An open fire was the centre of the first home. Around its warmth on cold winter nights gathered the family group, securely protected from wild beasts. Here, beneath an overhanging rock or within a sheltering cave, the family found safety, comfort, and companionship.

For these reasons, the people of long ago came to look upon the fireplace as a sacred spot. Religious ceremonies accompanied the lighting of its fires, and a dwelling with only dead ashes on the hearth was regarded as a home desecrated. In this way it came about that the words hearth and home were used interchangeably. To this day we speak of a domestic misfortune as "a shadow which has fallen upon the hearth."

In this connection, it is interesting to notice that our word focus, which means the "centre," comes from the Latin word focus, meaning "fireplace." This simple fact explains what home has always meant and what it means today: the centre, the heart of life.

The word dwelling-place never had the same meaning as the word home. A person may dwell in a palace and be a stranger there, or he may live in a hut and be at home. The home feeling depends on whether we find peace and affection within the dwelling-place. The focus is the home fire, whether it blazes upon the hearthstone or quietly glows within human hearts.

The mother, the home circle, the joys and griefs which bind the family close together, have always been favorite subjects with great writers. In the pages which follow, you will find selections by poets, novelists, and historians, who have tried, each in his own way, to put into words something of that "charm from the skies" which we all associate with home.

CHOOSE A BOOK

(Which book looks most interesting to you? Find this book in the library and read it at home while you are studying this unit.)

1. Alcott, Louisa M., Little Women. Little, Brown.

A story of the joys, griefs, and escapades of four girls in a New England family of sixty years ago. The "little women are the author and her sisters. Little Men, also by Miss Alcott, is a story of a houseful of boys whom Jo, the heroine in Little Women, took under her roof after her marriage. Here they found home, schooling, and good times.

2. Beard, Dan C., Curious Homes and Their Tenants. Appleton. The building and home-making instincts of insects and of land and water animals.

3. Cheyney, E. D. L., Louisa M. Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Jour-nals. Little, Brown.

The biography of the author of Little Women and Little Men made doubly fascinating by Miss Alcott's letters and diaries.

4. Dickens, Charles, The Cricket on the Hearth.

"A fairy tale of home," Dickens calls this story. Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle, Tillie Slowboy, and the Stranger are entertaining, to be sure, but half the charm of the story lies in the song of the idiot of a kettle and the cheerful chirp of the cricket on the hearth.

5. Earle, Alice Morse, Home Life in Colonial Days. Macmillan. The houses of the colonists, their food, clothing, and industries, their methods of travel and transportation, as well as their home life, are described.

6. Gilson, Roy R., In the Morning Glow. Grosset.

Eight sketches and stories picturing father and mother, brother and sister, Aunt Jane, and grandfather and grandmother.

7. Habberton, John, Helen's Babies. Stokes.

The amusing story of a bachelor uncle who takes care of "Budge" and "Toddy," the two lively and mischievous children of his sister, while she and her husband are away on a visit.

8. Hughes, Rupert, The Old Nest. Century.

The story of a father and mother left alone in the old home after the children have grown up and gone into the world.

9. Lee, Yan Phou, When I Was a Boy in China. Lothrop Lee. An account of boy life in the oldest of Oriental countries. The book describes the curious customs and ceremonies in old-time Chinese families.

10. Norris, Kathleen, Mother. Macmillan.

A story of a family who lived in a small town not far from New York City. The chief character is the mother, who, in spite of very limited means, made a cheerful and happy home for her husband and seven children.

11. Rice, Alice Caldwell Hegan, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. Century.

Mrs. Wiggs is a widow with a family of five children. In spite of many adversities she is always able to look on the sunny side of things. Amusing incidents, unselfishness, and sympathy abound in the Wiggs home.

12. Richmond, Grace S., The Second Violin.

Burt.

The story of a family of children who keep the home together during the enforced absence of the father and mother.

13. Spyri, Johanna, Heidi.

A story of home life in the Alps and the way a little orphan girl brightened the lives of others.

14. Tarkington, Booth, Penrod. Doubleday.

Penrod is a freckled-faced, red-blooded American boy, twelve years of age. His life abounds in adventures and misadventures and in frequent visits to the woodshed with his irate father. The story of his career at the age of sixteen is continued in the author's Penrod and Sam.

15. Walpole, Hugh, Jeremy. Doran.

The nursery in an English home is the scene of most of Jeremy's activities. His governess, "the Jampot"; his two sisters, and his dog, Hamlet, are the companions of his everyday life. He has stirring adventures outside his home at the circus, in the country, and with the Dean's Ernest. Jeremy and Hamlet is the story of his later escapades.

16. Wiggin, Kate Douglas, The Birds' Christmas Carol. Houghton. An amusing story of the Christmas festivities of the Birds, a poor but happy family.

17. Wiggin, Kate Douglas, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Houghton. Rebecca is one of seven children left to the support of her widowed mother. At the age of ten she leaves home to live with her unmarried aunts on Sunnybrook Farm. Her quaint and original remarks and actions in times of difficulty are constant sources of delight.

18. Zollinger, Gulielma, The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys.

McClurg.

The hardships, struggles, successes, and home life of a widowed mother and her seven boys.

From the time when he was little more than a baby until he was over ninety years of age, the greatest delight of Jean Henri Fabre was to watch bees, spiders, wasps, and ants. By this long lifetime of study this great French scientist and teacher learned how insects build their houses, how they secure their food, how they make love to one another, and how they fight battles with their enemies. Fabre also liked and studied flowers and small animals. In this selection, which you should read silently, he tells of the love which three of his cats had for their old homes.

The cat is supposed to have the same power as the bee to find its way home. I never believed this till I saw what some cats of my own could do. Let me tell you the story.

One day there appeared upon my garden wall a wretchedlooking cat, with matted coat and protruding ribs, so thin that his back was a jagged ridge. My children, taking pity on his misery, offered him bread soaked in milk, holding it out to him at the end of a reed. He took it. And the mouthfuls succeeded one another to such good purpose that at last he had had enough and went away, paying no attention to the "Puss! Puss!" of his friends.

But after a while he grew hungry again, and reappeared on top of the wall. He received the same fare of bread soaked in milk, the same soft words. He allowed himself to be