Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-10-09

a practioed on the piano an hour after
breakA5tp
$50 far so good. whatthen2"
81 read The Cavalier until eleven
o'clock w
Mr.. Thornton shook his head, and asked,
" Alter eleven, how was the time spenIP
al dressed myself and went OUT ~
Al what tune did you 60 ousp'
"A little after twelve clock"
"An hour was spent in dressing p
ayes, sir"
"Where did you goN
al called for Helen Boyd, and we took q
walk down Broadway"
"And came home Just in time for dinner ?
think met you at the door"
" Yes, sir
CHOW was II after dinnerl"
" slept from three until five, and then
took bath and dressed myself From six
until tea time, sat at theparlor window"
! "And after tea =
Read the Cavalieruntil went to bed"
"At what hour
Eleven o'clock"
snow we can make up the account said
Mr.. Thornton. "You rose at seven and
retired at eleven. Sixteen hours. And from
your own account Of the day, but single
hour wss spent in anything usefnl--thst was
the hour at your piano. Now, your mother
was up at half past five, and went TO bed,
from sheer inability to sit at her work an
longer, at balf past nine. Sixteen hours for
her, also. How much reading did you do
! in that time 2"
And Mr.. Thornton looked at his wife
Read ngl Don't talk to me Of reading
I've no timeto read r.
Mrs. Thornton answered little impatiently.
The contrast of her daughter idle hours with
| her own life Of e1hausting toll, did not effect
her mind very pleasantly.
And yet, said Mr. Thornton, "you were
always fond of re ding, and can remember
when no day went BY without an hour or two
passed with your books. Did you lie down
after dinner2'
"0f course moi"
"Nor take pleasant walk down Broad
wsy2 Nor sit at the parlOE window with
Efie? How about that ?"
There was no reply.
"Now, the case is a very plain one con-
tinued Mr.. Thornton. 'In fact, nothing
could be palmer. You spend from fourteen
to sixteen hours every day in hard work,
while Effe, taking yesterday as sample,
spends about the same time in what is little
better than idleness. Suppose a new adjust
ment were to take place, and Efie were to be
usefully employed in helping you for eight
hours Of each day, she would still have eight
hours left for self-improvement and recrea-
ton, and you, relieved from your present
over tasked condition, might get back a por-
ton of the health and spirits of which these
too heavy household duties have robbed
you"
Father" said Efie, speaking through
tears that were falling over her face, 81 new
er saw things in this light. Why haven /
you talked to me before? I've eften felt as
if d like to help mother. But she never
gives me anything to do and if l offer to
help her, she says, "You can do it, or sd
rather do it myself Indeed, it isn't all my
laultW
sit may not have been in the past, Efie,"
replied Mr. Thornton. "But it certainly will
be in the future, unless there is a new ar
rangement of things. II is a false social
sentiment that lets daughters become idlers,
while mothers, fathers and sons take up the
daily burden OF work, and bear it through
all the busy hours"
Mrs. Thornton did not come gracefully into
the new order of things proposed by her
husband and accepted by Efie. False pride
in her daughter, that future lady ideal, and
an inclination 10 do herself, rather than take
the trouble to teach another were all so
many impediments. But Efie and her faith
er were both in earnest and it was not long
before the overtasked mothers weary lace
begsn to lose its look of wesriness and her
langUd frame to come up to an erecter
bearing. She could find time for the old
pleasure in books, now and then, for q
healthy walk in the street, and q call on some
valued friend.
And was Efie the worse for this change q?
Did the burden she was sharing with her
mother depress her shoulders, and take the
lightness from her step? Not so. The Ian
guor engendered by idleness, which had be-
gun to show ITSELF disappeared in a few
/ weeks; the color came warmer into her
checks; her eyes gained in brightness. She
was growing, in fact more beautiful, for a
mind cheerfully conscious of duty was
moulding every lineament of her counte-
nance into new expression.
Did selfimprovement stop? 0, no! From
OnS to two hours were given to close practice
at the piano every day. Her mind, becom-
| ing vigorous in tone, instead of enervated
by idleness, chose better order of reading
than had been INDUCED before, and she was
growing towards thoughtful cultivated, in
telligent womanhood. She also found time
amid her home duties, for an hour twice a
week with q German teacher, and she began
also, to cultivate natural taste for drawing
Now that she was employing her hours use
fully, it seemed wonC erful how much time
she found at her disposal for useful work.
How cheerful and comp4niouable she
grew She did not seem like the Eaig
Thornton of few months before. In fact
the sphere of the entire household was
changed As an idler, Efie bad been bur
den to all the rest, and the weight of that
burden had been sufficient to depress through
weariness, the spirits of all But now that
she was standing up, self-sustained but &
sharer IN the burdens of each, all hearts
came back to lighter measure, beating