Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-01-16

THE HOUSEHOLD.



PLAIN TALK ABOUT MIsDmEoTED ENERGY
AND WASTED TIME.
From Harpers BaEar.l
We we're asked lately to join in refiie for
"crazy" quilt made up Of nine thousand
scraps OF silk aud satin set together with
much ingenuity Of design and niceness Of
stitching. To the maker aud her friends II
appeared monumental labor Of TASTE indus
try and artistic talent 10 US II stood for a
misdirected energy and perseverance too
common among women. II IL cost but ten
minutes to add one scrap to another-sn al
lowance far too small-the quilt represented
an outlay OF 1900 hours, 1876 working days OF
II solid hours each, or one hour e day for
more than four years.
What might not this industrious young
woman have accomplished in that timer II
she really cared for decorative art, 1900 hours
of close study and practice would have de-
veoped an admirable and remunerative skill
in embroidery or painting. They would have
suf1ioed for the acquisition Of q modern Ian.
guage, a sound knowledge Of history, poetry,
literature, art, music. They might have beer
exchanged for the important science Of house
keeping and kitchen chemistry. Devoted to
educational work, their hel pful influence could
not be reokoned.
The craze for decorative art has wrought
certain definite mischiefs with much good.
One harm is that busy idleuess has been
made to seem improving. Cross stitch dogs
with bead eyes on rugs, and parrots in high
relief on lamp-mats, are now distinctly recog-
nized and stunned as survivors Of ''chromo
civilization" MASTERS OF time and slayers of
taste. But the makers of Konsingt
tsble-cloth borders, Holbein towel ends, dec
orative" waste baskets, penwipeTs, hat-iron
apA NJ orb y
seem to have eaten of the insane root that
takes the reason prisoner. Their countless
stitches and ugly ingenuity appear to them
the fit expression of their aesthetic instincts,
and they give thanks that they live In the
cultivated age which ornaments its whisk.
broom holders. Raphael and Leonardo
would never have thought of that.
1t is the chief misfortune and Limitation OF
women that their aims are petty. When
these are conscientiously petty, as in the mis-
guided struggle for decoration, 1t is naturally
difficult to substitute larger ones. The cumu.
lative teaching of all time having been that
women should be satisfied with patchwork,
mental moral and manual, il is perhaps nm
reasonable to expect them to repudiate it.
But most women have ambitions, IL not aspi
rations. Aud most women need to be re-
minded that the time they daily industriously
waste would do for them what it does for mer
conquer new worlds
Last winter great historian died Hi
last book, The Conquest Of England" wal
published after his death. For years be hac
been struggling for life enough to finish the
great work he had planned to do. He seized
every opportunity Of momentary strength, OIL
relaxation from pain, to write. His proceed
ing volume, THE Making of England" had
been written in the shadow of death. Hi
wife says in her tender preface, that it wat
the opinion Of his physicians that life wal
prolonged from day to day throughout. thai
time only by the astonishing force Of lii
| own will by the constancy of a resolve thai
had wholly set aside all personal aims" II
was only when the pen fell from his exhaust
| ed hand that he said II am weary l car
do no more" with such sustained zeal
such eager conscientiousness was his worh
done, that much of it was wholly re written
five times, other parts three times" TIL.
books themselves are Of profound interest
admirable in matter and manner, but no tai,
in them is more heroic than the patient, per
sistent toll that achieved them, in spite oil
| suffering, weakness and natural sorrow.
They who see that civilization waits for the
advancement of women entreat them to pre-
fer the intellectual life. But this docs n
imply constant companionsbip with books
1t is wise and good saying that "the essenc,
Of intellectual living lies not so much in e1
tent of know ledge or perfection of expires
sion as in the constant preference of higl
thoughts over lower" The patient studen
and historian, John Richard Green, may
stand for one class, the patient contrveI anC
| piecer Of ''crazy quilt" for the other. 1t il
not high qualities that women lack it ia higl
directions.