Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-05-27
THE HARDEST DAY.
Sunday, "the Day of Rest and II
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Sunday, "the Day of Rest and IT.
LnbOrs.
1t would not be difficult for a great
many house-mothers to name the hard
est working day of the week, though
the admission might be Il shock to many
sincere Christians. 1t is not on blue
Monday or on Saturday, the scrub day
of the week, but on Sunday, the day of
rest, that a great many good, consci-
entious women are compelled to work
the hardest. This day is regarded as a
half-holiday at least, by help, and there
are very few maids who are ready to
earn this rest by preparing the neces-
sary meals the day before. As a rule
Sunday calls for much more elaborate
table than any other day in the week,
and this extra work must be done for
at least half the day in families without
the assistance of servant.
The excuse for the lavish feasting of
this day usually is that this is the only
day of the week when the goodman of
the house can enjoy dinner, or in some
cases even a meal, at home with all the
family His breakfast is often a hur-
ried one early in the morning, when the
children are still asleep. If he is man
OF business he is not often at home a the
midday meal, but away at his office in
a distant town. If he is a farmer he
quite frequently dimes with his men,
and the children during the week eat
their dinner az PARKWAY schoolhouse,
except on Saturday. The afternoon
supper is likely to be the only meal on
ordinary days when the family iii meet
he =
certainly a temptation to make Sunday
festival. Yet when the tired house
mother reflects that a rest day is or,
dered for her, as well as for the rest of
her family, she ought to forego this
temptation to sacrifice herself in this
way. The most contemptuous disbe-
levers acknowledge that the command
ment which orders a rest day in seven
is one of the oldest ordinances of civ
ilization and that it cannot be violated
without endangering the physical we'll
being of the person who violates it. The
experiment has been frequently tried
by scoffers. Men cannot work contin-
ually at anything without rest at least
once in seven days. The only person
who attempts this in an enlightened age
is the house-mother, the variety of
whose tasks make it possible for her TO
bear for time the strain of her con-
tinuous work. Is it strange that she
sc often breaks down early from nerv-
Gus exhaustion-a wreck when she
should be in the vigor of middle life?
She has been deprived of the seventh
day rest demanded alike by religion and
science.
Gladstone, the great prime minister,
i'll a recent interview, attributes his hale
old age to his scrupulous observance of
Sunday as a rest day. While lesser
statesmen allowed the cares of their of
fee to trespass upon the day of rest,
the greatest of them all found time to
devote Sunday to regular attendance at
worship and to complete rest from all
cares OF state. 1t is a good hygienic rule
for nervous women or anyone 20 follow.
Do not make Sunday feast day; you
cannot afford to put such tax upon
your health. Let all the work that can
be done toward the meals be done The
day before. Reduce the work of Sunday
to a minimum, even if you follow the
old Puritan practice and dine on cold
meat. Do not delay the bathing and
preparation of the children's clothes
for Sunday-school until Sunday morn
ing. Do everything you can do the day
before. Let simple dinner be served
after morning church and LEI that be
the last formal meal of the day. The
children and all the family will be just as
we'll and happy the nextday if they have
only bread-and-milk supper that they
get for themselves at night. This sup
per will give the house-mother a chance
for long rest Sunday afternoon, and
this rest Systematically taken will add
happy, useful years to her life.-N. Y.
Tribune.