Home harmonies

Front matter

I

I

POPULAM BOOKS

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — Home, Happiness, and Heaven 13

II.—" Darling, I Love You " 24

Chapter I. Home, Happiness And Heaven

OME again ! Another Saturday night. Another resting in the bower of content with the dear ones and the loved ones of the heart, the hearth and the fender. Tlie hands on the face of the watch before us tell a tale of flying time — that in one short hour the day and the week will have gone and that the midnight which separates us from the morrow, as death separates us from the beautiful life to come, will be here with its fleeting shadow.

14 Home, Hajypiness and Heaven.

Then, in the twinkling of an eye will begin the new day. Its new duties rising from the wreck of the week as man shall rise after death to continue the work carried on or neglected by us as day follows day — as opportunity follows opportunity down the hill into the deepening valley of receding time.

The wife who waits with her heart in her throat to hear the faint cry of new-born humanity that proves her indeed a mother, has prepared for the coming of that which is, albeit humanity, still a change. Every golden moment of time ^was utilized as it flew by. The farmer who fills the earth with seeds, works when comes the hour and the time. With his work done, he rests, and Our Father decrees that the silent influences of nature shall, once the seeds be planted, bring tliem to fullest fruition of fruit and flower ; that the childreu of him M'ho planted and the friends who might come to sup at his board sliould be fed and strengthened against their

Home^ Happiness and Heaven. 15

work on the morrow. So it is that to-night, while sleep sits so serenely on the eyelids of those we love and labor for as they rest jnst in there so near to our study, we would plant good seeds, and pray God that they may fall, not by the way side, but in the hearts of men, that love and kindness, and those heart flowers which beautify life, may follow. The man who dare be pure, loving and honest, fills the soil which shall cover his coffin with seeds which will bear beautiful flowers to mark where he sleeps. The man who is ashamed to be child-like, loving and kind, lest he be not dignified, digs his grave in the sand on which the heat shall settle and sear and blister. The man who shuts up his heart lives for selfish purposes and builds not himself into the quiet happiness of a mellow Home Corner, will never know happiness or its relations to heaven, but will plant seeds which will bring forth but thorns, thistles, nettles and noxious weeds.

16 Home, Ha'pjpiness and Heaven.

How much may a man plant in an hour — in three-quarters of an hour? How much may a man do for good or for evil, even in the few moments before the week shall have fled with ils record? How much may we do to plant good seeds in hearts before we put aside the pen, finish the labor of the week, and seek rest, repose and the breath of angels on the couch so near by % Perhaps we can do more good in the hour than we have done in all the week.

To-day there came a letter from a good friend. A busy man of business. A man whose heart is BO full of ambition we fear he is not on the road to happiness, therefore not living to benefit humanity. He asks ns to tell him how to be happy.

To answer, the pen must be guided by the heart as by the hand. We must throw aside the corsets and the stilted wrapping of dignified writing and dip the pen into the heart, even as

Home, Happiness and Heaven. 17

mau must throw off clumsy garments when he BOWS good seed.

First of all, to be happy you must deserve to be. Tliere is a law of exact recompense. There is a road to follow. A road this way and a road that way. Of a truth doth a man, a woman, a child gather as the day is spent in planting. We believe that all men can be happy if they will. As time passes on, we learn lessons. We have learned to keep away from contact with iron that burns — from ice that freezes — from waters that poison — from temptations tliat weaken — from vice that scars — from resorts that shame — from liabits that hurt us — from draughts that poison — from hearts that are selfish — from associations that degrade — from all that would lower our manhood, weaken our influence for good, warp our judgment, and decrease the talent given us for a purpose, no matter whether that talent be little or much. This lesson must be learned by all. This seed must be planted deep

18 Home^ Haziness and Heaven.

in the heart. A man can make of himself whatsoever he win. If he wishes to be happy, he can be happy — he will le hajpiyy ! If he wishes to be loved he will so live as to make himself lovable. If he wishes to be pure, and good, and noble ; to walk in that line of sunlight to the soul which is harmony, he will guide his steps away from vice, from temptations and into those paths and ways which lead to home, to loving hearts, to happiness, and Heaven. Men pray to be delivered from temptation, but try not to deliver themselves. They pray to God for happiness, and expect their . prayer to be answered simply because God has the power to answer prayer. Men walk in evil ways — they follow slippery paths — they rest themselves in slime, then expect to be pure and to stand ei*ect and clean in their moral apparel.

