Food for thought from Home-Making , by J.R. Miller :

( remember, this was originally published in 1882 )

 p 11    "Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form like great rivers society, the community, the nation, the Church. If the springs run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul the rivers are defiled."

p. 22  " Coleridge says, ' The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions, the little soon-forgotten charities of a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling.' These may seem trifles, and the omission of them may be deemed unworthy of thought; but they are the daily bread of love, and hearts go hungry when they are omitted."

p.58  "The true wife needs to be no mere poet's dream, no artist's picture, no ethereal lady too little for use, but a woman healthful, strong, practical, industrious, with a hand for life's common duties, yet crowned with that beauty which a high and noble purpose gives to the soul."

p.79  " How can she make sure that her influence over her husband will be for the good, that he will be a better man, more successful in his career, and more happy, because she is his wife? ....

She will make him not what she tells him he ought to be, but like what she herself is."

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