The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-08
HELPS AND HINDRANCeS.
How the Childish Fingers May Be Trained
to Give Pleasure to Mother.

to Give Pleasure to Mother.
Scorn not the help of little hands that
are tingling with new blood and reaching
out impatiently for the materials of which
more experienced workers fashion tie
things called useful or beautiful, for if, as
dear Jean Ingelow has said, at is delight
full help merely not to be hindered," is it
not delightful sometimes to be hindered by
these same little hands!
What woman that ever takes glance
backward to the long, long days-the days
that could not have enough of activities,
the days that from sunrise to sunset seemed
interminabla, cannot recall the childish
longing for bits of bright embroidery, silk
or worsted, pieces of soft flannel, or even
clean light calico squares, triangles and
stars that were so deity handled by older
girls and skillful women? The carpet rag,
if bright and soft, especially when of fan
mel or silk, had power to charm. The little
shiny scissors that made such smart click
as they trimmed the pieces" what objects
of envy they were. No jewel has ever
seemed half so precious or dazzlingly
bright.
What Jumps would come into the little
throat when the desire to take into ones
own hands the bright scissors, soft velvet
and silk became so strong as to seem ire
sistible. And finally, when the lump had
grown so big that the little throat must
burst, and the heart with it, unless the de-
sire is made known, with what an effort,
what daring, the request, Can l have
some of your sewing?" is made. How mar
rowly the face of the good woman who
holds the work is watched for the answer.
And if that answer is, mo, dear, run
away and play" what a wreck of childish
hopes for the time. Life seems too miser-
able to be endured. The lump that seemed
so powerful to choke has gone, but child
ish despair has come, and to go away and
sob out the disappointment alone is all
that is left to do.
But suppose the woman who works with
the coveted material has memory; sup
pose she retains lot of June in her heart
and takes the ambitious little sewing
woman near and says: ''Why, dear heart,
you shall have some of my sewing. Bring
your chair; FL fix a piece of work for
you" With what happiness the little
heart beats and how the feet fly after the
chair, which is put close to the woman
who knows how to gladden. little girl.
This woman may be ever so plain, or, as
some would say, "homely," but she has
one admirer to whom her face seems more
than fair-angelic.
The little sewing woman sits patiently
near while her work is being basted, and
if any think it is being done slightingly
then they ere mistaken, for the cloth is
cut with precision, the piece of velvet has
an artistic shape and is of delicate color.
And do you imagine that woman to be
selecting a piece of dull brown, black
or gray embroidery silk? Wrong again,
for she looks her silks all over to
find a color bright enough, one that
will tempt the small fingers to work
patiently. Do you believe that the little
one is blind to the efforts of her teach
err? Well not if you know children. She
watches every motion; her eyes brighten
when the needle is threaded with rose pink
silk mot tied i'm, and her whole face shows
her gratitude. A great man has said;
Teach the childrenl 1t is painting in tres-
CO." and this woman knows that the great
man is right
Who has not heard a mother say, 81
never had time to teach my children to
sew; it is so much easier and quicker to do
it myself" But what about the children?
Is not the time coming when they must
feel their deficiencies and regret the neg
lect of their mother? Those who have
learned to look to their mother for their
best gifts find dearest pleasure in the
mothers approval, and many a task has
been cheerfully and lovingly performed
because of the encouraging, THAT will
be great help to mamma" To be moth
er's help is the highest ambition of many
little women, if only the mothers knew it,
SO let us remember that 1--WE must SOW
the seeds and tend the growth if we would
enjoy the flowers. Anna P. Payne in
Springfield Homestead.