Will Carleton Quote

Fare you well, old house! you're naught that can feel or see,
But you seem like a human bein'—a dear old friend to me;
And we never will have a better home, if my opinion stands,
Until we commence a-keepin' house in the house not made with hands.

Out of the old House, Nancy, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).