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Show ENGLISH HOME LIFE. The memories of Liverpool, are those of princely English hospitality, as hearty as it was abundant, and as graceful as it was generous. Nowhere in the world is domestic comfort so reduced to a system as in England. The guest is made to feel at home, not only by the unaffected cordiality of his host, but by the felicitous appointments of the dwelling itself, and the air of repose that broods over all. With wealth and elegance there is a sense of peaceful seclusion, cosy quietude. Americans often lavish money in the embellishments of a pretentious yet useless luxury. One almost shivers amid the splendors of some silent, sunless parlors, crowded with all kinds of costly and curious bric-a-brac, works of art and quiet conceits. These rooms are lighted by gas, and warmed by heat through a hole in the floor. From the front window are seen long blocks of brick and brown stone, and from the rear the backyards of the next block. This is a fair picture of American city life and its "modern improvements." But an English manor embodies essentially different ideas. There are class distinctions and burdensome conventionalists which shape their society which we do well to ignore, but there is much we may with advantage imitate in their home life and ideas of practical comfort.-Outdoor Life in Europe |