He must be a man of pure, blameless life, whose name shall
grow to be an honor and a pride in his household. Husbands have a
great deal to do with the matter of happiness at home.

The wife, too, has a responsibility. It should be understood at the
very beginning, that good housekeeping is one of the first secrets of a
happy home. If a man must be a good provider, a woman must be a good
home-maker. No woman is ready to marry until she has mastered the fine
arts of housekeeping. Home is the wife's kingdom. She holds very
largely in her hands the happiness of the hearts that nestle there.
The best husband, the truest, the noblest, the gentlest, the
richest-hearted, cannot make his home happy if his wife be not in every
sense a helpmeet. In the last analysis, home happiness does depend on
the wife. She is the true home-maker.

Children, too, are great blessings, when God sends them, bringing into
the home rich possibilities of happiness. They cost care, and demand
toil and sacrifice; ofttimes causing pain and grief: yet the blessing
they bring repays a thousand times the care and cost. It is a sacred
hour in a home when a baby is born and laid in the arms of a young
father and mother. It brings fragments of heaven trailing after it to
the home of earth. There are few deeper, purer joys ever experienced
in this world than the joy of true parents at the birth of a child.
Much of home's happiness along the years is made by the children. We
say we train them, but they train us ofttimes more than we train them.
Our lives grow richer, our hearts are opened, our love becomes holier
when the children are about us. Croons a young mother over her babe:--

"And art thou mine, thou helpless, trembling thing,
Thou lovely presence? Bird, where is thy wing?
How pure thou art! fresh from the fields of light,
Where angels garner grain in robes of white.

"Didst thou bring 'sealed instructions' with thee, dove,
How to unlock the fount of mother-love?
Full well dost thou fulfil thy winsome part;
With holy fire they're writ upon my heart.

"My child, I fear thee! thou'rt a spirit, soul!
How shall I walk before thee? keep my garments whole?
O Lord, give strength, give wisdom for the task,
To train this child for thee! Yet more I ask:

"Life of my life, for thee I crave best gifts and glad,
More than, even in dreams, thy mother had!
O Father! fine this gold! Oh, polish this, my gem!
Till