Sharp County record., 1880-05-27
IDLE HANDS.

usual midday hour and, as he passed by
the parlor door, he saw his daughter,
Young lady of nineteen, lounging on the
sofa with book in her hand. The
whirr of his wife's sewing machine
struck on his ear at the same moment.
Without pausing at the parlor door, he
kept on to the room from which came
the sound of industry.
Mrs. Thornton did not observe the
entrance of her husband. She was
bending close down over her work, and
the noise of her machine was louder
than his footsteps on the floor. Mr.
Thornton stood looking at her for some
time without speaking.
"Oh, dearr' exclaimed the tired
woman, letting her foot rest upon the
treadle, and Strengthening herself up,
"this pain in my side is almost beyond
endurance.
"Then why do you sit killing your
self there?" said Mr.. Thornton.
Mr.. Thornton's aspect was unusually
sober.
"What's the matter? Why DO
you look so serious?" asked his wife
HAS anything gone wrongP" Mrs
Thornton's countenance grew slightly
troubled. Things had gone wrong in
her husbands business more than once,
and she had learned the occurrence OF
disaster. -,
"Things are wrong all the time,
he replied, in some impatience OF man
ner.
"In your business?" Mrs. Thornton
spoke a little family. -.
"No, nothing especially out Oh the
way thoro, but it'e wrong at home. :,
IL don't understand you, Harvey :
what is wrong at home, prayT
Wrong for you to sit in PAIN anu
exhaustion over that sewing machine
while an idle daughter lounges over a
novel in the parlor. That's what wish
to say"
1T isn't Ef1ie's fault. She often asks
to help me. But can't see the child
put down to household drudgery. Her
time will come soon enough. Let her
have little ease and comfort while she
may" ;,
"If we said that about our sons, y
replied Mr.. Thornton, land acted on
the word, what efficient men they
would make for life's trials and duties!
You are wrong in this thing = all
wrong,n continued the husband. "And
if Efiie is right-minded girl she will
have more true enjoyment in the con-
seriousness that she is tightening her
mothers burdens than it is possible to
obtain from the finest novel ever writ
ten. Excitement for the imagination
is no substitute for that deep peace OF
mind that ever accompanies and sue
ceeds the right discharge of daily du-
ties 1t is poor compliment to Etlie'
moral sense to suppose that she can be
contented to sit with idle hands, or to
employ them in light frivolities, while
her mother is worn down with toll be-
yond her strength. Hester, it should
not ber'
"And it shall not BET" said quick,
firm voice. :,
Mr.. Thornton and his wife started,
and turned to the speaker, who had en-
tered the room unobserved, and had
been listener to nearly all the con-
versation we have recorded.
"It shall not ber' And Effie came
and stood by Mr.. Thornton. Her face
was crimson; her eyes flooded with
tears, through which light was flashing;
her form drawn up erectly; her manner
resolute. .
at isn't all my fault" she said, as
she laid her hand on her fathers arm.
"rve asked mother great many times
to let me help her, but she always puts
me off, and says it's easier to do thing
herself than to show another. May be
I'm little dull-but every one has to
learn, you know. Mother didn't get
her hand in fairly with that machine
for two or three weeks; I'm certain it
won't take me any longer. If she, d
only teach me how to use it | could
help her great deal. And, indeed,
father, l am willing"
.sSpoken in the right spirit, my
daughter, said MI: III Tifars ter eF
ingiy. "Girls should be as useful as
bows, and in the very things most likely
to be required of them when they be-
come women in the responsible posi-
tions of wives and mothers. Depend
upon it, Ellie, an idle girlbood is not
the way to a cheerful womanhood;
Learn and do now the things that will
be required of you in after years, and
then YOU will have an acquired facility.
Habit and skill will make easy what
might come hard, and be felt as very
burdensome.
"And you would have her abandon
all self-improvement," said Mrs. Thorn