The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-07-19
HOW TO DO THINGS.

There is a best way to reach every re-
suit, whether it be a mental decision, the
fitting of a dress, the learning of a new
language, or the making of a johnny-cake.
The best way is the easiest always, be-
cause it never needs to be done over, nor
leaves any loose points to be returned to
and adjusted later. Faculty" supposed
to be an inherited gift with all New Eng
landers. can be cultivated where it does
not seem to be natural, if one has 8 mind
to do so. There is 10 work so simple or
practical that it cannot be done better by
the help of brains. There was much more
than mere witty repartee in the artists as
sertion that he ''mixed bis paints with
brains" There was a brainy idea in the
statement.
Il do wish sister Mary would make me
a visit" said a woman in straitened cir
cumstances, "for baby has outgrown the
stocking pattern Mary gave me a year ago,
and / cannot cut over any more of mine for
her until | can get a larger pattern"
We looked at her in astonishment; she
had a perfect fitting pattern. had used it a
year; she had the baby's foot and leg to
assist her in her calculations, and yet she
could not enlarge that pattern unaidedl
How imbecile it all seemed
And it was all for lack of applying her
own brain to the subject; she has never
tried to develop her own mental faculties;
it was SO much easier to let things go and
await sister Mary's annual visits and as
~sistance.
Mary was SO ''handy'' she was always
welcomed. Mary could take mothers old
under-vests and drawers and fit the infants
out for a year therefrom: but the mother
would have thrown them away.
Baby's stockings were now too short and
too small for the well-fattened leg, but the
mother could not see that all that was
needed was to use the same shapely pat
tern, and cut it a half inch larger all
around and as much longer in the leg as
baby's heightened limb demanded.
She was of the stamp of women who,
having a receipt for one loaf of cake, will
mix two 'batches" when she desires to
make two loaves, Or, If making molasses
candy for the children and they beg to
have part of it peanut candy" will sweet
ly consent to humor them, and boil and
make some plain, and then boil more for
the peanuts, instead of having her peanuts
ready, and having made sufficient for both
kinds, pour out part plain to cool, and put
her peanuts in the remainder Such wom-
en- never find the best nor the quickest way
to work, but in country parlance, will
s'work in a peck measure all day. to
achieve what better management could
ha We done in half a day.
1t is pitiable to see a woman keep on her
feet ten hours a day to execute five hours
work; for she is Just as tired as the woman
who has achieved the full possible result
of ten hours labor.
In making over the legs of stockings for
children, stitch the seams closely on the
machine; then lay the seam open and
loosely hem the edges down or cross stitch
them. A seam thus treated will not fret
the most delicate foot.
Don't throw away stockings when the
feet only are worn out; if one has no babies
of their w there are plenty ofpeople who
have, and no thrifty mother with but a
moderate income will feel otherwise than
grateful when she receives from a friend a
package of long stocking legs.
So with the lower parts of ones under
vests and the strong upper parts of under
drawers. These soft pieces make lovely,
comfortable underwear for the babies for
the first three or four years Of their life and
ave the mothers many "a pretty penny
Let nothing be wasted: gather up the
fragments of clothing, and of life, and
make the best of them, is the way to be
comfortable on a small income, and happy
where the joys of life must be fewi-1he
Christian at Work.