The man who will not take care of himself must blame no one for his fall. The man who does not live to make his home ones Irappy must

Home, Happiness and Heaven. 19

not expect to be happy in his home. Roses do not cling to icebergs. Little children do not romp and laugh around a church because it is a high, hard, grim old building, but because they find little flowers and something beautiful cropping out from its foundations. If a man would be loved by his wife and worshipped by his little ones, he must live for them as for himself and come as does the morn of May, with that genial, pleasant atmosphere of which good intentions, life flowers and eternity's fruits, are born. Frost kills and blasts. The warm sun brings life. So does kindness bring love and then conies trust, faith, home, happiness] Heaven.

To be happy, a man must look well to himself in his mating and in his life. If he dissipates, there is a piper and then a penalty to pay. Always two prices for each indulgence. If the husband loves not his home and seeks the society of other women for that spice, social life and lifting up he claims he cannot find at home, he is

20 Home, Ha'pjpineiss and Heaven.

already on the road that leads to sorrow, and nnist not expect to be happy till that road be forsaken.

The man who neglects his home will find his home ones neglecting him sooner or later. If he lives at his club, spends his nights here and there in excitement, he is wearing away, neglecting his family and throwing ice upon the garden in which he looks for flowers. No man, we care not who he may be, can be away from his home night after night, or away on journeys, long absent from his family, except at his peril. No wife can expect to be here, there, everywhere, trotting about to visit, gossip and be amused, and expect her husband to remain virtuous, except he be a walking skeleton, not subject to those influences which affect all who are human. No man ever yet was absent a week from his home and returned to find his loved ones as he left them. There has been a change for better or worse — a natural seeking: for somethino- new —

Some, Hajypiness and Heaven. 21

an advance up liill or down that be must catch up with.

The man who makes money gives his attention to finances. He who becomes an artist must study, must make and continue making efforts. The merchant who sells goods is ever on the alert for something new and attractive. He actually courts his business till he falls in love therewith, often to the neglect of his family, then wonders why payments are not made from hearts not in the least his debtor !

The way to be happy is to be happy. Leave the smell of money in the shop, store or office, as much as possible. When the work of the day is ended go home. It is the only safe place in all the world. Make love to your wife. Romp with your babies. Entertain and instruct your family. Make calls with her who is your wife. Take your wife and children to places of amusement — to lectures, to places of recreation. Always have some new pleasure ahead, in which

22 Home, Hajpjpiness and Heaven.

all cau share. Hours spent pleasantly at home brine; rest and strength for the heart. Hours spent in excitement from home unfits a man for the business of the morrow, and plants burning fevers in the soul of her who waits and wonders in whoso company her husband wastes the hours to which she is in truth entitled.

There is no hell here or hereafter like that raging in the soul of a wife who is doomed to wait in silent sadness for the coming of her night-wandering husband. He may be sick. He may be drunk. He may be squandering his earnings, to which she is in j^art entitled, in dissipation. He may be pillowing his head on the bosom of some other woman. He may be — and this to a good woman is enough of hell to drive her mad. In view of the rambling of so many men, we do wonder that more women are not driven to desperation and to ruin.

Let a wife know she is loved and respected, and home is happy. Let a husband know that

Home, Ha^^iness and Heaven. 23

liis is the onlj arm, the only heart on which his wife will lean, and the veriest ruffian in the world will sooner or later be in love with his home and those who there, at the close of daj, await his coming and the joy it brings.

]^ot for all the world would we exchange the wealth that is found at home. Here we live. Here we are safe from the tempest. Here we form good resolutions and gain the strength to carry them out. Here we rest, develop manhood, study life, read books, write letters, live for those who are dear to us, and day by day see what a man can do to help make his home happy and life a success. Thus every night is given to good, to some useful recreation, study or entertainment, and every night becomes an oasis in the desert of strife, as we find ourselves at home, happy and striving for that Heaven tliere is for all who dare to be good to themselves and to their home ones, as we journey on toward our final Saturday Night,

Chapter II. '* Darling, I Love You

OW the rain beats against the glass that protects us from the storm raging without. The clouds are heavy. The air is damp. The ' autumn winds pipe coldly as they tell us that winter is coming, and that before it comes we must prepare for the spring that will follow.

