Make Home Attractive
In 1888 J. B. Young & Co., Publishers created a book written by various experts titled “The Popular Art Instructor.”
In the chapter titled “Make Home Attractive” it states:
“The greatest art that the world has ever produced is the art of beautifying and making home attractive. As the grandest piece of sculpture, the world has ever seen adorns a temple front, and the most beautiful painting is found to be in the decoration of a room, so the grandest and noblest motives that can stir the human heart are those awakened within the pale of domestic life. Beautiful art can only be inspired by pure and beautiful thoughts, and unless some elements of taste and beauty are provided for the leisure hours at home, how can it be expected that the young may find their homes more attractive than places of sin and amusement, and have pure thoughts, pure hearts, and a love of refinement.
What a fullness of enjoyment has our Creator placed within our reach by surrounding us with an atmosphere that may be shaped into sweet sounds, and by placing at our disposal many beautiful things; and yet this goodness is lost to many of us through want of culture of the senses by which these provisions are enjoyed.
Why not have some elegance in even the humblest homes? We must have cleanliness which is the special elegance of the poor. But why not have pleasant and delightful things to look upon!”
The author talks about the beauty of Nature and having common flowers adorn your home. They also state:
“But why not besides the beauty of Nature, have a taste for the beauty of Art! Why not hang up pictures or some pretty ornaments in the room! It seems to make home more pleasant and attractive. It sweetens domestic life and sheds a grace of beauty about it. It draws the gazer away from mere considerations of self and increases his store of delightful associations with the world without as well as within. The portrait of a great man, for instance, helps us to read his life. It invests him with a personal interest. Looking at his features we feel as if we knew him better and were more closely acquainted with him. The works of nature, before us daily, at our meals and during our leisure hours, unconsciously seem to lift us up and sustain us. They are links that in some way bind us to a higher and nobler nature. They remind us of the observation made by Hazlitt upon a picture, “It looks as if a bit of Heaven were in the room.” To our eyes a room always looks unfurnished no matter how costly and numerous the tables, chairs, and ottomans, unless there may be something to grace the walls and naked tables.”
