1891.] ESSAYS. 91 



what it should be, and then like good reasoning souls compare 

 our own. 



Let us start at the beginning, and present an ideal home as 

 we would build one. We will commence where? At the foun- 

 dation? No, that is too premature. At the location? That is 

 secondary. The first consideration must be what, not where, we 

 will have it. 



First, we must make what ministers call a self-examination ; 

 if from their standpoint it is good for the soul, from ours it is 

 good for the vanities of life which have always been the under 

 dog, in a New Englander's reasonings, and now ought to have 

 our sympathy. God Almighty placed them in our nature, I 

 believe for a good purpose, and it will take more theology than 

 New England has yet produced to change my ideas. A home 

 should be for comfort, for happiness, and for health. For com- 

 fort we look to warmth and shelter, a dry soil, an easy access 

 to the highway, etc. 



For happiness, to views, cheerful surroundings, a suitable 

 arrangement of rooms, to give personal seclusion when neces- 

 sary, and the companionship of friends when we are so inclined, 

 pictures, music, plants, open fires, piazzas for summer, heating 

 for winter, and the hosts of little luxuries we all crave. 



For health, to ventilation, good drainage, a full and pure sup- 

 ply of drinking water, and the proper arrangements of the out- 

 buildings, the plumbing, sewage, etc., etc. 



This self-examination will tell you what you want in these 

 three categories, and if you also discover any little pet hobby or 

 folly of your own you had better indulge it, and make your plans 

 in accordance therewith, for the sense of comfort you will get out 

 of it will more than counterbalance and be more satisfactory 

 than the sense of " mortifying the flesh," as the old divines 

 called it. Having discovered what we want in a home, the next 

 step should be to secure the location. A gentleman of my 

 acquaintance was once asked why he did not build his house on 

 a level piece of land, rather than on a rough, uneven hillside. 

 His answer was, that he " didn't propose to move out of New 

 England, in order to find a building site." When a Western 

 man builds a house, it makes no dilference where he puts it. It 



