Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-05-05
Good Enough for ANYTHING.


thrown wide open from sunrise t,
sunset; and will issue invitation
to the bees and birds and butterflie
to come in and out at their ow,
convenience, without fear ofmolesta
ton from me, or Of any danger t
my furniture or belongings. If {
few mosquitoes follow suit, l vii
accept them as necessary evil, and
not to be compared, in the way OF
ANNOYANCE, with the air ofsepulchral
gloom which, like wet blanket Of
mist, surrounds the exterior ofmos,
country dwellings,, where the men,
women, and children skulk round
like burglars to the back of the
house to effect an entrance, and the
closed door and blinds are sugges.
tive Of 4 corpse awaiting burial.
And yet l think l understand
how this bad custom came about
1t was from many babies and much
darning and baking, and the dread
Of impending f1y-specks on the gilt
frame encircling Gen. Washington
and the large looking glass. But,
dear friends, put mahogany
frame around the General, and
Danish the looking-glass, which
viii, in few years, if you neglect
NIL that makes home cheerful, re-
feet only the imprint Of life's cares,
instead Gifts pleasures and contents.
''They arc so few" you say. Well,
then the more necessity for letting
in the sunshine.
AS l walk about, notice the
careworn, pallid faces of the wives
and mothers about many of these
country homes, and the careless
untidiness of dress which, in a wo-
man, means that she has given the
whole thing up either from over
work or the lack of sympathy from
the one person for whom the shin
ing hair was once neatly combed,
and the strip Of white collar care
fully pinned, although it might be
late in the day before time was
found to do these things. When
l see these women at nightfall, in
this neglectful dress, sitting alone
upon the back doorstep, while the
husband and father has strolled off
to some neighbours, and lies fiat on
his stomach on the grass, with half
dozen other husbands and fathers,
browsing like so many cattle, with
out thought of those weary wo-
men, l fell to thinking how much
aife would be worth to me reduced
to this unitarian standard Of COW
and cabbage.
Then l wonder, if those women
were to throw open the blinds, and
doors, and windows of the front Of
the house, and smooth their hair
bit, and let one of the children pick
some grasses and wild flowers for
the mantle, and then tell their re-
spectiye Johns and Toms to bring
into the house the men they like to
salk to at that hour, so that all could
be jolly together, whether it wouldn't
change things for the better. If
that plan didn't work, do you know
what would do? Iwould shoulder
my baby and trot down the road to
the nearest neighbours and let the
old coffin of a house take care of
itself. wouldn't rest anyhow.
Now, it may be that these women
would not know how miserable they
were, if l didn't tell them of it. So
much of the worse, then. I only
know that if life were all work to
me, it should 60 hard but I would
try to catch a sunbeam now and
then, if it were only that the chill
dren might not be demoralized by
growing up to look at me in the
light Of dray-horsc; if it were only
that my boys need not expect their
wives to close their eyes and ears
to the beauty and harmony which
God has scattered so lavishly about
:hem: Because there are rocks,
shall there be no roses? Because
there is dust, shall there be no
dew?
Do you we'll, my sisters, to make
your houses SO gloomy that your
husbands would rather roost out
side upon the stone fences, than
stay in them? Don't have a "best
carpet; don't have a "best sofa"
Let in the sun, and the birds, and
the children, though it involve
bare floors and wooden chairs and
total Punishment of Gen. Washing
ton and the best looking-glass. Eat
in your chest parlor," and laugh in
it; don't save it up to be laid out in!
Try it now, and see if life isn't a
different thing to you all.
AS to your 'work," great deal
Of it is unnecessary. John and the
children would be much better
without pies, cakes, and doughnuts.
Make it your religion to give them
wholesome bread and meat, and
then stop and take little breath.
Nobody will think you for turning
vourseifinto a machine. When you
drop in your tracks, they will just
shovel the earth over you, and get
Jcrusha Ann Somebody to step into
your shoes. They went cry bit.
You never stop to say A word to
them except "get out of my way
To be sure you were working hard
for them all the while, but that
won't be remembered.
So you just take little comfort
yourself as you 60 along and look
after "No l." Laugh more and
darn less; they will like you twice
rs well. If there is more work
than you can consistently do don't
do it. Sometimes there is a little
blossom OF daughter in family
who makes everything bright with
her finger tips; if there is none i'll
yours, do you be that blossom.
Don't, even for John, let your chill
drcn remember home as charnel-
house, and you as its female sexton.
Funny Fern.
Transplanting Evergreens.
From the lst to the goth Of May
is considered a favorable time to
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