The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-12-24

81 called for Helen Boyd, and we took a walk
down Broadway"
And came home Just in time for dinner Think
! I met you at the door
Yes, sir"
How was il after dinner ,"
81 slept from three until FIVE, and then took a bath
and dressed myself From six until tea time. l sat
Ct the psrlor window
And after tea ?"
Read Cavalier until l went to bed"
AT what hour ."
"Eley-n O'Clock"
Now We can make up the account" sad Dir.
Thornton. You rose at seven and retired at eleven.
Sixteen hours. And from your account Of the day,
but q single hour was spent in anything usefu.-that
was the hour at your piano. Now, your mother was
up at half past FIVE, and went 10 bed, from sheer in
ability 10 81; at her work any longer, at half past
nine. Sixteen hours for her, also. How much read
ing did you do at that time?"
And Mr. Thornton looked at his wife.
Reading! Don't talk TO me of reading I've
no time to read -
Mrs. Thornton answered a little impatiently. The
contrast Of her daughters idle hours with her own
life of exhausting toll. did not effect her very pleasant
"And yet" said Mr.. Thornton, lyon were always
very fond of reading, and l can remember when no
day went by without an hour or two passed with your
books. Did you lie down after dinner ?"
go course not"
y take a pleasant walk on Broadway! Nor
sit at the parlor window with Fife? How about
that ,"
There was no reply.
Now, the case is a very plain one.' continued
Mr.. Thornton. In fact, nothing could be palmer.
You spend from fourteen to sixteen hours every day
in hard work, while Efie, taking yesterday as u
sample. spends about the same time in what is little
better than idleness. Suppose a new adjustment
were TO take place, and Efhe were to be employed in
helping you for eight honrs every day, she would
Sill nave eIgnJ hours left for selfimprovement and
recreation, and you, relieved from your present over
tasked condition., might get back a 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 Der face, - never saw things in
this light. Why haven't you talked to me before /?
I've often felt as II I'd Ike 10 help mother. But she
never gives me anything to do and if | offer TO help
her, she says, You can't do it, or, Il had rather
do it myself Indeed. it isn't all my fault!
at may not have been in the past replied Mr..
Thornton. But it certainly will be in the future,
unless there Is a new arrangement Of things. 1t IS n
false social sentiment that lets daughters become
idlers, while mothers. fathers and sons take up the
daily burden Of work, and bear il 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 TO do all herself,
rather than take the trouble TO teach another. were
all so many impediments. But Ellie and her father
were both in earnest. and il was not long before the
mothers face began to lose its look of WEAKNESS, and
her languid frame TO come up to an erect bearing.
She could find time for the old pleasure in books, now
and then, for a healthy walk in the street, and q call
on some valued friend.
And was Ellie the worse for this change Did the
burden she was sharing with her mother depress her
shoulders, and take the lightness from her step /.
Not 50. The languor engendered by idleness. which
had began TO show itself, disappeared in a few weeks;
the color came warmer into her cheeks her eyes
gained in brightness. She was growing, in fact,
more beautiful, tor a mind more cheerfully conscious
OF duty was moulding every lineament of her coun-
tenauce into q new expression.
Did seltimproyement stop (? o, no From one to
two hours were given 10 close practice every day. Her
mind becoming vigorous in tone, instead of enervated
by idleness, chose a better order of reading than had
been INDUCED before, and she was growing towards
thoughtful, cultivated. intelligent womanhood.
She also found time, amid her home duties, for an
hour twice a week with a German teacher. and she
began, also, TO cultivate n natural taste for drawing.
that she was employing her time usefully, it
seemed wonderful how much time she found at her
for usuful work.
How cheerful and cOmpanionable she grew She
did not seem like the Efie Thornton of a few months
before. In fact. the sphere of the entire household
changed. As an idler, Fife. had been a burden
TO all the rest. and the weight of that burden had
been sufficient to depress. through WEAKNESS, the
spirits Of all. But now that she was standing up,
sustained, but a sharer in the burden of each, all
hearts came back to a lighter measure, beating ryth-
nically and in conscious enjoyment.