Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1884-10-18

have helped!' Couldn't she help
her boys, for whom she was ready to
die: Was she only "mother," who
prepared their meals and took care of
their clothes? She wanted part Of
the very best of their lives. She
thought it all over sitting up far into
the night. Ifshe could create an in
terest in some study that should bind
them all together, aud in which she
could lead. Was she too old to be-
gin: Never had the desire to become
the very center of interest to them
taken such a hold upon her.
A few weeks after she said one
morning at the breakfast table: :"Boys,
Eve been thinking that we might be-
gin geology tins summer and study
it, all of us together; by and by Thede
can draw chart, perhaps. Jerry
will take hold, know, and Nate and
Johnny can hunt for specimens. We
have an hour or two every night"
The children's interest awoke in
flash, and that very evening the ques-
ton discussed was one brought up
by Nate:
"What is the difference between
limestone and granite?'
A simple one, but it opened the
way for her, and the first meeting
| proved a success. She had to study
each day to be ready and wide awake
for her class. They lived in lime
stone region. Different forms of
coral abounded, and other fossils were
! plenty. An old cupboard in the shed
was turned into a cabinet.
One day Nate, who had wandered
two or three miles, brought home a
| piece Of rock, where curious finger
shaped creatures were imbedded.
Great was the delight of all to find
. them described rs orthocoratites, and
an excursion to the spot was planned
for the next holiday. Question after
question led them back to the origin
/ of the earth. She found the nebular
hypothesis, and hardly slept one
night trying to comprehend it clearly
enough to pat before others in d SIM
pie fashion. Her book was always
at hand. BY and by they classified
each specimen, and the best of their
kind was taken to shelves IN the sit
ting room.
Her own enthusiasm, in study
aroused, and far from hardship, it now
became a delight. Her spirit was
contagious. The boys, always fond
| of ''motber," wondered what new life
possessed her, but they accepted the
change all the same. She found that
she could teach and also inspire her
pupils.
They heard of a gully, five or six
miles away, where crystals had been
found. Making holiday, for which
the boys worked like Troians, they
took their lunch in farm wagons and
rode to the spot, and if the search
was not altogether successful, 1t left
them the memory Of very happy
time.
In the meantime the farm prosper
ed. She did all the work in the
house, and all the sewing, going ont,
too, in the garden, where she raised u
few flowers and helped to gather q
few vegetables. Daniel and the boys
were bitterly opposed to her helping
them.
"Mother," said Jerry, you won't
ever think you must go out, I'll do
anything to make up. | don't want
you to look like these women we see
sometimes in the fields"
She generally yielded; her work
was enough for one pair Of hands.
Through itall ran the thought that
her children were all growing up;
they would become educated men !;
she would not let them go ahead, not
so as to pass her entirely.
Winter came. Now Daniel could
see to the work; but these habits Of
study were not to be broken.
"Boys, let us form Il history club"
was the proposition sit shan't inter-
fere with your lessons at school,"
They took the history of the Uni
ted States, which the young children
were studying. Beginning with the
New England settlements, and being
six in number, they called each other
for the time, after the six States,
persuading old Daniel to take his
native Rhode Island.
.s1'hat woman beats all creation.'