MAKING THE HOME ATTRACTIVE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 46, 15 November 1900, Page 15

MAKING THE HOME ATTRACTIVE.

WHAT ia it that makes our home attractive to the family ? Is it the beauty of the furnishings, the immaculate neatness of the table or the faHhion of the dress that ia worn ? These things may cultivate an aesthetic taste, but do they really attach children to their homes? I have ob-erved (writes a correspondent of a contemporary) that children of poor parents, yea, and dissipated ones at that, show more affection for their parents and their childhood's home than do many of the rich and well-to-do. Why is it ? It would seem that the more beautiful the home the more love there would be for that home. But it seems that adverse circumstances, yes, and pinching poverty, cement the love of the family more and more.

The poet has truly said, ' Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.'

What really makes the chief charm of a home ? We think it ia the oneness of interest, sharing of what we have with other members, the unselfishness which is awakened in the heart by ad* rersity.

In many homes the children are first everywhere, they never have to give up their will to others, they are exacting of their parents and of each other, forget the courtesy that belongs to refinement. They are selfish. They have no common interests, no bond of affection that draws them together, and makes them love and help one another before all the world besides.

The poor often have this great gift of family love. It binds them together close. It makes them sympathise with one another in their straggles for existence. It turns their plain home into a sacred place consecrated by ■acrifice, by kindness, and by natural love.