gonial <$tail's. 
ATTRACTIVE HOMES. 
BV EBEN E. REX FORD. 
“It’s strange," says Neighbor A. to me one 
day, “how different times are from what they 
used to be when I was young. Now, there’s 
my boys—out every night in the week, almost, 
and I can't keep them at horn". Neighbor it.'s 
boys don’t trouble him so, and yet they are no 
butter than my boys, as far as disposition and 
obedience is considered. Somehow 
they don't seem to want to go as my 
boy r s do. I can't account for it." 
“ Perhaps thereoson lies Just here," 
I answered “Neighbor B.strives to 
make his home a more attractive 
place than the streets or the bar¬ 
rooms can be to his sons. And, if he 
carries out this idea and succeeds in 
making his home attractive beyond 
the lure and glitter of our many 
popular but demoralizing resorts fre¬ 
quented by young men, he Is success¬ 
ful in laying the foundation of their 
future on a strong, reliable basis." 
“Yes,” answers Neighbor A., 
thoughtfully; "but how does he 
do it?” 
"Go to his house and see," I an¬ 
swer. “ You will find books and 
music and pict ures combining their 
influences to make it so pleasant and 
delightful. In the company of all 
these ministers to the enjoyment of 
the mind, his boys forget all about 
the false excitement of the saloon, 
and are happy in the pure atmosphere 
of home." 
“Yes, I know," agairl answers 
Neighbor A, a little dubiously, per¬ 
haps. “But when I was young wo 
didn't have even a newspaper, and 
only half a dozen such books as 
* Baxter’s Saints’ Rest ’ and 1 he ‘ Book 
of Martyrs.’ Music we didn't know 
much about; and pictures were for 
the rich and not for us. And 1 never 
cared about rutting around much; 
no more did the other boys of the 
neighborhood. Now wc have a news¬ 
paper every week and quite a num¬ 
ber of books, and yet. the boys ain’t 
satisfied to stay at homo. They won’t 
read the news, so what would bo the 
use of getting books? " 
"Yes, I knowhow it used to be," 
I answer. “But in the days ol' your 
boyhood," I say to my friend, “ there 
was not one*tenth part of the al trac¬ 
tion abroad that there Is at the pres¬ 
ent day. To counteract this alluring 
evil the increase or attraction at 
home must be made greater in the 
same proportion. When you were 
young, because there were few if any 
places more attractive than home, 
you did not care to run about. Now 
it is eutiroly different, and you, who 
never felt this great temptation to 
frequent places where mirth and jol¬ 
lity and carousing reign, most likely 
under the higher sway of liquor, can¬ 
not realize how strong the Influence 
is that draws our young men thither. 
If home lacks attractions for them of 
tlie purer, higher kind, which every 
nature endowed with yearnings after 
the pleasant things of life demands, they will 
seek those of a lower order, where the more 
sensual parts of their mind can find satiety, for 
a season at least. Constant resource to this low 
society for amusement will destroy, in time, 
their taste for auythlng higher and better. You 
should get such books as your boys would get 
Interested In from their own knowledge of the 
tilings treated of. Newspapers arc, to young 
people, very dull reading. But give them a i 
book or a magazine that tells them about some- i 
thing they have known, or seen, or heard of, i 
and their interest is awakened at once. They 
read on, and, before they know it, they have I 
Termed a taste for reading I hat is not easily got i 
rid of. Give them music, and not only will the < 
hours be shortened and made tenfold more cu- i 
Joyable and pleasant, but the influence it exerts i 
will be softening, refiuiDg and elevating. You t 
cannot value books or music too highly; und t 
if you add pictures, you will make home a more s 
pleasant place than any bar-room can ever be- s 
come. The first (» hr an and the bar-room is not I 
and can never be. In these days you can get, li 
for a small sum of money, as good pictures as L 
you need, and pictures that will brighten up g 
your home wonderfully. They will bo constant 
teachers to your children— companions of an a 
elevating and ennobling influence. Get some fi 
landscapes in chromo-lithography, which gives it 
you as beautiful a pieturo in oil for » few dot- J< 
taro as could uot have been purchased u few b. 
years ago for a hundred, and bang them where 
the boys and girls can feel their beauty reflect- 01 
Ing itself into their lives. These will brighten gi 
up shadowy nooks for the younger ones as \\ 
nothing else could do. Get some of these sc 
things. Neighbor A., and then tell me if books Y 
and music and pictures do not have a combined ju 
influence that will make itself a power for good h< 
over your children and—excuse me yourself, re 
You will get to wonder, in a little time, bow re 
you got along 90 long without them. If they 
were in oven' home, the saloons would languish 
for want, of customers, and the purer and 
noblor part of every nature would And such 
development as would in time crush out all de¬ 
sire and taste for the evil excitements of the 
street-school for the demoralization of youug 
men. Try lliem.” 
