Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-12-30
A QUIET HOME.

SSssA
A QUIET HOME.
"Dear me!'' sighed Mr.. Turmoyle,
as burst of shrill, childish laughter
sounded from the nursery down the
hall stairs and into the sitting-room
where he was making out some &C.
counts. II wish those children would
be quiet! Amt it almost bed time,
Tillie?''
They are probably undressing"
Mrs. Turmoyle replied quietly. 'I'n
sc and see if they are ready for bed. :"
"Do keep them quiet until they
are!''
There was an interval of profound
silence, and in about half an hour the
mother returned.
''They are all asleep now" she
said. ''Tom had dressed the kitten in
Bessie's doll Clothes"
The accounts finished, Mr.. Tur-
moyle leaned back in his chair.
II wish you had some management
with those children, Tillie,' he said.
Il went over to Stones on business,
last evening, and you would not know
there was child in the house, and
Stone has five while we have only
three
''Perhaps they were abed.'
''They were all in the next room,'' was
the triumphantreply. "Stone is proud
of them, and we'll he may be. There is
Willie, just the age of our Tom, study
ing Latin, instead of dressing kitten
in dolls clothes; and Amy, who will
not be four years old for three months,
reads well and knows the multiplica-
ton table through. Look at our sava-
ges!'' -.
''rhey arc getting along well at
school, dear. I think Mark is too
young yet to study; the Others did not
90 to school till they were fivc.'
"And Tom just manages to write
letter at twelve, while Willie is at Lat
in grammar. And as for manners, why
Tom will make more noise alone than
all five of Stones children together"
Mrs. Turmoyle, being woman of
sense, did not continue the argument,
but mentally resolved to see Mrs.
Stone the next day, and talk with her
about the wonderful secret of having
five children and a quiet house.
II am sure cannot do it, the gen.
tie, loving mother thought, with a
sigh.
Seated, the next morning in close
conversation, the ladies presented q
contrast as marked as the atmosphere
of their two homes. The tiny, blue
eyed woman, whe had no heart to sup
press Tom merry whistle or Bessie's
laugh, had left home where constant
care only secured cleanliness, and
where childish disorder was manifest
everywhere except in the best parlor.
She looked at the tall, dark-haired
woman opposite her, noted the exqui-
site morning dress, faced with light
silk, spotless and unrumpled, and
thought regretfully of the marks of ten
chubby fingers upon her own. printed
there when her baby boy, her darling
Mark, had just succeeded in forcing a
piece of his ''sweetest candy" into
mammals mouth. She noted the dain-
ty order of the sitting room, where
every chair stood primly in its ap-
pointed place and not even q thread
rested upon the carpet, and remem-
bered Marks stable for bis "spress
Cart and horse under the lounge, and
Bessie keeping house ON the lower
shelf of the bookcase.
Visions haunted her, also, o
clippings of paper. bits of string, and
odds and ends of dolls finery upon the
table.
Drifting from one scrap of matronly
talk TO another, the ladies came
naturally to the care and manage
ment of children, and Mrs. Turmoyle
complimented her neighbor on the
appearance of her house and the
proficiency of her little ones.
II cannot understand how you ac-
complish it," she said frankly.
"By system,' was the reply. "The
education of my children begins. I
may say, in their cradles. As soon as
they can walk they have their own
proper place in their own room, and
are trained to perfect silence when
older persons are present"
Mrs. Turmoyle thought of the noisy
chorus of shouts, the eager recital of
the days pleasures or accidents, that
greeted papa, aunties or uncies, in her
own nursery, and wondered if Tom,
Bessie and Mark could be trained to
sit quietly in one place for hours at
time.
'tAt two years of age I teach my
children their letters, and after that
they are sent to school. All Of them
were entered in a private school at
three years of age, and at public
school at five. In the intervals of
school hours my boys have geographic
al puzzles, spelling games and prob
lens, and the girls are taught to
sew" ....s.
"But when do they play?'' : ~
''Their games and puzzles are suffi-
cient amusement for the boys, and /
allow the girls to cut and fit clothing
for large wax doll. .,...... ~ -. - -
But do they not have any hours for
running, balls, kites, and other out
door play to- Is ID
II disspprove entirely Of outdoor
play; It ruins clothing. and makes