1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



17 



<iyg 



A HOUSE TO LIVE IN. 



Few things are dearer to us through Ufe than the 

 memories of the old Homestead, — the house in 

 which we were born, the old familiar barn, the gar- 

 den and orchard, the pastures where \\c rambled, — 

 the pleasant brooks where first we cast a hook for 

 the speckled trout, or the millpond tiiat bore us upon 

 its surface in our first nautical adventure, or where 

 our piscatory tendencies were developed, and the 

 roach and perch and voracious pike were the reward 

 of our patience and skill. So the memories of the 

 silent woods, or of their deep sounding bass in a 

 storm, or a look out from the hills, are indelibly 

 im]nessed upon the mind of those born and brought 

 up in the country. But there is another class of 

 recollections, more deeply seated than these, which 

 go to make up some of the purest enjoyments of 

 life, and which 'influence us in a greater or less de- 

 gree in all its varied duties and pursuits. It is the 

 recollection of our early associations with parents, 

 brothers, sisters, and neighbors, — intercourse with 

 the dearly-loved, when the heart waf? young, and 

 free, and susce])tible of impressions that cannot be 

 obliterated by time, or space, or care. 



How important, then, that the House in which we 

 live, together with all its surroundings, should be of 

 such a character as to impart agreeable emotions 

 and impressions ; to leave upon the mind that is to 

 be called into the busy whirl of commercial affairs, 

 the anxious duties of professional life, or the unsat- 

 isfactory preferments, even, of political success, the 

 delightful recollections of youth, and home, and the 

 wholsome principles inculcated in well-ordered 

 households. Such early impressions are a sort of 

 capital, a bank upon wliich we may draw with pleas- 

 ure and i)rofit through life. Indeed, they often 

 mould the affections and lead them into a current 

 in which the whole character takes its course, and 

 l)ecomcs exemjjlary or pernicious as the early ten- 

 dencies have prevailed. 



The influence of the physical home has been too 

 long underrated among our people. It has too 

 long been conceded that a roof over the head, a 

 floor beneath the feet, a fire-place and bed, were all 

 that was necessary for the comfort and hai)piness of 

 the family. Happily, these views are giving place 

 to those of a more comprehensive nature, and more 



