Robert Ingersoll's Beautiful Sermons On "Flome"

By Jack Dionne

Ingersoll was a man who took beautiful thoughts, and then with wonderful words and phrases, wove w-ondrous tapestries.

And while he has gone into history as a great agnostic -f61 "infidel" he never was-yet his sefmons on ,,home," on "love your neighbor," on proper treatment of wife and child, and other beautiful subjects, challenge anything written or spoken in all this world's history.

' During the last few years the famous revivalist Billy

Sunday has been much advertised for saying: "The man who sings 'Flome Srveet llome' in a flat is kidding himself, and serenading his Landlord."

Fifty years ago, in delivering an address to the farmers of the State of Illinois, Ingersoll said, in discussing HOME owning: "Few men have been patriotic enough to shoulder a musket in defense of a boarding-house."

He said at that same time to those same farmers: "The prosperity and glory of our country depends upon the num- ber of people who are the orvners of HOMES. Around the fireside cluster the private and public virtues of our race. Raise your sons to be independent through labot -to pursue some business for themselves and upon thei" own account-to be self-reliant-to act upon their orvu responsibility, and to take the couseqtlences like rnetl. Teach them above all things to lte good, true, and tender husbands; rvinners of love, and BUILDERS OF HOMES."

Drrring that same address he said: "There can be no such thing as a home in the highest sense, UNLESS YOU OWN IT. There must be an incentive to plant trees, to beautify the grounds, to preserve and improve. It elevates a man to.own a home. It gives a certain independence, a force of character, that is obtained in no otherrvay. A rnan rvithout a home is just a passenger. There is in such a man a little of the vagrant. llomes made patriots. He who has sat by his orvn fireside with rvife and children, will defend it. When he hears the rvord 'country' pronounced, he thinks of his HOI\'IE.

"Farmers ought to beautify their homes. There should be trees, and grass, and florvers, ahd running vines. Everything should be kept in order. Gates should be on their hinges, and above all there should be the pleasant air ot' thrift. In every house there should be a bathroom. The bath is a civilizer, a refiner, a beautifier. Above all tl,ings. keep clean. It is not necessary to BE a pig, in order to raise one. In the cool of the evening, after a hard da,v iir the field, put on clean clothes, take a seat under thr: trees 'mid the perfume of florvers, surrounded by your family, and you rvill knorv what it is to enjoy life like a gentleman.

"Decorate your rooms. Have books, have papers, and read them. Beautifv your grounds with plants, an<i flowers, and vines. Remember that everything of beauty tends to the elevati<in of man. Every little morning gloiy whose purple bosom is thrilled with the, amorous kisses of the sun, tends to put a blossom in your heart. Do not judge the 'r.alue of everything by the market reports. Every flolver about a house certifies to the refinement of somelrcdy. Every vine, climbing and blossoming, tells of love and joy.

"Nlake your homes comfortable. Do not huddle in e little roonr around a red-hot stove, with every window fastened down. Do not live in this poisoned atmosphere, and theh, when one of your children dies, put a piece in the paper commencing, "Whereas it has pleased Divino Providence to remove from our midst-.' Hal e plentv of air, and plenty of r,varmth. Comfort is health."

Ingersoll said he didn't believe in God. He rneant in a physical, super-man sort of God: John said: "God is Love." Read the following from Ingersoll, and see if he didn't believe in the God that John believed in:

"The meanest hut, with love in it, is fit for the Gods, and a place without love is a den only fit for wild beasts. That's my doctrine. You can't be so poor that you can't help somebody. Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world, and LOVE is the only thing that will pay 1'00 per cent to borrorver and lender both. The happy man

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