Basic HTML Version
Choice and Preparation of the Home
251
which is a thousandfold more precious. They bring into the home a
heavy burden of care and labor and perplexity.
What are the conditions in many homes, even where resources
are limited and the work of the household rests chiefly on the mother?
The best rooms are furnished in a style beyond the means of the
occupants and unsuited to their convenience and enjoyment. There
are expensive carpets, elaborately carved and daintily upholstered
furniture, and delicate drapery. Tables, mantels, and every other
available space are crowded with ornaments, and the walls are cov-
ered with pictures, until the sight becomes wearying. And what an
amount of work is required to keep all these in order and free from
dust! This work, and the other artificial habits of the family in its
conformity to fashion, demand of the housewife unending toil.
In many a home the wife and mother has no time to read, to keep
herself well informed, no time to be a companion to her husband,
no time to keep in touch with the developing minds of her children.
There is no time or place for the precious Savior to be a close, dear
companion. Little by little she sinks into a mere household drudge,
[209]
her strength, time, and interest absorbed in the things that perish
with the using. Too late she awakes to find herself almost a stranger
in her own home. The precious opportunities to influence her dear
ones for the higher life were left unimproved, and now have passed
away forever.
Let homemakers resolve to live on a wiser plan. Let it be your
first aim to make a pleasant home. Be sure to provide the facilities
that will lighten labor and promote health and comfort. Plan for the
entertainment of the guests whom Christ has told us to welcome
and of whom He says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of
these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
Matthew 25:40
.
Furnish your home with things plain and simple, things that will
bear handling, that can easily be kept clean, and that can be replaced
without great expense. By exercising taste you can make a very
simple home attractive and inviting, if love and contentment are
there.