The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-03-18
The Key-NOte of the Day.


Ia most households the key note Of
the Gay is sounded at the breakfast table.
The mothers morning mood makes the
melody or the discord for the children
and their father. II tie mother wear a
cheerful aspect her face not frGwning,
but placid the torres Of her voice low and
even, the atmosphere she diffuses that
of tranquility then the complex affairs of
the day begin to move smoothly in her
home. 1t is wonderful to see how quickly
children ard servants feel the atmosphere
of mother and mistress. She may not
have said a word by way OF reproot; she
may have carefully depressed every sign
Of imitation and Impotence; yet il her
spirit is perturbad there is y subtle sense
of trouble ahead, something Ike thunder
N the aig, OF which &c are conscious now
and then, though the skies are blue and
aud tho suslighE is warm. More than
any one else in the home the mother
needs to feel constantly happy, and if
not contented with her environment, to
live above its superficial aEuoyances and
agitatious. 1t is important that the man
going to the counting room or the shop
should set forth upon his days work
with that sort OF preparation which
comes from the assurance that he leaves
everything pleasant and as it should be
at home. The children gong to school
| will do very much better in their class
work il mother has sent them off with
kiss and smile; and as for Bridget. the
| drudgery of her office win be far less
monotonous as she washes dishes, pre-
pares vegetables, polishes the stove, and
does the hundred and one things that
| are to be done over and over every day,
| il she knows that abovestairs her en-
| ployer equally busy, is going about her
work in a cheerful spirit.
Every thing depends in the last analysis
on the mothers usual attitude towards
Gaze; if she accept it heartily and gladly
| as Coos gilt to her the care will not
burden her so much as fathers weight
| aud if she feel it it will be as the ship
| feels ballast, making it ride more safely
but the mother rebelling against the
| restraints and restrictions of her lot,
chatting against the pressure Of duty,
| Regarding the children as encumbrances
| and lcsing all the sweetness OF her lle's
| cup because of an occasional bitterness
will not succeed in making life harmon
Gus. No Eome maker she, no presiding
genius OF peaos and joy! She is herself
| al iucarnatc diseord, and all the notes
| she strikes will jar. By and by, when
| perhaps it is too late, she will waken to
the fact that she has lost the loveliest
| part of life; she will see about her clouded
faces instead of sunny ones find her boyss
and girls dissatisfied instead of conteuted
| and wish in vain that the music of her
| day had been keyed to 4 nobler pitch.
Sometimes the mother is at fault be
cause she is physically too weak to give
her spirit the chance for adjustment A
young mother with her children like a
| little brood in the nest, must sometimes
| face times aud seasons that are hard
when for instance, the whole family are
| down with the measles, when Kittie has
| toothache and Tommy earche, and
| JOHNNIE pain in the stomach, ard the
| baby cries, and there is sort of whirl-
wind of trouble blowing from all quart
| ers; ther indeed it is hard for the mother
to know what to do first. How shall she
be serene when every one else is ruffled!
How dispense caresses and smiles
soothing as the remedies in her medicine
chest? How hold fast to a deep tran
quility of soul under the manifest and
manifold agitations of the moment?
Here is problem worth her study, for
whatever else may be going on under the
wide circuit Of the sun thrones and dynas-
| ties, wars and tumults, are less important
than the world beneath the mothers eye
the little kingdom that OWES her
guiding and controlling hand. Prayer
and pains may aid the mother, and she
must intermit neither as she lovingly
sets the key note of the day.