Beautiful spring ! The joyous time when warm zephyrs, gentle rains and fragrant flowers will send out their perfume to make the air redolent; to waken life and nature to love and love's renewals.

The winter approaches. Soon it will be here, and then, very soon, will it be gone. The rain that now beats spitefully against the panes will soon have spent its force. In a little while the snow V\'il] fall. It will cover the ground and hide from view many a rough place ; many a misfortune ; many a foundation of foolish undertaking ; many a little grave and many a large one into which some dearly loved form has been gently laid away, now that the spirit has no farther need of its prison-house.

To-night we have been visiting with an old friend who is even dearer than a brother. If 3"0u have time to listen, we will tell you of him. A truthful story of a patient life. Of a brave patient man whose life has been to a purpose — who has lived; been happy; has suffered and who still suffers, Ijut who has never lost his manhood. A little story for boys and for girls ; for young men and young women ; for husbands and wives — for those who dare be good to themselves

and to their loved ones.

26 ^^ DarU%, I Love You:'

"We knew him years ago. A young man in the flush of life. A bold, gentle, loving mar/, A man who could stoop to no wrong. A man who loved his honor ; who early promised to himself that he would live to develop the highest possible order of manhood. One who grew from boyhood's estate, inanly, prudent, generous, forgiving, patient, hopeful, self-reliant, positive in his strength, and always jealous of all tliat might spot, mar or tarnish his good name. lie began life poor. His boyhood was spent on the hillsides of the Emph-e State. When came the years for labor, he went to the West and struck into the future there in a great city on the prairies and in tune with the thousands of glorious young workers in the sundown land who are so rapidly coming to be the dictators of America.

By attention to business and care of himself that no bad habits should weaken his life, he came to be the owner of a business that he had

"Barling, I Love TouJ^ 27

created, just as God from nothing made the World. Then he came to be the head of a prosperous business firm, and all because he had ever tried to be a man and to accumulate all he could of good qualities, intelligence and information that might be of use mstead of a detriment to him.

In his days of youth he was no loafer, profane or Yulgar user of indecent language. He was not a whinmg, puling saint, but a man in all the word implies of the good and the manly. So we came years ago to love him, never asking his politics or religion ; of his business or private affairs ; never seeking to meddle with that which was none of our business ; never knowing of his griefs, temptations, heart struggles or inner life except as he opened the blinds and invited us to look in upon the soul machinery every man and woman does well to guard and to improve. One day, about five years ago, our friend took to himself a wife. A pure, sweet, loving girl. A

28 " Darling^ I Love Yoxir

young woman whose form and whose life was ever lovely. From the East to the West she went with him as his wife. They soon came to own a beautiful home. These two who loved each other lived for each other. Our friend was never found in haunts of dissipation whetting his life away to sharpen appetites that so rapidly devour all those who tamper too much with indulgence. His home was his Heaven. His wife was his wisdom. His love was his life. He worked day after day for the beautiful woman whose life had so blended with his own. "We have seen them in their home. We have seen them in their beautiful surroundings, where the elegant furniture, the adornments of room after room were as nothing in comparison to the sweet atmosphere of harmony that pervaded their living place and shone like a halo over their everyday lives.

She who was his wife had fullest confidence in her husband. She knew him to be the soul

" Darling^ I Love YouP 29

of honor. She was content to live to make theirs a beautiful, charming, happy home. With his little faults she kept up no continual quarrel, and so thej all died out. The world was beautiful to her, when it used her husband well. "When he returned from the brain-racking duties of the business office and the feverish labor of the think-shop, how her kiss captured him at the threshold ; how her smile Ijound him to another than a business life ; how her soft hand drew the thorns of care from his brain as her fingers followed themselves down over brow and cheek till his very life was mellowed anew by the magnetism of her love and the caressing touch of loving, wifely gentleness. Do you wonder that this strong man lived for this pure, loving, gentle woman ? Why ! In all the world is no power save death that can unweld hearts thus mated. When he came home, her mantle of love was wrapped about him. Sh& was not ashamed to be known as a wife who loved her husband. He was not ashamed to be known as a man who adored his wife.

