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Chapter 30—Choice and Preparation of the Home
The gospel is a wonderful simplifier of life’s problems. Its in-
struction, heeded, would make plain many a perplexity and save us
from many an error. It teaches us to estimate things at their true
value and to give the most effort to the things of greatest worth—the
things that will endure. This lesson is needed by those upon whom
rests the responsibility of selecting a home. They should not allow
themselves to be diverted from the highest aim. Let them remember
that the home on earth is to be a symbol of and a preparation for the
home in heaven. Life is a training school, from which parents and
children are to be graduated to the higher school in the mansions of
God. As the location for a home is sought, let this purpose direct
the choice. Be not controlled by the desire for wealth, the dictates
of fashion, or the customs of society. Consider what will tend most
to simplicity, purity, health, and real worth.
The world over, cities are becoming hotbeds of vice. On every
hand are the sights and sounds of evil. Everywhere are enticements
to sensuality and dissipation. The tide of corruption and crime is
continually swelling. Every day brings the record of violence—
robberies, murders, suicides, and crimes unnamable.
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Life in the cities is false and artificial. The intense passion for
money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking, the
thirst for display, the luxury and extravagance, all are forces that,
with the great masses of mankind, are turning the mind from life’s
true purpose. They are opening the door to a thousand evils. Upon
the youth they have almost irresistible power.
One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations that assail the
children and youth in the cities is the love of pleasure. Holidays are
numerous; games and horse racing draw thousands, and the whirl of
excitement and pleasure attracts them away from the sober duties of
life. Money that should have been saved for better uses is frittered
away for amusements.
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