Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-03-26
How was it after breakfast9 How was the

II dressed myself and went out"
"And what time did you go out Z"
"a little after twelve o'clock"
IAN hour was spent in dressings
Eyes, sir.''
"Where did you goa"
Il called for Helen Boyd, and we took walk
down Broadway" .s. a.,aa
s'And came home just 10 time for dinner q
think met you at the door?"
s'Yes, sir" sad setl 1~@t
GLOW was it after dinner2'' ,.... s .l..iag.
Il slept from three until five, and then took a
bath and dressed myself. From six until tea
time, sat at the parlor window
"And after tea9''
"Read Cavalier until went to bed"
SAT what hour z"
"Eleven o'clock"
"Now we can make up the account" said Mr..
Thornton. ,a,,-
you rose at seven and retired at eleven
Sixteen hours. And from your account of the
day, but single hour was spent in anything
useful-that was the honrsat your piano. Now,
your mother was up at half past five, and went
to bed, from sheer inability to sit at her work
any longer, at half past nine. Sixteen hours for
her, also. How much reading did you do in that
time9 s9.9lssl.J y l4-..-.s 5ltl y44
And Mr. Thornton looked at his wife.
'Reading Don't talk to me of reading l.
| I've no time to read"
| Mrs. Thornton answered little impatiently.
The contrast of her daughters idle hours with
her own life of exhausting toll, did not effect her
very pleasantly. b 3,oop f5s se.9 10.
ways very fond of reading, and can remember
passed with your books. Did you lie down
| after dinner9"
''Of course not !" aa 41s Z .s.4l.l.2s
"Nor take pleasant walk on Broadway e.
Nor sit at the parler window with Efie9 How
about tbat2"
"Now, the case is very plain one," continued
Mr.. Thornton.
SIN fact nothing could be palmer. You spend
from fourteen to sixteen hours every day in hard
work, while Efie, taking yesterday as sample,
spends about the same time in what is little bet
ter than idleness. Suppose new adjustment
were to take place, and Efie were to be employed
in helping you for eight hours every day, she
| would still have eight hours left for selfim-
provement and recreation, and you, relieved
| from your present overtasked condition, might
get back portion 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, II never saw
things in this light. Why hav'nt you talked to
| me beforea I've often felt as if I'd like to help
mother !, But she never gives me anything to
do; and if offer to help her, she says-sYou
can't do it, or 4 had rather do it myself In
deed, it isn't all my fault"
SIT may not have been in the past, Ef6e," re-
piled Mr.. Thornton, ''but it certainly will be in
the future, unless there is a new arrangement OF
| things. 1t is a false social sentiment that lets
daughters become Glers, while mothers fathers
and sons, take up the daily burden of work, and
bear it all through the busy hours" +.
| Mrs. Thornton did not come gracefully into
the new order of things proposed by her husband
and accepted by E6ie. False pride in her
daughter, that future lady ideal, and an inclina-
ton to do all herself rather than to take trouble
| to teach another, were all so many impedments.
But Efie and her father were both in earnest,
and it was not long before the mothers face be-
gan to loose its look of WEAKNESS, and her Ian
guild frame to come up to an erect bearing. She
could find time for the old pleasure in books now
and then, for healthy walk in the street, and
call on some valued friend.
And was Effie the worse for the change p
Did the burden she was sharing with her moth
er depress her shoulders and take the ligbtness
from her step2 Not so. The laEguOr engen-
dered by idleness which had begun to show it.
warmer into her cheeks, her eyes gained IN
brightness. She was growing, in fact, more
beautiful, for mind cheertully conscious of duty
was moulding every lineament of her counte-
nance into new expression.
Did seIf-improvement stops Oh, no! From
one to two hours were given to close practice
every day. Her mind becoming vigorous in
tone, instead of enervated by idleness, chose q
better order of reading than had been indulged
before, and she was growing towards thought
tul, cultivated, intelligent womanhood. She
also found time, amid her home duties, for an
hour twice week with German teacher, and
she began, also, to cultivate taste for drawing.
Now that she was employing her time usefully,
it seemed wonderful how much time she found
at her disposal
How cheerful and eompanionable che grew !
She did not seem like the Effie Thornton of q
month before. In fact, the sphere of the entire
household was changed. As an idler, Efie had
been burden to the rest, and the weight of that
burden had been sufficient to depress, through
WEAKNESS, the spirits of al. But now that she
was not only standing up, self-sustained, but a
sharer in the burden of each, all hearts came
back to lighter measure, beating rythmically
and in conscious enjoyment.