We know that our fixed domicile is not
here, but we feel that it is and must continue to be our home, ever
dear and ever sacred, until we depart hence for another and a better
world. They know but little of the agency of human feelings, who in
their preaching attempt to lessen our attachment for the paternal
roof, because, in common with all other earthly possessions, it is
perishable in its nature, and uncertain in it's tenure. The home of
life is not the less estimable because it is not the home of eternity;
but the more valuable perhaps as it prepares and fits us by its joys
and its sorrows, its rights and its duties, and also by what it
withholds, as well as imparts, for that inheritance which awaits us
hereafter. Yes, home is a great word, but its full meaning ain't
understood by every one.
It ain't those who have one, or those who have none, that comprehend
what it is; nor those who in the course of nature leave the old and
found a new one for themselves; nor those who, when they quit, shut
their eyes and squinch their faces when they think of it, as if it
fetched something to their mind that warn't pleasant to recollect; nor
those who suddenly rise so high in life, that their parents look too
vulgar, or the old cottage too mean for them, or their former
acquaintances too low. But I'll tell you who knows the meaning and
feels it too; a fellow like me, who had a cheerful home, a merry and a
happy home, and who when he returns from foreign lands finds it
deserted and as still as the grave, and all that he loved scattered
and gone, some to the tomb, and others to distant parts of the earth.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237