"J believe l will," answers Neighbor A., and 
goes away thoughtfully. 
I shall look for a reformation in his family, 
himself included. 
-- 
SOCIAL CLUBS FOR GENTLEMEN. 
The increasing evil of dissipation among 
men of education and influence in our villages 
family in the way of food ami clothing; if he 
comes home only to cat and sleep if lie takes 
no interest in the hopes und aims of his chil¬ 
dren he is absolutely cruel. Where can a man 
find a more improving social club than his own 
family? If ho is fond of games, he can enjoy 
them at home without that eternal leakage 
from his pockets. Oh, men I I entreat you to 
break this terrible habit, and go homo to your 
wives and children; you will yourselves be 
better, your families happier, and your pros¬ 
pects blighter than before. Men of intellect 
and education! do not dim the lustre of your 
brains by practices which you, in the depths of 
your s«ul, condemn. I’LAttA Julien. 
-A. BROWN CIiRlyTM;A.S STUDY. 
Santa Claus—“Now, how am I going to get down those new fashioned chimney! 
and towns, is the impetus which prompts this 
article; and if some of my readers, who cannot 
fail to sec .themselves reflected, will take warn¬ 
ing and, ere it be too late, turn from the error 
of their ways, l he object of the writer will have 
been accomplished. 
Whether these social clubs for gentlemen are 
regularly organized with due form and cere¬ 
mony, or whether the members thereof meet, 
as if by intention, at some wretched saloon and 
there carry on the villainous practices of like 
associations, they should he vetoed. 
A few years ago I should have been horrified 
had I been told who frequented these vile dens 
of infamy; but the sad truth has gradually 
dawned upon my mind, and I am now fully 
aroused to the enormity of tin carried on about 
me. It Is to my unspeakable grief that I learn 
that merchants, politicians and other influen¬ 
tial men of our villages are in the habit, of 
spending their evenings—their nights, r might 
sa.V in these wretched places. No wonder that 
I business is dull and the interests of the town 
languish; how can it be otherwise when our 
best men uro transforming themselves into 
gamblers and drunkards! 
No wonder that wives receive that Inevitable 
answer, “Times are hard," whenever they ask 
for the funds necessary to keep the family 
machinery moving! Where is the remedy so 
Jong as there is such a perilous leak in the hus¬ 
band’s pocket? 
The men who frequent these places are not 
only husbands but fathers, and. as such, de¬ 
grade not only themselves but their children. 
What must be the feelings of a father to see his 
son take a scat beside him at the gaming table! 
1 et why shouldn’t he do so? He surely has 
Justification in his father’s example. The son, 
however, prefers his own club, and the father 
reproves him for late hours; but, like “Satan 
rebuking sin,” pursues his own course. 
I care not how well a man provides for his 
LIFE AT HOME. 
It is practicable to mike homo so delightful 
that children shall have no disposition to wan¬ 
der from It or prefer any other place; it. is pos¬ 
sible to make it so attractive that it shall not 
only firmly hold Its own loved ones, but shall 
draw others into its cheerful circle. Let the 
housffj all day long, be the scene of pleasant 
looks, pleasant words, kind und affectionate 
acts; let the table be the happy meetlag-plaee 
of a merry group,and not a dull board, where a 
silent, If not sullen, company of animals come 
to feed; let the meal be the time when a cheer¬ 
ful laugh is heard and good things are said; let 
the sitting room, at evening, be the place where 
a smiling company settle themselves to books 
or games till the round of good-night kisses are 
in order; let there be some music in Hie house¬ 
hold, music not kept like silks and satins to 
show to company, but music in which father 
and mother and sister and brother Join; let the 
young companions bo welcomed, and made for 
the time a part of the group, so that daughters 
shall not doom It necessary to seek the obscurity 
of back parlors with intimate friends, or to 
drive father and mother to distant apartments ; 
in a word, let Hie home be surrounded byan air 
of cozy and cheerful good-will; then children 
need not he exhorted to love it—you will not be 
ubie to tempi them away from It.—D h. Airman. 
♦ ♦♦- 
Never pay for a tradesman’s bill until you 
have reckoned it up. 
Allow a man to have wit and he will allow 
you to have Judgment. 
A man who Is oftiefous to serve you at first 
sight should be regarded with caution. 
Wuen religion Is made]a science there is noth¬ 
ing more difficult; when made a duty there Is 
nothing more easy. 
A “RURAL” POEM. 