Thus they grew into the most harmonious relationship. They struggled not for wealth nor fretted themselves to death at the door-sill of hollow, frivolous, fashionable society which measures men by their dollars and women by the fripperies of that extravagance which excites envy. They grew into each other's life. His touch was ever gentle. His voice was ever low and sweet to her, though in the rattle of business and on the platform defending his principles it was loud, sharp, clear, cutting, and ever pointed to the centre of the target. He never laded his breath with poison, nor was other than a sober, gentle man in all that was for his wife, his home, his life.

The better we knew this man the more we loved him, and the less we wondered that his wife loved him so. The more we knew- of them in their beautiful home, basking in the sunshine

>t

" Darling, I Love YouP 31

of God, the better we understood how and why he adored the woman who was leading her husband to Heayen ; who was making his life liapi:)y ; who was developing his strength and endurance and was hedging him all in and about with those soul-lighting, protecting influences so many wives and husbands affect to despise as beneath the cold-blooded forms of that dignity which follows ignorance, selfishness, carelessness, and mismating.

One day our friend went to his home to find her whom he had kissed " good-by " so lovingly in the morning, very ill. Iler face was flushed. Her eyes were kindling to a look of pain. Her breath was hot and indicated fever. Her beautiful forehead was not as cool as usual. The smile came slowly to her face as she met her husband at the door of their charmino; house. She laid her hands in his. She pillowed her head on his breast as he tenderly kissed her lips, her eyes, her forehead. He felt at once the presence of an enemy, and asked her lie loved so well, " What of the hour."

" Merely a trifle ill, my darling."

Then she kissed him again and again. Her head sank to his breast as his arms were so lovingly folded around the one who to him and his life was so sweet and so precions. Never did a mother handle more tenderly her first-born than did he who was and who is onr dearly loved friend, lead her to a sofa and there composed her to rest.

Physicians were summoned. The angels of sympathy came into the house and possessed it. The loved wife grew weaker and weaker. It was not like a bold enemy that death came, but like a sneak thief, ashamed to rob the loving man who never did him harm. Perhaps death had pity and stayed his hand longer than his wont ! Days faded into weeks and weeks into months. Slowly the loved one we Dt down over the sands that border the wondrous river. Gently, sweetly, lovingly, mournfully, heroically, patiently, caressingly, did the husband keep her company. By day and by night he held her on his breast tenderly in his perfect love. He gave her life from his magnetism ; but alas ! alas ! the beckoning hand of God that came like a feeble shadow, grew more and more distinct. Human skill, patient care, gentlest nursing, sweetest love and purest affections were as nothing against the inevitable. The shadows grew deeper in the home, the smiles went out from the heart of our friend and left lines of care in their place.

One night she bade father, mother, relatives, all a last "good-by," then she motioned them all away from her presence. Standing there on the threshold of Our Father in Heaven, her soul being filled with melody from the unseen, she reached out her bloodless hand to him who was her life, her husband. She turned her eyes into

his with volumes of love in every glance — in one 2*

34 " Darling^ I Love YouP

long loving look. Her head rested on his breast where so often she had slept to sweetest dreaming. She put away from her all of home ; all of beautiful things ; all of life but her loved husband. She turned her face up to meet his. Their eyes met, were drowned in tears. She whispered so low and yet so distinct —

" Darling, I love you."

And tlius — and thus : with a smile on the lips of the patient woman who for months and months had suffered with no complaining voice, look or act, did this loved, loving, lovely wife bid her husband good-by to join the angel hosts in the Land of the Leal.

" Darling, I love you ! "

O ! what a beautiful legacy ! IIow like a sweet solace — like a poem — lilce a promise for the future did that expression of a life take and make a home in the grief-laden heart of him who heard its just understood whisper. Li life they were togethci'. In death they were not — they will not be divided. There are crowns of laurels and of gold stndded with diamonds ; there have been songs and prose written as tributes to loving, devoted manhood. Monuments have been built, begun and left unfinished in honor of men who achieved greatness. But there never was sweeter, greater, purer tribute than this. Never a crown of brighter lustre. Never a reward for a life of honor, probity and constancy sweeter than the circlet of words breathed over the face and after-life of a husband as his wife stood in the Gateway of God, when forgetting all of life — with no dread of the future, she whispered,

" Darling, I love you."

