Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-11-22
Little Things.

IL IL lHt 1lljle lUlnGS III lie Iildb tell
for good or evil. 1t is these that try
our patience when they command our
| attention from the big things that seem
worthy of our efforts. But after all. it
is attention to these same petty details
that tell in the end.
Few men have succeeded in business
ventures without talent OF this kind
of drudgery, and it is said of Yelling
ton that his battles were won in camp,
experimenting the proper cooking of
| food that would maintain the health
and spirits of his soldiers Seemingly
small business for so great man, but
when history tell us that to this one
! thing is due the honor he enjoyed of
never having lost battle, the end
comes to justify the means, and in view
of such results we wonder that any
should fail to realize the Importance of
| little things. Yet sadly inconsistent as
1t may seem, we 90 right on in the old
way despising and ignoring the little
things of every day life. because they
seem insignificant and are so numer-
Gus and prosy.
| Look into your home and observe the
multitude of little things, each one too
| tritling to enumerate among your days
duties, yet every one demanding atten-
ton with voice that years of expert
ence have long since taught us to re-
gard as imperative. For probably be-
| fore you had long enjoyed the expert
| ence of being the head of an establish
ment, circumstances of one kind or an
other over which you had no control,
possibly an over supply of company,
may be sickness of self or friends,
obliged you for a time to omit many of
these minor details of housekeeping.
And none that have had the experience
will forget the feeling of utter discour-
agement that fills her soul as she re-
turned to what had seemed the perfec-
ton of order and system, and found
chaos reigning in its stead. The tarn-
ished condition of the silver, the grimi-
ness of papers in cupboard and pantry
that you did not know could look so
bad, the smoky window pane and the
finger marks about the dOor-knObs the
missing buttons, the broken stitches
and the tOelesS socks arise before your
minds eye in such disheartening array
THAI your impulse is to run away from
it all. There are some to whom this eX-
perience has come but a few times in
life, and again, there are others who
seem to have started with the odds
against them, and never caught up
with their work
We call to mind one home of this
latter class, where the mistress is so
engrOssed with grand ideas for the
betterment of the race, that she cannot
cOndescend to these trifes. Unfortun-
| +,1,- e. L, L. Al
limited, so that help cannot be provid-
ed to perform these trifling offices and
the result is worse than any one could
imagine that had not witnessed it in
its workings. The big work is done
meals are cooked in very good style,
and the floors generally pretty free
from dust, and most of the duties of
| this class performed. But the buttons
are never all on, nor the buttonholes of
half worn garments ever in repair.
The holes in stockings are often drawn
together while the impatient owner
waits to change. If the missing button
should be found indispensable when the
garment is put on, there is another
martyrdom endured by the mother of
the family and the other members
while it is replaced, and the husband
and child must endure the dreadful or
deal of having the button replaced
while he wears the garment. The
weekly mending thatreplaces the stitch
in time is little thing to attend to,
but neglected it becomes veritable
| thorn in the flesh to each member of a
| household. And this is but one instance
of the little things in the home which if
neglected mar the pleasure and the
lives of all within it. And this same
law of little things holds good through
out every line Of business as well, and
nine times out of ten failure in life is
due to the neglect Of it alone. BurZjng-
ton HaaCbeye.