Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-07-15
A QUIET HOUSE.

Dear me, sighed Mr.. Turmoyle, as
a burst of childish laughter sounded
from the nursery down the hall stairs
and into the sitting-room where he was
making out some accounts. Il wish
those children would be quiet. Amt
1t most bed time, 1illie?'
They are probably undressing Mrs.
Turmoyle replied quietly. i will go
and see If they are ready for bed.'
do keep them quiet until they are p
There was an interval of profound
silence, and in about half an hour the
mother returned. .... :..-.-.. .-.- 81,
They are all asleep now,' she said.
Tom had dressed the kitten in Bessie's
doll's clothes
The accounts finished, Mr.. Turmoyle
leaned back in his chair. ..-.l ..
Il wish you had some management
with those children, Tillie,' said he.
Il went over to stones on business, last
evening, aud you would not have
known there was child in the house.
And Stone has five while we have only
three
perhaps they were abed.'
They wereiall in the next room,' was
the triumphant reply. Stone is proud
of them, and well he may be. There
is Willie, just the age of our Tom,
studying Latin instead of dressing kit
tens in dolls clothes, and Amy, who
will not be four years old for three
months, reads well and knows the
multiplication table. Look at our saw
agesp
They are getting along well at
school, dear. / think Mark is too
young to study. The others did not go
to school till they were five.
And Tom just manages to write a
decent letter at twelve, while Willie is
at Latin Grammar. And as for man
ners, why Tom will make more noise
alone than Stones five children all to-
gether.' ..s- - ..-. .
Mrs. Turmoyle, being woman of
sense, did not continue the argument,
but mentally resolved to see Mrs. Stone
the next day and talk with her about
the wonderful secret of having five
children and a quite house. 800
Il am sure I can't do itp the gentle,
loving mother thought, with sigh.
Seated the next morning in close con-
versation, the ladies presented con-
trast IS marked as the atmosphere of
their own houses. The tiny, blue-eyed
woman who had no heart to suppress
Toms merry whistle or Bessie's silvery
laugh, had left home where constant
care only secured cleanliness, and where
childish disorder was manifest every
where but in the best parlor. She look
ed at the tall dark haired woman Op-
posite her, noted the exquisite morning
dress, faced with light silk, spotless and
unrumpled, and thought regretfully of
marks of ten chubby fingers upon her
own, printed there when her boy baby,
her darling Mark, just succeeded in
forcing a piece of his sweetest candy
into mama's mouth. She noted the
dainty order of the sitting-roOm, where
every chair stood primly in its appoint
ed place, and not even thread rested
upon the carpet, and remembered
Marks stable for his "spress cart and
horses under the Tongue, and Bessie
keeping house on the lower shelf OF the
big book case. -- .s.T
Visions haunted her also OF ofsnippings
OF paper, bits of string and odds and
ends of dolls finery upon the table.
Drifting from one scraps of natronly
talk to annther, the ladies came nstur-
ally to the care and management of
children, and Mrs. Turmoyle compli-
mented her neighbor upon the appear
ance of her house and the proficiency
OF her little ones. fry E.
Il cannot understand how you accom-
plish it, she said frankly.
by system, was the reply. 'Thel
education of my children begins, i may
say, in their cradles. AS soon as they
can walk they have their own proper
place in the room, and are trained tol
perfect silence when older persons are
present. t
AT two years of age / teach my
children their letters, and after that
they are sent to school, at three years
of age, at private school, and at five a
public one. In the intervals of school
hours my boys have geographical puz.
zles, spelling games and problems, anu
my girls are taught sewing
but when do they plays?
'Their games and puzzles are suffici-
ent amusement for the boys, and L al
low the girls to cut and tit clothing Tor
q large wax DOLL
But do they not have any hours for
running, balls, kites, and other out
door playT alm
'I disapprovs entirely Of outdoor
play. 1t ruins clothing and makes
children rude. They have outdoor
exercise in . long walk to and from
school," SO 4
As she spoke, the hall door opened