Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1896-06-20
nNsBURe, W. VA, SATURDAY JUNE 90, 1895.

"Say what you wish, Ellen. There
is knack about your way of doing
things that / do not understand. I
see no loose ends in your house, and
you have leisure. You are always
neatly dressed. take tea at your
house and you are always prepared.
What is the key to all this I"
"First, let me supplement your
statement. You have taken tea at
my house twice in ten years and
both times you worked constantly,
scarcely raising your eyes from your
sewing. Well, the key to my way
is this I want to make the most OF
my life, no less for the sake Of 9th
ers than myself. When trouble
comes, as it surely must to every
one, / want to meet it with unshak-
en- nerves and calm spirit. If ]
were rich or az well-to-do as you,
Alicia, | would have some one to
help me. | would have my work
done as perfectly as possible. love
perfection and neatness, but happl-
ness more. | work, | have leisure,
but | am seldom idle, and / do not
crowd the days for / am convinced
that as we crowd them they will slip
of from our lives at the other end
and we shall lose them finally in a
shortened existence. | am not irri-
tated and fretted now so that l
burst into hysterical tears as | used !,
and | find it easier to endure my lit
tie trials.
About my work, Alicia, / bring
my mind to bear upon every piece
and try to separate it from tradition
and whims. | do not do thus and
so because some body else does, but
| substitute ways OF my own adapt
ed to my needs and circumstances.
These ways may no: be the most adj
mirable but they seem to evolve
themselves somehow out of the state
of affairs.
81 have duties for every day,
rules for nearly every thing, but am
never trammelled by them, and on
day like this / throw them to the
winds. You have more devotion
than ! have, Alicia, but believe me
you are not wiser. 1t would be
pleasanter for you to assist Alice in
her studies, do less homework and
leave much of it to a housemaid.
The easiest way is oftener the tight
way though self sacrificing souls like
you will not admit it. Your husband
would forgive a plain dinner If you
could thereby regain your olden vi
vacity, would he not?"
"He says | am changed, perhaps
he means in that respect said Mrs.
Daley.
"He docs, Alicia, depend upon it..
Try while in this new direction as
persistently as you have done in the
other, brush the dust from your
mind and heart as you have done
from your unused apartments. What
housekeepers need now most, are
| plenty of rules how not to do, re-
cipes for dispensing with elaborate
dishes when simpler ones would do
just as well, and be far better for
over-taxed housewives who are fast
becoming machines, which are per-
petually grinding out their daily
duties, now and then clicking out a
fretful or impatient word. What do
such lives know of the joy CT living,
forced to speak bitterness when they
would distil honey, and unable to
aid with heart or mind because the
body uses all the energy which
should be divided between the three?
There must not ride my hobby a
moment longer, or my dinner and
yours will suffer-" said Mrs. Bright,
rising to go. "You will forgive my
earnestness | know, Alicia"
II shall thank you instead, Ellen,
for you have kindly opened my eyes
to brighter future than / have
thought possible for me, and mine, y
she added.
And Mrs. Bright went on her hap
Ply way, pleased With the thought
that she had been able to do lit
tie towards lifting the heavy burden
from the shoulders of her friend.