Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-03-03

Il
little mother resoluteIy
shutting herself away from SO much
that is best and sweetest in her chill
dren's lives, for the sake of tucking
their dresses and ruffiing their petit
coats. How surprised and grieved she
will be to find that her boys and girls,
at sixteen, regard mother" chiefly as
a most excellent person to keep shirts
In order and to make new dresses, and |
not as one to whom they care to go for |
social companionshipl Yet, before |
they are snubbed out of it by repeated |
rebuffs, such as Run away, I'm too |
busy to listen to your nonsense, chill. |
dren naturally go to their mothers |
with all their sorrows and pleasures !; |
and if mother" can only enter into
all their little plans, how pleased they
are Such a shout of delight as l
heard last summer from Mrs. Friend
ly's background, where her two
little girls were playing lob, gOody,
goody, mamma Is coming to play with
US p She was busy mother, too, and
/ know would have much preferred
to use what few moments of recreation
she could snatch, for something more
interesting than playing croquet with
little children, not much taller than
their mallets. She has often said to
me, Il cannot let my children grow
away from me, must keep right along
with them all the time, and whether
it is croquet with the little ones, or
Latin grammar and baseball with the
boys, or French dietation and sash
ribbons with the girls, | must be in
it as far as | can.
But really, the most difficult part OF
all this is to think of it. We are so
preoccupied with our cares and plans
that we havn't the heart at leisure
/ from itself thus even to sympathize
with our children. We brood over
Bridget's deficiencies and our plans
for trimming Mary's dresses, to say
nothing of heavier burdens, till our
/ poor heads are half distracted. Yet if
we could only lift ourselves above
/ these thoughts into a clearer atmos-
phere while we are with the children,
we would fnd ourselves refreshed
when we go down into the fogs and
mists again. 1t is the everlasting mo-
notony of our work, the same things
over and over every day, that wear
upon us mentally quite as much as
bodily. If we could only be stroHg
enough to make our intercourse with
the children lift us out Of the "ruts"
of our dull planning and thinking, this
culture of them would be u change
and stimulus instead of an additional
burden. "a change from saddle to
harness often rests the CALLED horse,
YOU kuow.) We should find ourselves
snatching little bits of time to look
into encyclopedias and histories to see
if our facts are correct; brightniDg up
rusty school knowledge; perhaps even
turning into account our schoolgirl
accomplishments of drawing, and
music, and composition; and certainly
reading with some thought for the
children, which of itself would supply
the lack of purpose so usual in women s
reading. The little we do is apt to be
desultory and unsatisfactory, a hodge
podge of popular novels and the news
paper. We have so little time to read,
we say, but we let slip five and ten
minute chances, or waste them over
some frivolous story, because we
haven't or think we haven't any OBJ
iect to stimulate US. Our husbands
read and study in the direction OF
their business or professions, and their
minds are constantly sharpened by the
necessities of their daily work. Ours,
if we are not careful, are narrowed by
the necessary and important attention
to the detail of housekeeping, till we
can talk an hour over the comparative
advantages and disadvantages of Irish
or colored help, or discuss knife
plating" like philosophers; but be-
yond that ---. Yet, | am confident
Of my sex's ability, and sure that there
are a good many of us who wish for
better things, and if we could only
once get into the way of it, would find
ourselves accumulating knowledge and
growing in culture from year to year,
and that, too, without having dusty
furniture, sour bread, or unmannerly
children. Let the desire to cultivate
and educate the children be an in
spiration. and we'll find ourselves
cultivated and educated by the same
process.
We shall find some things crowded
out of our busy lives,-We must have
fewer clothes, less trimming, simpler
cooking; but the mental furnishing o.
the family will be so much more com.
plete. Hear what Gladstone say!
about mans work, and make the APP
plicatiOn to woman's To comprehend
a mans life, it is necessary to know
not merely what he does, but also
what he purposely leaves undone
There is a limit to the work that car
, be got out of human body or a hui
man brain, and he is a wise man who
wastes no energy on pursuits for which
I. he is not fitted; and he is still wiser
who, from among the things that ht
can do well, chooses and resOlutel!
, follows the best"
, You will perceive that have sale
nothing about religious education.
: know so well how the joy and beaut!
: of happy Christian living pervadel
your home that it does not seem neces
slry. A child cannot grow up in sucl
an atmosphere without being relig
:, iously educated, any more than thu
morning glory can avoid taking colo
> and beauty from the sunbeams which
surround it, In a home like yours
6 where every one is courteous to every
one else,-the children included,-tht
l. grace of politeness will become ineor
: porated into a child's nature as gen
! uine, hearty unselishness.
Now. don't beguile yourself b!
thinking, These things are vel
, enough, but far beyond me now-wher
!, my boy is older I'll begin" You
, baby will be in college before you
! know it. Children have a curious wa!
of growing older every week, and W,
must take them as well as old Fathe
: Time by the ''foreloek," if we arr
:, going to do much with them.
, Very sincerely Your friend.