The following Poem, as appears from its date, 
was first published in the RuralNEW-Yorker 
ot Dec. 33, 1854—nearly eighteen yours ago and 
is now reproduced I 11 lho belief that many, if 
not all, of its points are ns appropriate and 
truthful to-day as when it originally appeared, 
it, is in honor of the Rural, I he Pkmeor Rural, 
and at the time of its publication was widely 
copied and commended by our exchanges. Now 
that Moore’s Rural has passed its majority, 
ami become a recognized (if not chartered) in¬ 
stitution of the land, we trust I here is no impro¬ 
priety in re publishing this poem in its praise: 
THE RURAL, 
nv A/.i i.k. 
W ren wintry winds arc swooning by 
And Farmers round the Ingle hie, 
VVliat paper most delights the eye 
And dissipates dull ennui? 
'l'ho Rural.* 
When Nature Inis withdrawn her smile. 
And tears usurped its place awhile. 
From whence the solace free from guile 
That soon the heart doth reconcile ? 
The Rural. 
When merry Holidays are here— 
That Joyous season of the year, 
Of pastimes, sports and hearty cheer— 
Wluit adds its mite for readers dear? 
The Rural. 
When Jests anil riddles pass around, 
And young and old with mirth abound. 
Whore can amusement”, rare be found, 
VVImt page Enigmas dark expound ? 
'l’hu Rural. 
When clouded o’er the brow with care, 
And gloomy shadows hover there. 
What soothes and softens dark despair 
And brightens homo with cheerful air? 
The Rural. 
What speaks alike to grave and gay, 
In sober prose and merry lay 
Warns Youth from Virtue no’nr to stray, 
But ever walk in Wisdom's way ? 
The rural. 
VVliat seeks to counsel all aright, 
tilvoa Truth and .Justice special might, 
Applauds add honors schemes upright. 
Blit o’er dcv.epl.ion casts a blight? 
The Rural. 
When Spring returns with vem 1 showers, 
And maidens sigh for vine-clad bowers, 
What whispers then, “ Improve life’s 
hours. 
And learn to cultivate sweet flowers?” 
The Rural. 
When seed-time comes, with busy round 
Of sowing grain and tilling ground, 
VVImt giv<‘« advice with logic sound, 
And tells of implements renowned? 
The rural. 
VVliat, has for all its chosen theme, 
Domestic peace and lover’s dream, 
Makes Matron’s duties lightsome seoiu, 
Contentment o’er the hearth-stone beam ? 
The Rural. 
Long may the " Model Paper" reign ! 
Its noble standard e’er maintain— 
Successful be. Its new campaign. 
And may all friends of Worth sustain 
The Rural. 
Rochester, Dee., 1851. 
MATRIMONIAL INCOMPATI¬ 
BILITY. 
The IUsv. Dr. Peahouv, in u late 
essay touches upon this delicate sub¬ 
ject alter the following fashion; The truth is 
that the greater proportion of the so-called in- 
com pa 11 tali tics and uncongenial dies of do most ic 
life which are so often made the ground for the 
disruption of the matrimonial bond, are inad¬ 
missible its a Justifying- ground for any such 
dissolution, and could bo readily overcome and 
blotted out of existence if Hie parties most 
concerned Imd only Iho will to do it. A 
couple are no sooner married limn they find 
that differences of opinion and mutual jars en¬ 
sue, and all Is not gold that glistened ; and then 
one.or both straight way imagine that there , i-j 
no remedy but in ruIhlcnsly breaking the sol¬ 
emn, sacred tie that binds thorn, a vague, rest¬ 
less feeling seizes upon one or both, producing 
discontent, cngendeiiug a certain thought of 
present bondage which exists only in fancy, 
and creating a feverish desire for other associa¬ 
tions and spheres which uro supposed to bo 
mme fitted und providentially designed for the 
mind and heart. No escape, It is said, but in 
cutting the knot. It is a delusion. The mar¬ 
riage relation, in all its history, was never ex¬ 
pected, perhaps, to be entirely t ree from misun¬ 
derstanding and discords. Foolish to think that 
l he whole mutual life can flow and, like the early 
stream, without a ripple or eddy. Home Isa 
Bchool, a discipline, whereby husband and wife 
are to grow into each other, getting rid of their 
angularities, harmonizing their peculiar charac¬ 
teristics, arid-more and more becoming ore in 
thought, sympathy und life. The true blessed¬ 
ness of wedded souls is not Insured by a sirnj.le 
exchange Of plighted faith. It comes through 
and after many a self-denial, many a crucifix¬ 
ion of the will, many a scourging of the resent¬ 
ment, anger, pride, vanity, and passions of the 
heart. It is true here, as in other relations, that 
ho who savoth his life shall lose It, and he that 
loseth his life shall save it. 
- — 1 • » » — - 
Take a receipt though you pay ready money. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
401 
r, 
BEG. 21 
