The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-07-27
A HARVEST COMING.
Keep Your Mind FILLED With Good and
Helpful Thoughts, Dear Girls.

Keep your MIMI fDIeu WIN SOOu ana
Helpful Thoughts, Dear Girls.
Mature abhors vacuum" is so trite
saying that we sometimes miss it's
meaning. Now every wide-awake girls
head is sure to be filed with thoughts
and plans Of some kind. Did you ever
look over a company of girls in the
school-room and wonder of what they
all were thinking? And do you sup
pose that if magical slide could in
some way be thrown back and disclose
the subjects that ar, occupying each
girls mind. that either thinker or in
vestigator would be surprised at the
revelation?
A few weeks ago it was said of pref
ty young Lena Sothern that she had
run away and married Jack Halford,
the handsome, dissipated son of the
richest man in town. Everyone said:
"Why q pity! Lena has only her pref
ty face. Jack is idle and thriftless, and
with all his money can not make good
husband"
Lena knew all about Jacks habits.
What led her to make such terrible
mistake and bring upon herself almost
certain unhappiness?
Now, as a rule, girls mistakes come
from one of two causes-either she has
disregarded her good mothers advice
and selfshly followed her own inclina-
ton, or else she has had no good mother
to guide her and so has stumbled into
misfortune. In this case, though
Lena had plenty of good advice and
plenty of inducements to do right
from teachers and friends outside,
yet her mother was one of those
sweet, amiable women who believe in
giving children happy time by allow
ing them to do exactly as they please
81 will not force Lena to work out of
school hours, and she need not study If
it makes her head ache" said the
mother.
my mother doesn't ask me to make
beds or dust the rooms She says that
| will have care enough when / get
older" boosted the daughter to girl
friend who could not accept her invita-
ton for a promenade because of house
hold tasks, on Saturday morning.
And the friend went home in dis
contented frame of mind because she
| must be shut up in the house this bright
May day and perform tasks which she
| hated, while Lena Sothern was out en-
| Toying herself in the bright sunshine.
Now, Lena's mind was naturally
quick and her disposition active. She
| had keen eye for the beautiful, and
l deft fingers. She had also a voice of
| unusual sweetness and natural fond
| ness for reading. But no one insisted
that she should improve her oppor-
tunities by taking pains with her music
in school, by reading good books, or
| cultivating the sweet graces of charity,
and because no one insisted, and be-
cause with most of us the tendency is
| to adopt the easiest and most conven-
lent occupation for our leisure hours
rather than the most improving, Lena
began to spend her time in making
pretty dresses and hats, and grew
fonder of being called the most stylish
| girl in town. Novels of no literary
merit, utterly frivolous and useless in
tone, in which the heroine was always
young and beautiful and had impossi-
BILE adventures, became her delight. OF
course school duties grew distasteful
and almost ignored
| And so it happened that just because
the dear girls mind had not been filled
up with healthful thoughts. and kept
from dangerous idleness, and because
she had never tried to cultivate an ac-
complishment or anything beside her
own foolish fancies, and because, not
being restrained at home, she dis
regarded the counsels of her guardians
outside the home circle, poor Lena
Sothern lost, with her change of name,
the prospect of happiness for many a
year, if not for life.
1t is not a hardship for girl to be
called upon to assist regularly in home
ly household duties so necessary to the
comfort of the family, and espe-
cially valuable because they beget
a habit of performing regular,
useful service for others. Honest liv-
ing makes honest thinking. A field that
is not sown with grain of some other
useful product. has very aggravating
way of giving place to luxuriaut crop
of weeds, useless and unsightly. And
a heart acts in precisely the same way.
Sow in it plenty of good seeds, and
keep the ground in good condition, and
its possibilities are almost innumerable.
But neglect 1t, let the tares or the stray
seeds of useless or frivolous thoughts
get Judgement, and your harvest may
bring a lifelong regret.-Helen Mar
shall Smith. in Examiner.