Untitled article by Mrs. I. H. E.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 10, 1915

Home Ideals — No. 2

By Mrs. I. H. E.

THE ideal home has been defined as a place “where there is just a little more thinking of others than of self; where the child is not the unwilling slave of the older mind, but the loving and growing-in-wisdom companion; where over the doorway burns forever in letters of fire the greeting, ‘Ye who enter here, find Hope within;’ where without violating the natural sanctity of those who dwell within, friends, neighbors, and even the stranger are welcome as companions in toil for humanity’s cause; where Patience and Honor are handmaidens at the table, and Love bedews the roses by the portal; where through the serene light of family unity is discerned the still higher unity of loyalty, through faith and toil, to the community, the state, and the ever-present Master of the world.”

Such a home must be built in love. Without this grace it cannot exist. There may be all the outward trappings,— costly buildings, wide acres, lavish expenditure,—but there is no home. Things, no matter how artistic and rare and beautiful, do not constitute a home; nor are they even emblems of that most precious of earthly blessings.

Nothing in this world can make a home but loving hearts, nor can any dwelling place with other foundation be called by this name. It may be a place to stay in, to eat, to sleep: so is a hotel or a boarding house. But home is more: it is a place where kindred souls commune, where hearts united by the strong bonds of mutual confidence and self-respect and faith in each other, feel and suffer and rejoice and sorrow together.

The influence of a true home is far-reaching. “It is a live coal, which passes its light and heat to dead coals, kindling them into life; and they in turn pass their comfort to other homes, until finally a great circle of hope and comfort is created. No home can live unto itself, or ever was intended to. If it attempts isolation, it must become like the live coal which, giving no power of its own to the coal beside it, gradually chars and passes into ash.”

To be a real blessing to its own members and to the community, the home must be founded not only on love but on a respect for law—the law that governs our relation to God and to our fellow men. To be “law-abiding” in the highest sense does not mean simply to avoid the transgression of the letter, but to go deeper, and refrain from those minor infringements that so often seem unimportant because they go unpunished.

“All the law is not in the statute books,” says Professor Graham Taylor, of the Chicago Commons. “The hasty, unkind word uttered in the home is not law-abiding. False criticism of neighbors or strangers is not observing the law. Impatience with a child that is striving to grope its way into correct intelligence is not respecting the law. Unseemly clashes between husband and wife, to which children are unfortunate witnesses, are law-breaking. Ignorance of faith, hope, and charity in all relations with children, friends, neighbors, town, and State, is indubitable evidence that the corner stone of a home is not set upon the rock of the law.”

When we understand that home is not simply a sleeping and eating establishment, but an institution that was designed to be a place where love reigns, where law is respected, and where every Christian grace finds its highest and sweetest development, then will our homes be built in harmony with the divine plan. Mrs. I. H. E.