When so pure a love speaks in this presence it is a tribute to worth. It is a reward for well living. It is a God-whispered promise for the future 1 How much better for men to Kve to be thus breathed upon by one who stands in the presence of God than to live only to develop the

36 ''Darling, 1 Love YouP

low, the coarse, the brutal, the vulgar, the cruel, the abusive and the destructive. There are those who live only to gratify animal passion, to please themselves. To bring out the coarser pictures. There are women who are cold, heartless, selfish ; who love the world more than home ; who do not realize that the mission of a wife and of a mother is to bring her loved ones to Heaven. There are those who say that love is foolishness ; that affection is weakness ; that the rifting frost and the blighting chill that forms the stately iceberg is better than the sun and gentle warmth that covers the earth with beauty. But God does not think so ! Angels do not think so ! Those who love us here, and whom we love, do not think so ! Those to whom we give our lives should not think so — they will not if they are right of heart.

" Darling, I love you."

What a volume of reward and promise is this ! The winter is now upon us, but the gates will soon be opened. The workers in the garden of

" Darling, I Love YouP 37

God are preparing homes for us, they are doing there for us as we strive to do for them here. The good seeds we plant here will all bloom. Ovei There. In a few days we too can go home. In a few days we can cross the river to be welcomed by those who have gone before us, and who will await us to fling their arras about our necks, to pillow our aching heads on their bosoms and to gently whisper as did the lovely wife of whom we write. With our friend and brother we have stood before the word of God — under the mellow light in the East. With him we have walked in sweet companionship over many a thorny road. Have seen the dead raised to life, and have found shelter from many a storm. With him we have rejoiced in the possession of the beautiful, and have learned how to think. With him we have mourned under the sorrows that have swept over his soul to darken his life— with him we again approach the East. See there! Look you out from the Chamber of Meditation ! Look up ! See the temple, the lights, the loving ones. Over Yonder. In that Golden Land, under the gleaming of mellow lights stands waiting the one who so loved yon and whom yon so loved. There is no look of pain on her face. The roses have come to her cheeks once more. She points to the fruits and flowers you have for years been planting in this life, all of which are living and beautiful Over There. She points in triumph tinted by love unutterable to her home — to your home in the Gardens of God. How can you i-each her ? Look you ! From your feet to hers — from your life to hers is a bridge. " Darling I love yoity See how it reaches from shore to shore ! Dry your tears. Follow the line — walk tlie bridge, fearing nothing, and soon will the hands you now miss touch you so gently again. Soon will yon feel her loving presence. Soou will her eyes be the light of your life again. Soon will life rest in life, and the home she will welcome you to will be a million times more beautiful than the one you gave her on earth. Gird up your heart. Bear yourself bravely. The bridge will not break I Walk it from this shore to that one, and soon the feet now encased in sandals will be slippered in the daisies of Heaven, and He whose hand is Open to all who trust in Him will smile and gently say : " Well done ! " and well done on Earth is to be well done forever. How our heart goes out in sympathy with, to and for those who mourn for their loved ones. To the parents who have lost the children they lo\'ed. To the young hearts from whom death lias taken the support to which their souls had 'i(:^'un to cling, for none can cross the stormy ocean so well alone ! To the children who ha ve iost their loved parents, but more than all to the loving wife, and the manly husband whom death iias bereft, not to make us sad, but to give us waiters, watchers, and welcome so sweet in the (jolden Gardens where there is no grief, no soi'- i-ow, no mourning, as on earth this thoughtful Saturday !Night.

CIIAPTEE III.

LEAVING THE OLD EUBBISH.

[IIS afternoon, perhaps two hours before sunset, tired and head-weary after several hours' continued labor at the desk, reading letters and newspapers from different parts of the country, studying the Avants and sentiments of the people in different^ localities, and writing now and then an item, wc left the office and started for a walk in a distant part of the citj^, to see something new. Would any of our young friends have been afiaid to have gone where they never were before l Would any of them be afraid to leave their

Leaving the Old Rubhish. 41

homes in the country and come to New York to visit us ; to tell of the incidents of the trip ? Perhaps you may say you do not know how to reach the great city, where are thousands of people, and great buildings, and stores full of beautiful things, and articles you never saw and never will see till you come here. Still you could come. Even the smallest of all our little friends could come. Every day thousands of T'eople come here, and after we have told you the way, and who to come with, or have sent a silent discreet messenger for you, surely you could come with him and not be afraid, for all S(()me people may say there are dangers along the road, and it is hard to leave friends, who soon Would follow you, glad — Oh ! so glad to have a rtist and to see with their own eyes beauties htiard of, but never fully realiz;ed.