36 DISCOURSES OF FATHER HYACINTHE. 



l)rolven Avith every genenition : the lUmily homestead is 

 a Iluly Liuul, like tliat wliicli God promised to the seed 

 of the patriarehs ; and tlie hearth, the central point of 

 it, has all the dignity of its Most Holy Place. Shall 

 this homestead be parcelled ont in patches ? The works 

 Avhicli grow np with it, in agricnltnre or other indus- 

 tries, shall they come to naught? Shall the fireside 

 be given over to strangers ? * Shall these articles of 

 household use, redolent of the remembrances of former 

 kindred, be sold under the hammer ? Ah! Gentlemen, 

 let us show that res2")ect for tlie domestic hearth with 

 which it is honored by free and virtuous peoples. One 

 such I know, which, like the Hebrew people, has with- 

 stood the destructive power of the centuries, and of 

 which a glorious remnant is still left to- us. As free 

 under the family roof, as respectful to the public author- 

 ity, the Basques have written in their fueros, on the 

 other side of the Pyrenees, this noble custom : " No 

 public force may approach the house of a Biscayan 

 nearer than nine paces.'' 



The last of the three great patriarchs, Jacob, was 

 about to die. His eye was dim with age, so that he 

 could not see. But when they told him, '' Behold thy 

 sons are coming,'' the old man gathered up his strength ; 

 he kneeled upon his couch, and bowed himself and wor- 

 shipped at the head of his bed.* Then when he had 

 prayed, renewing his strength by thus waiting on Jeho- 

 vah, the living and mighty God, he sat upon his bed, 

 his feet resting on the ground, and, takiug the best be- 

 loved in his arms, he embraced Ephraim and IManasseh 



* Gcnesip, xlvii. 31. (Yulj,'ate vcreiun, " Adoraiit Israel Dcv?n, conveiTUs ad 

 kctull caput.."") 



