St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-11-01
An Everyday Heroine.

suth in one of his impassionate orations
made in this country over thirty years
ago. He was speaking of the unseltlSE
patriotism of his countrymen as they
laid down their lives in battle. 1t was
the enthusiastic estimate of a man who
saw the extremity of devotion in men
who never had thought that they
would be heralded or even known, but
who. with sublime self-sacriiice, did
their duty only.
There are unnamed heroes every
where. They need not be looked for
on battlefields; they can easily be found
in obscure places. where few eyes see
them. and no one thinks of celebrating
or heralding them. More often they
are heroines. gentle women who meet
the battle-shock of life and bear it
bravely and with smiles.
In 4 country place, removed from the
noise of the city, we have been observ-
ing one of those unnamed heroines.
The old house i'm which she has her
home has stood for more than eighty
years where it is. Once a large family
filled it. 1t was the home of plenty,
and its mistress was Lady Bountiful,
and its master one whom men praised
and children clung to. But times have
changed and have dispeopled it, and
now many of its rooms are vacant
Fathers and brothers have gone, the
one to heaven. the others to make
homes elsewhere on earth. Only the
daughter is left with the widowed
mother. There is still the place. not
| now prosperous as in the olden time
it is gone much to decay-to be cared
for: the garden, the cow, the home;
and some one must give the care.
1t would be easy for this girl to de-
srond and to have started back from
responsibility and the work: to have
woman's task But so she has not
done. She has taken up the burden
and she bears it cheerily from day
to day. She evidently does not think
it a burden. Her face is bright
and I hear her quiet singing as she
goes on her way round the house. She
directs everything, provides for every
thing, but with sunshine of good ma
| ture. l hear no fretful word when an
noyances press upon her-and that is
almost every day; l hear no whisper
OF complaint, nor the semblance of an
expression OF WEAKNESS or dissatiSfac-
tion. She does not seem to think that
she is doing anything out of the usual
| line of things. She is not old; she is
young nough to enjoy the pleasant
things of life, and she does enjoy them.
| She does not seem to feel cut off by
the multiplicity of her cares from COM
| pany or amusementS. Somehow she
contrives to mingle them in with the
routine of her life. and to get more out
| of them than others without tithe of
her occupations.
Now, there is nothing extraordinary
| in all this. There are all over the land
thousands of just such girls. They arc
found in every city and hamlet, and
this girl is in no way superior to any one
of them. They have widowed mothers
to care for, little brothers and sisters to
look after. scanty income to make up
by skillful contrivances, they have q
| hundred worries and heavy responsible
| tiles; but they go singing on their way,
bravely and sweetly doing all that tho
hours are demanding, all that the days
are bringing. No murmur escapes their
| lips and no murmur seems to to be in
their hearts. They are simply true
hearted women.
Yet they are heroines, more of hero
| ines, when one comes to measure 1t all,
than if on some battlefield they helped
the wounded, or by some river risked
life to save drowning child. Battle
fields are not found every day nor even
every year. These great occasions
come only once in great while, and
to the most of people never. They can
never display courage or unselfish de-
votion if these are the only fields for
them. But the ordinary days, as they
come and 90, make opportunities for
almost every one to display these high
qualities. Life is made up of small
moments and small things. but great
| qualities can be shown in them. The
| steady pressure of care, the everlasting
round of humdrum duties, the small
| worries aud frets of life, make them.
In these few the most of us fail. We
do not see Just where the great oppor-
tunities open. We do not see them
great, or our opportunities at all.
| But what is more noble than to meet
them courageously and cheerfully. to
take up their burden with n song and a
smile? The CHEEKY silence or the quiet
song of this girl, the patience and the
steady endeavor, that make up the his
tory of every day, seem in this light
heroic.
Perhaps these lines may fall under
the eve of some one more than half
weary with the cares that do not cease
to come with every day, with work and
duty whose tread is perpetual round.
till you are tempted to grow sad and to
feel that life has but small meaning in
it. Do notyield to the thought. There
is heroism in your daily bearing and
doing, there is nobility in your life
when with smiles and rippling songs
YOU do the work that lies just in front
of YOU. There are unseen eyes that
watch. angelic presences that help. and
more than all-One whose tenderness
wearies not. and who will by and by
saw: ..Well donew 1t was said to one
who had been faithful in very lit
tie" "-Rer Wm. 1iltman. d. d., tn
Christidn Union.
An apple tree on j. Wesley ST
monds' farm in Franklin, N. H.,