Sharp County record., 1885-05-21
FOR OUR YOUNG READERS.
a TALE OF HALF-HOURS.

The Difference Between TWO Girls-"hi'
Would You Rather Be Like?
"Molly, what have you been dcing'
Nothing, mamma" i
What do you mean by nothing!
left you sitting by this window half an
hour AGO. Where have you been since
then?"
"Nowhere, mamma. l was watch
ing the kitten"
"Watching the kitten for half an
hour! Molly! And you promised to
help me pare the peaches" "
"Shall l do them now?"
They are all done. | supposed every
moment that you would come, or
should have called YOU"
"Pm sorry, mamma, l forgot" But
Molly did not look particularly sorry
and not at all ashamed. There was
nothing new or surprising, l regret to
saw. either in the half-hour wasted or
the forgotten promise; they were things
of every day with Molly Lester.
Molly was naturally an indolent
child. The blood did not dance in her
veins a, a child's blood should she te t
no Quick impulses toward action ana
movement. This constitutional slug
gishness of temperament was Molly
excuse-her only one; but it was not eX-
cuse enough Foc none of us are sent
into the world to do only the things we
feel like dong; and the fact that we
have naturally a bias against what IS
richt or dutiful is but a re ison for light
inc hard and steadily, and making our
selves do the duty. Scarcely any one
is born persevering, or industrious, or
prompt, or neat-all these are haolts
which must be formed by years Of et-
fort; but, when formed, they are the
most valuable part of ourselves: that
which makes our living worth while 10
the world and to the friends who belong
to US.
Molly Lester was not fighting with
her indoleuce She made faint reSolu-
tions to do so once in awhile, but when
the moment came for the effort she was
too apt to indulge herself, lust this
once or to reflect that "only twenty
minutes more" or "only half an hour
could make no difference, unmindful OF
the fact that life is made up of minutes
and half-hourS, and that to waste them
means to waste life. A good, hard
study of vulgar fractions would have
taught her the value of parts to their
whole: but, dear me! Molly 'hated
arithmetic, and could never be induced
to apply her m;nd TO it.
There was another girl in the house
who was exactly the opposite of Molly.
Her name was Lucy-Lucy Lester. She
was Molly's cous n, and about the same
age. Her father and mother died with
! IH : s---.---,.o-, -,r os.,,i- s,-~f 7-r-l> "a
fever; and her uncle, Robert, Molly
father had taken her home to live with
him, and be a sister to Molly, who had
no sister of her own. The boyS-there
were three-had not been at all glad to
have Lucy come. Girls are no fun, "
they said; 'they are always sticking
about in bedrooms, and saying they
don't want to do anything, ana one is
enough in house. any how" The
boys Judged all girls by Molly, but they
soon found that Lucy was of different
sort. She didn't 'Stick in BEDROOMS"
she liked to 90 rowing and fishing, to
walk in the woods and ride on the hay
cart, as much as the boys themselves;
and, though she was always busy, she
could generally make time to mend
gloves, cover balls and be useful and
obliging
Lucy and Molly got on very well
together; they seldom quarrele1. Molly
was good-humored enough. like mos5
lazy people; but the girls were too un-
like in character to understand each
other very well, or to grow intimate.
Lucy had been carefully trained by an
energetic mother, who believed in ''sys-
tenn" and Molly's dawdling ways were
always irritating to her. Molly seldom
began any new piece of work, and never
finished what she began. Lucy had
been taught that she must finish. This
made her cautious not to undertake too
much. Her impulse was to undertake
everything; but she had learned by eX-
perience that there comes time about
the middle of all long tasks when peo-
pie feel inclined to give them up, and
are half sorry that they began at all.
These "hitchipg" places are Ike the
"Thank-you ma ans set in the mid
die of long hills to arrest the wheels a
moment as they 60 by; but the wheels
90 all the faster after once they have
passed the obstacle, and SO do the
workers who persevere.
Before she went to sleep each night,
Lucy had pretty much decided in her
own mind what she meant to do with
every hour of the next day. So much
time for this, 50 much for that, each
following each in regular sequence.