The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-08-09


in the chosen direction. 1t means ethe
use Of so large part of the force within
one that there IL insufficient left for till
ing another field. Humans bodies aud hu-
man minds possess only limited amount
of strength, and TOO great share given
20 one thing means small remainder for
she others.
! Think well, thes, of Whist sort Of work
Or PLAYS absorbing your best. 1t is
such an easy matter for woman to de-
vote all her waking hours to things tenn
porai, that the spiritual and intellectual,
from long starvation, become atrophied.
After 4 girl marrics, the new experiences
Incidental upon housekeeping absorb with
pleasant monopoly her timo and thought.
With success in pleasing her husband
comssa very natural desire to please her
circle of friends, and 30 social interests
grow and exact attention.
Before she hes arranged her time with
| the method that would enable her TO cop
tinue same of the studies that interested
her as girl, there are mere members
added to her family and leisure time be-
comes merely a theory az vague and in
comprehensive as eternity itself. The
details Of the nursery are innumerable
and exacting, and will completely absorb
a mother with an over anxiety to hare ey-
erything right, practically and theoretic-
ally. A head nurse ID what mother
should be, using her supervision, diacrim-
nation, and authority, dclegating to
Trustworthy employees the o1hausting
tasks.
What man ever thanked his mother for
allowing 10 hands but hers to battle him
during the first two years Of his life? And
what man ever failed in gratitude to his
mother who educated him by contract
with her bright mind, and stimulated him
to success by her ambition and counsel?
The woman whose pride ia her perfect
| ly kept house, the woman whose interest
ccnters around her babies, ia known to
oh. She ia a sweet woman, good vom-
an, but rarely helpful and never an ip-
teresting one. And it must be remember
ed that the interesting woman ia the NO
man of power and influence. All unat-
tractivc goodness has power to do harp
Is it not, then, the duty of every good
woman to make herself interesting, that
the good that is in her may be felt by
others to their uplifting? There are mis-
sionaries needed in fields this side of In
| dia.
| In middle life one encounters number.
less women who may he called might
have-beens. They are good to look upon
and impress one with al idea Of passive
| force, but an evidence psttiness or All in
definite suggestion Of disappointment is
| reasonable about the lines OF the face
A little intimacy gives one the clew. Her
husbands interests are apart from hers
and her children have all outsrown her
Questions of tho house arc not vital ia
her. literature does not appeal to her, and
her mind reverts pathetically to a happy
past "when we lived in little house and
I was bringing up my babies" Yet she
has determination, kind heart, great
consoientiousness, and what is known al
"good head
| Perhaps, she, too, realizes too late thai
''it is not all of life to live" and that has
she grown with her husband and children
she would be more TO them now than a
digni6ed fgure-head. She is sensitive
and feels with too much pride to show il
every little unconscious truat with
which the others of her family unwilling
~ smite her. Their illusions to authors.
artists, music, politics, are unfamiliar tc
her, aud to hide her ignorance she affects
indifference or preoccupxti0n. And 20,
it is to these very ones Of her household
| that she has mnistered all the best years
of her life; and it ia through this very
| self-sacrifce that she has missed the posi-
| ton she fain would hold. love her and
would pity her, and it is only because
want other women to avoid the all absorb
ing tread mills that have been her detri-
ment that expose her to searching COM
ment.
| There are men chiyalrous enough to
say that mans work 10 stimulated BY
women. Think, then, what manner Of
woman is most likely to prove the incen-
tive. BY some strange law, or preversion
men Of talent and intellect mate. young
with women whom later they far oustrip
The mans intellect derelopes in gradua
evolution, his conversation is sparkling
and stimulating, and an enlarged sympa.
thy gives him an appreciation of other,
that they are not slow to welcome. By
his side stands his wife, a contrast in
every way silent when he ID most brilliant
restless when be is most at ease. They
! begin life with mutual interests, but il
time his broadened and hers remained
Limited When she is silent one feel.
that it is not from shyness, but from sheer
inability to talk, from ignorance of the
| topic under discussion. Alone with an
| other woman, she can talk in u uneno
tional monochrome way about family mat
tiers and picayuno gossip. She addorqI
her husband, and fances that by her con
scieptious over-attentiOn to his creature
comforts she fulfls her highest duty o
wifehOod.
Everywhere about us re young womeI
who are missing the highest in life, ans
who, unless awaken i'll time, will work OF
until disappointment overtake them.
1t is not altogether opportunity that j
lacking; it 10 a discrimination. To lool
for opportunity rs an open rose-gardcn il
never to fnd it, but it is possible to al
TO-, khara litt1a Ilosenms oF OpportunitS