The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-04-22
Industry taught in early days
Not only gives the teacher praise,
But gives us pleasure when we view
The works that innocence can do.

emphasis on the value of work as a
factor in character building. quote a
portion of his article, with my bit of ad-
vice that wherever the noun bows is
used you shall substitute girls, and take
the wise, pithy. common sense counsel
of the good man to yourselves:
"You boys, who are not obliged to
work, and who have half or more than
half of all your working time in which
to amuse yourselves-are not, after all,
in a very favorable position. You are
sometimes talked to about your advan-
tages: but the fact is that you are labor
ing under great disadvantages.
cit is an immense disadvantage to
you that you are not learning. in these
years when the habits of life are
formed, the habit of steady, patient,
plodding work.
"1t is disadvantage to you that you
have SO much time for play; many of
you get the idea that the staple of life
is play; your heads are so full of it that
you cannot do justice to your studies;
any task becomes irksome to you; and
you lose power of application and the
habit of persistence. The abundance
of amusements within reach of city
boy whose parents are in fair circunl-
stances is a great obstacle in his way.
Such amusements, INDUCED in to the
extent that they are by tile majority Of
boys of this class, debilitate the mind,
instead of refreshing it, and unfit the
boy for the serious business of life.
"The free access to the city libraries
and the circulating libraries is, fear,
a great disadvantage to many of you.
1t need not be, if you make the right
use of them; but if you read almost
wholly for amusement, as many of you
do-if you read only novels and sensa-
tional tales of travel then your read
ing has exactly the same effect upon
your mind that your other amusements
have; the result of it is that you lose
your mental grip, and find yourselves
unable to do any patient, vigorous
mental work"
Mothers, with what cannot but con-
slider mistaken kindness, often allow
daughters no share in the labors or the
responsibilities of the household. They
say, 20, let them enjoy themselves.
Their time for care will come soon
enough" They do not think how hard
it will be to undertake life's duties
without that novitiate in training. which
can so easily be entered upon by home
fireside.
Resolve, girls, for yourselves, that
you will not be shirks. Be helpers and
not hinderers, workers and not droncs
in the busy home hive. Learn to do
good sewing by hand--to knit, to patch,
to darn. No matter if you have the
sewing-machine. 1t always needs the
supplementary finish of the def hand.
In some of the trial times, which will
come by and by, you will find sewing
a little of it, at least, a comfort and a
sedative.
Learn to boil a potato, to broil
steak, to make pudding, and to bake
a good loaf of bread. Acquire ease and
dexterity in bed making. Learn how
to sweep and dust thoroughly. Learn
everything about the practical manage
ment of a home.
The other day heard of a lady who,
moving into dwelling, from which the
former tenant had removed, thought
she would explore the cellar. 1t was
mounded and heaped with the unsifted
ashes of years. No good housekeepcr
would have suffered such waste of coal,
nor such an accumulation in her cellar.
If you are to be thrifty housewives,
you must begin taking lessons now
Cor. Christian at Work.