The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1886-11-27


Said recent writer: "The woman
who takes care Of herself is the one
Of whom others are careful" and how
true it is, although it would appear
like contradiction to some. THE
reason is little hard to explain, but
it is on the principle of the ten tall
ents-'stu him that hath shall be given,
and TO him that hath not shall be
taken away even that which he hath. y
In the common parlance of to-day,
the text evidently means that he who
takes care of what is entrusted TO
him is sure to prosper, and vice-vcrsa
and 1t has no exclusive reference to
moneyed wealth either. (The first
and foremost duty of each wife and
mother is TO keep herself well, and she
cannot do it il she overwOrks, as many
of our correspondents testify that
they do continually This a matter
of prime interest TO brides and all
young houeskeepers. By and by when
the lines of your daily life have been
pretty clearly marked out and recog-
nized by husband, family and friends,
you will find it hard to make change,
in case you find that you have under
taken to do more than your strength
warrants. What you have been in
the habit of doing you will be ex-
pccted to do, and will be supposed to
be able to do. And if you begin to
complain and make war on your daily
round of occupation, You will be re-
garded with a mild increduIity which
more naturally developes into indiffer-
ence than sympathy. Don't blame
your John and think he doesn't love
you any more or care how hard you
blame yourself. Hehas simply work
accepted your estimate of yourself at
the start and given due credence to
your judgement. IF you had been
more careful of yourself he would
have been more careful of you.) (He
used 10 beg you not TO work too hard,
didn't he? And in the face of his
protest you were inspired to do many
big days work, at which you pointed
with pride, and he praised you for
your achievements and called You a
"smart little wife, willing and ready
to help your husband" All, yes, you
vert all that, but you were foolish,
too; for you were secretly tearing
down that which was more precious to
him and your children than anything
else-your health, your beauty, your
cheerful spirit And with every big
days work you set up standard
for yourself in his eyes which he
afterward naturally expected you
would be able TO attain, though you
might feel your strength failing with
every hour, and though you might be
cnrsing an unborn babe with weakly
constitution. And if you begin to
neglect yourself and complain and
scoid, he will wonder what has made
his once winsome, happy Mary grown
so old and homely and disagreeable in
these few years; he is sure be has
tried to be a good husband. And
so he has, but you have blinded him
by your early achievements till nothing
short of domestic earthquake could
open his eyes to the real state of the
case. We'll, then, let the earthquake
come before you become a perennial IN
Vaiid, or die and are SupplaRted by
number tWo Dho aCiH hare an easy time
t0ih the fruits Of your hard s0ork.
But how much better, in the begin
ming, to have looked at the matter rea-
sonably, done what you were able to,
and let the rest 60, if help could not be
provided John would then have
kept 10 the habit of watching over
you and being solicitous for your
health and happiness. A reasonable
care of oneself is a duty, and in no
sense an indulgence in selfish case.