashed mrndls. Infinite riches in a' little room. Some books .are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, ; and some few to be chewed and digested. Over the library at Thebes, is the inscription, "Medicine for the Soul." We are all familiar with the ever lovely— Old wood to burn, Old win© to drink, Old- friends to trust, Old boohs to read, that is over the hearth of the huge fireplace in a Winnietka home built along the lines of a quaint Knglish cottage. Mark Twain had ovej- the fireplace in his Hartford home these lines:—"The ornament of a bouse is the guests who frequent it." Authors seem especially fond of the hearth motto. We find Wm. D. Howells has "Homekeeping hearts are the happiest," and Henry James lias adopted the trite Japanese saying, "Hear no evil, see ho evil, speak no evil." What a splendid motto Dickens's words —"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some" —would make. Most of us could adopt that with profit. In the liuTsery, whether there is a fireplace or not (Ist us hope there is), we should find Robert Louis Stevenson's. The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. Also Pope's old couplet, so familiar : Behold the child, by Nature's kindlv law Pi.sa.sed with a, rattle, tickled with a "straw. Other suitable quotations for the children are "God rest ye, little children," and "A child in the house" is a well-spring of pleasure." Nearly every room may have its individuality emphasised by a motto, and in placing these pleasing inscriptions remember that it is not a new but a very old custom that we are reviving. Over a long buffet built in the side of a diningroom this line would be good : "Now good digestion wait on appetite." For a musicroom try these: "Music is said to be the speech of the angels" ; "The hidden soul of harmony." In many parts of Bavaria and Saxony a French writer tells us that the welcoming motto is most popular, and cites the following as examples : God bless thy comdnfl: in and thy going out,

litC the blessings of God rest upon this house, and upon all who eater or leave it. In the fortress at Marienburg the great dining hall bears this inscription: He who wishes to eat here must be delicate in his eating, chaste in his conversation, and peaceful in his manner; above all, p'ous and loyal; if not, he will soon receive notice to quit." In an English home at Winchester we find above the lintel of the door this charming sentiment, "Farewell goes out sighing;"" welcome ever smiles" ; and a hall panel has, "The Lord keep thee in the going out and coming in." We are all familiar with the Italian word "salve," meaning welcome, that is found quite often in the vestibules of hotels or publichouses where meals are served. It is not an advertisement for salve, as a man from the country with more money than brains told his wife. Speaking of the entrance motto reminds us of the Welsh door verse that reads: Hail, guest. We ask not who thou art. If friends, we greet thee, hand and heart; If stranger, such no longer be; If foe, our love shall conquer thee. To read at the house-warming when the new house is all finished our little friend produced these line's written some time ago by Jessie S. Ferrie, called "The New Roof-tree" : Beneath the friendly lintel of this door They pause, joy-mute—these two —and, hand in hand, They dream of little cares that love has planned, And home-comings, when the day's work is They see across the gleaming stairs and floor Wee, winsome shapes that flit and frolic, and Almost" their glad, expectant cheeks are With' baby breaths the rich years hold in store. And so' love's long-expected heritage Is theirs at last; with eager, trembling hands They grasp its warmth and wonder; to their eyes Life's glowing missal opens, page on page— The sacred book love.only understands. The,,love of home, that only makes men wise. . .