The Somerset reporter., 1893-06-15
Keeping Up with The Children

She was woman of middle age, thin
and plain, with no claim to beauty eX'
eept the eager dark eyes shining starlikt
from wistful. carr-lincd face. Twenty
year. ago she had slipped her trustfu
hand into that of another. and counting
the wol well lost for the sake of her
love and faith. had entered upon life OF
sach tail. privation. and heroic endurance
as only W>men in frontier settlements,
amid primitive conditions. know.
II have tried my best, she said, sim
/ PLY. 10 keep up with the children. Fa-
/ thcr and resolved, when our first boy
VA, a baby. that stint and scrape and
coutrye as we might, we'd educate all
that heaven srnl us And we have done
what we could. | wasn't willing that
my children should get ahead of me
Eve tried 10 study their lessons with
them. and to enter into their feelings.
| don't want them to outstrip me in the
race.
This mother had been one of those to
whom early rising and late retiring had
been always essential, in order that the
housc-wprk >houl not suffer. In that
part of the country where she lived,
hired help for domestic purposes were
unhcard of: women did their Own work,
neighbours daughter sometimes lend
ing kind hand in an eXigency, aud the
men OF the family doing their share at
need. In her determined effort TO keep
step with her children in their intellectual
development. she had in another drec-
ton bnlded better than she knew; for
the children. boys and girls alike, had
early been pressed into service, and had,
as she explained, taken hold" of what
ever was to be done. The boys could
make beds and set tables rs well as draw
water and split wood. The girls We're
facile housekecpers, with a practical
knowledge of cooking and laundry
work-in American society as essential
in the outfit for life to the richest rs
to the poorest. Though the living in
the household was plain, ii was abun-
dant, and the ideal set before the fami-
~ was something nobler than mere
strife for wealth. Everything was open
and above board. Books were read and
priced in common, aud so much was go
ing on to interest everybody that there
was no temptation to devour poisonous
tidbts in secret. So il came to pass the
keeping up with the children brought
great good in its wake.
AZ ltiNl d tdN uhNIN' Niith Inv
mother felt as if the first stone had been
set in a wall of separation. Two of her
brood had found their wings. \ daugh-
ter was going to college. \ son was
entering upon Il business career. The
little wistful woman yearned to Ike p
pace with them both, ycarncd perhaps
to ordain the pathway of both, as she
always had done. But it WAS inevitable
that there should be some parting of
the roads Brave rs she was she kept
down heartachc under the cheery show
of courage.
'lIave comfort. dear" said an older
friend, who had been through similar
experience. "lhe children will never
outgrow you; you had twenty year s
start Of them. And you have so disci-
plned your mind, and trained your
heart. and elevated your own thoughts
above the daily rut. the fret and the stir,
that You dwell in a serene atmosphere,
favorable to expansion of every faculty.
They may acquire facts, but they will
fly like honey-laden bees back to the
hive. The mother who has KEEP, pace
with her children from babyhood to
adolence will never lose them