The Best Thing in the Home by Carrie S. Welty

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 9, 1911

The Best Thing in the Home

By Carrie S. Welty

CARRIE S. WELTY

IN some languages there is no word synonymous with our word home. Home is defined as “a place where one resides.” Webster necessarily deals with cold definitions without sentiment; but were this all home meant to us, how drear the word! Dryden comes more nearly to our ideal when he says, “Home is the sacred refuge of our lives.”

There are millions of such homes as the former, but they are only a travesty upon the word so dear to our hearts. Many a home is elegantly furnished; the family well dressed; the table bountifully spread; guests come and go; compliments are freely exchanged, and “all goes merry as a marriage bell;” host and hostess appear happy; children for the time being are interested and interesting. Guests depart, and silence, or something worse, settles down upon the household, and husband or wife, or both, take no comfort in their surroundings, and feel the lack of something that was supposed to be in their possession. The husband is interested in something down-town, and quietly takes his hat and departs. The wife is worried, irritated, and impatient with the little ones, or perhaps silent and sorrowful.

Manly man, womanly woman, beautiful children,—these afford good material for home building. What is lacking, to some extent at least?—’Tis that “best thing.” One of our poets has said, “O glorious, O happy day when a new household finds its way among the myriad homes of earth!” Can it be truthfully said of this home? A great deal of love and a little selfishness may abide together in a home without very serious conflict; but let that best thing be the

predominating influence, and home is a heaven below.

We find, then, that there are homes of all grades, from the mansion to the hovel. “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.” When John Howard Payne wrote that grand old song, he did not have reference to the house where we reside, but to home in its larger sense. It was his recognition of the great difference between a house and a home that caused him to pen those immortal words. Even were it true that luxuries bring contentment, their absence could not cause misery and bring discontent to the humble home; for the best thing in the home can not be monopolized by the wealthy, even though they have their coveted luxuries. Enthrone love in the home, debar selfishness, and you have a home akin to that deathless home which we are all striving to gain.

I once knew two sisters who were left motherless in the hills of West Virginia. What must have been the comfort of their father, to see his daughters trying constantly to save each other the hardest tasks! This reminds me of an old legend, with reference to a harvest-field upon the supposed site of the temple at Jerusalem, the field being owned by two brothers, one married and the other single. One night after harvest, when the wheat was in shock, the married brother and his wife began at one end of the field to rearrange the shocks so as to allow the bachelor brother a larger share of sheaves, because he was alone in the world. The single brother, for the same generous reason, began to divide the shocks of grain at the other end, because his brother had a wife to care for.

Is it not often just the reverse, even in those homes where love is not a stranger? To illustrate: I once knew a little girl who was very fastidious, and who was considered somewhat selfish, because when the mother brought home clothes for all the children, the hose without a flaw, or the most perfect garment was certainly meant for her. An older sister once said to her, “Sister, you always look out for No. 1.” “Well,” she replied, without understanding the criticism, “I’ll look out for No. 1, and you look out for No. 2.” I am glad to say that love conquered, self was dethroned, and her character became noted for its depth of love and lack of selfishness. Would that we older Christians might look out for No. 2, and give No. 2 a chance to look out for us.

Paul says: “Look not every man upon his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Homes, as well as nations, are composed of individuals, of as many dispositions as there are persons. We may call this disposition his individuality. Two or more of these individualities coming in contact, are likely to conflict. Selfishness often causes argument, and even strife of a more pronounced character. Love partly regulates all this, even if, with unsanctified natures, the members of a household clash, as we sometimes express it.

The home is the cradle of the nation. If all homes were Christian, in the best sense, we might be called what we are not now—“a Christian nation.” This can never be, because selfishness predominates in the majority of homes, and rules the nation.

How beautifully Paul discusses our subject in 1 Corinthians 13! He speaks eloquently of the gifts which we might possess, gifts which we all covet, and yet, without love, we are nothing, literally not one thing. When we bring into our homes this crowning virtue, love, we have something as enduring as God himself. “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Speak no hasty, bitter words, dear mother. “Love . . . is not provoked, . . . endureth all things.”

The subject expands before us. If we have read 1 Corinthians too carelessly, let us ask God to impress its truths upon us by his Holy Spirit. Then by bringing love to bear upon our home life, our children will be prepared to “speak with the enemies in the gate,” as the psalmist says. Facing, as we are, a great crisis, how necessary to be on a solid foundation; for only love in action will triumph.

Boulder, Colo.