Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-23
which,
A Question OF Life Which Never Fa1s 20
Comfort Us Every Day.

A Question OF Life Which Never FaNs 20
Comfort Us Every Day.
This interrogative c%onfronts us every
day of our lives, and often every hour
in the day. Which particular industry
shall l devote myself to, which pressing
duty shall l discharge first, which Of
two days shall l choose? art is long
and time is tieeting," and w must
choose quickly or the opportunity pre-
sented may be gone and gone forever.
That we all can choose and do choose
every day and hour of our lives is here
taken for granted, and we have neither
time, space nor inclination to enter
into metaphysical discussions as to the
freedom of the will and the determine
ing power Of the choice (about which
a great deal of talking is done and very
little known). But if anything is here
said that may determine the choice of
any OF any reader in right directions,
there will be reason for thanksgiving.
The h~ousekeeper finds that in order
to do certain things she must neglect
other things. While she is pol
ishing window-pancs, she can't be
cleaning silver, or brushing down cob
webs, or wiping tingcr-marks from the
doors, or turning carpets or making
bedding. She must constantly select
rom a great many things that which
most needs to be done, and while doing
these neglect partially or wholly the
rest. If She attends to the weightier
matters, some of the mint, anise and
cummin' is likely to be neglected. If
she is too careful of the smaller matters
she may overlook and leave undone the
larger.
If the housekeeper is also the house
mother and housewife, a new set of
choices is added, and she finds that
there are new duties even more imperi-
Gus than those of housekeeping. If
she cares for children's minds and
bodies as she should, some things in
some circles counted important must
GO undone. She can't embroider their
clothes, and garnish their rooms, and
feed them on dainties prepared by her
own hands, and cultivate their minds
herself, and devote herself to her hus-
band and society and care properly for
everything all at the same time. There
isn't enough of her, ever when spread
out very thin. to go around. If she has
assistants, and a thus multiply
herself, of cours her ability to do is
enlarged; even then she will find the
in%tcrrogative at the head of this essay
confronting her at every turn.
The student may start out ambitious
to circumnaviga gate the world of knowl-
edge, but he soon finds that he must
choose. He a not excel in all
branches: he may excel nsome one de-
partment of one branch, but to do this
he nus neglect all the rest, except in
those points in which they bear directly
on the speciality he has chosen. We
do not 60 to Louis Agassiz for disscr-
tations on art and literature, or to
Humboldt for definitions in theology
and metaphysics, or to Longfellow for
solutions of mathematical and astrono-
mical problems, or to Sir William
Thomson for poetry and rhetoric.
Said an eminent author and divine still
living, when asked his opinion of a
certain book just published: II know
nothing Of current literature; / have
read nothing for the last ten years"
Agassiz is quoted as saying on one oc-
casion: Il haven't looked into Il news
paper for seventeen years, and I'm
alive YET
The ordinary reader finds that he
must choose, and choose severely, or
he will accomplish nothing worth ac-
counting. He can read but one page
Of n book at q time, and if that page
is foolish, worthless, unwholesome,
vicious, he is trebly cheated and
wronged; his time is gone, his mental
force wasted, and he has taken into his
which will work its natural course.
Those are wise who allow their reading
to be selected for them by competent
persons until their taste and Judgment
are formed after the best models and
they are able to choose intellectually
for themselves. The mother who is
careful to know that the literature
lying around in her children's way is
Of the right sort, that the amusements
they engage in and the companions
they associate with are negatively
harmless and positively beneficial, is
guiding the determining force Of their
wills in the direction Of virtue and
honor, and this guidance will continue
when she rests beneath the sod.
When n habitually c~ultivates that
which is noblcst in himself according to
the one standard-the Word of Cod
and keeps in sympathy with those of
the same mind, his moral choices will
not be likely to be much aside of what
they should be. He who loves the Drst
authors will know how to choose the
best books. The mother who is able
to take a wide and comprehensive view
OF her varied duties to her family will
see that the most important are first
discharged and then that those less
important are not left undonc. And
may we not trust that when in blind
ness and darkness and uncertainity,
but in humble reliance ON the Divine
Goodness, we are compelled to choose
we know not what or how, He who
disposes the lot when it is cast into the
lap will guide our choices and lead our
feet in paths of righteousness and peaccl
N. \. Tribune.