Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-05-01


The end and aim that undeIlay
all OF Mrs Lsais's household econ
omy was TO introduce sweetness
and light Gas Matthew Arnold ex-
presses iL into their home lite. She
judged it TO be of the first import
ance to have a bright, buoyant at
mosphere in the household, aud this
atmosphere she knew could no, ex.
list where the mother of the house,
hould was Hurried anu tagged
out By round of caaseless toll.
Therefore she would not do herself
nor her husband and children such
injustice as TO exhaust all her vitsli
ty OF household cares BY mod
crate amount Of rest and open air
exercise she kept th mind ard no.
dy in healthful conditi n. No one,
however. could accuse her of being
a negleciful housewife She con.
Quoted her domestic affairs with due
diligence. She kept her surround
ings orderly aud attractive and took
pains to have suitable and palatable
food for her household and in every
respect. attended to their physical
comfor,. But 10 all these things she
saw only stepping stone to some.
thing more excellent. for she saw
10 physical life only basis for the
development OF the higher faculties
She had wider vision than Mrs.
Barney and consequently a juster
perception of the relative value Of
things which enabled her to assign
to each its due importance and to
subordinate the lesser to the great,
or. For instance she found that she
could not keep up her own nor. her
children's culture if she attempted
to make them excessively elaborate
wardrobes. She therefore gave ur
The latter, aiming to do nothing
more than dress them neatly and
prettily, for if she attempted to
make them the myriads of puffs and
tucks and knife plea,ings that m any
other children around her wore
their culture would have suffered
seriously Her nice perception Of
the relative value tf things guided
her to wise decision, however, and
she set aside part of every af.er.
noon to read to and with her chill.
dren whose pleasure ia readiog was
increased teGfold by their mo hers
participating in it, She carefully
selected tho volume herself thereby
helping to torn a fine and oorrec,
literary taste on their part All the
morning they were looking forward
eagerly to the delightful afternoon
reading with mother and the no loss
delightful talk and discussion that
followed the reading. Mrs Barney
was inclined to look on the Who'll
proceeding as frivolous, and would
count up how many apples she
could pare while the reading was
going on, not realizing that the
book afforded the children a finer
aliment than any which is derived
from the kindly fruits of the earth.
She boasted once of having made
her daughter dress with fifty
yards of tucking and hundred
yards of hemming during the time
that IL took Mrs. Lewis to read
aloud 'Undine,' but q glimpse into
this wonderful, delightful fairy.land
amply repaid Mrs. Lewis's little girls
for having their dresses made more
simply.
Mrs. Lewis, although she made
her children's clothes put out her
own, which Mrs. Barney considered
an objectionable piece of extrava.
gance and Encouragement. As Mr..
Lewis was in moderately good cir
cumstances, and as she did not waste
his substance TO live or dress ssty
lishly,' Mrs. Lewis felt herself EN- ii.
tied to the indulgence of putting out
part Ct b r sewing, especially as the
seamstress TO whom she gave it was
supporting bedriddcn mother.
She contendsd that to give work to
people who needed it was the truest
charity, and ought always to be
done when any ones circumstances
justified it. Her course was very
different from that of the wealthiest
woman in the village who did all
her own sewing aud bought extra
jewelry and other finery with the
money her husband allowed her for
putting it out
By putting out part of her sew.
ing and by attending closely and
systematically to her household
work in the forenoon, Mrs. Lewis
managed Except in times of unus
ual pressure) 10 have the better
part of the afternoon at her dispo-
sal for culture and open air exercise
and was thus enabled to keep up
three pursuits she DERBY loved,
each of which served as medium
for her forming high use and con
veying great enjoyment to others.
These three pursuits were reading,
singing end raising flowers. She
was continually enlarging ard
improving her own mind, along with
her chiIdren's, by reading pure and
heightened literature. Though not
d brilliant musician, she had sw Get,
sympathetic voice, aud she kept mp
her singing diligently because it was
such recreation and pleasure to
her husband aud children Every
evening the strains of some sweet
ballad would issue from their little
sitting-room, and Mr.. Lewis, who
had come home wearied with the
cares and perplexities of business,
would be soothed and refreshed as
he listened. Their evenings we're
indeed very pleasant and restful,
for they mad it rule that the la
bors and cares of the day should not
be suffered to intrude on these hours,
which were devoted to music, c,n-
versation and reading.
Mrs. Barney, on the contrary.
continued to pursue her toilsome
round at night; so her evenings
were scarcely more refreshing than
her days, and were far from bring.
ing that
Truce to tumult and to care"
which the poet ascribes to eventide.
Mrs Lewis paid a great deal of
attention TO the cultivation of
flowers; and the time spent on her
fiower-gardeu was not only of great
service to her health, but resulted