Homes Sweet Homes [antikvár]

T PREFACE THE poor benighted foreigner, so we are frequently and authoritatively informed, has no word for home, and although one may occasionally wonder why, in that case, the sentimental German spends so much time singing about his Heimat and his Heimatsland, it is not for us to question what has long since become an article of national faith. Assuredly the word does more work in one language than most do in six ; it serves, among other duties, to distinguish a psychological type—" homeloving " ; a high degree of discomfort—"home comforts," a standard of moral values— " there's no place like it," a noticeable lack of physical charm—" homely " ; and a radio programme of outstanding boredom—B.B.C. Home Service. But despite this tremendous adjectival expansion it still retains, beneath layer after layer of the treacliest sentiment, its original substantive meaning of the house in which one lives. On closer investigation one is able to isolate the proper application of the word " home " still further, and properly confine it to the inside of one's house. At first sight this may appear sheer pedantry, but on reflection one comes to realize that the word implies a sphere over which the individual has complete control ; hence its enormous popularity in a land of rugged individualists. And whereas the appearance of the interior of one's house is the outcome of one's own personal tastes, prejudices and bank balance, the outside in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred is the expression of the views on architecture of a speculative builder, a luxury flat magnate, or even occasionally an eighteenth-century country gentleman. Having thus established the extremely personal nature of home the author is left with an uneasy feeling that his present work may be thought to constitute a gross and ill-mannered violation of traditional privacy. To criticize the outward appearance of other people's houses is an act which needs no justification ; the public, of which he is a member, is forced to look at them whether it wants to or not, and he may even bamboozle himself into thinking that he is performing a public service. But to become the literary counterpart of the pertinacious salesman, or the too conscientious Air Raid 'Warden and storm the Englishman's castle, that is a very different kettle of fish. He therefore wishes it to be clearly understood that the present work is in no way one of criticism but rather of pure disinterested scientific investigation. Clinical detachment has been his constant aim and he has striven throughout to examine and classify each piece of chintz, each gas-bracket with the high-souled, unswerving rectitude of Pasteur contemplating the more revolting varieties of streptococci.