The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-28
*%%%@99*OO~ >OO+@e@~ 81
Z FROM GIRLHOOD
: TO MOTHERHOOD
++>%~@~+OO> >OO+~~~>%+
A Series of Papers Containing Hints
and Helps For the Young Women
of Our Day.
BY MARY LOWE DICKINSON.

1t is a busy time in the woods to-
day; there is a lively movement among
the birds. Listen, these denizens of
the tree tops are singing sweet notes
to their mates; serious affairs are evil
IDENTIFY on hand. Watch how the birds
fly about jumping from twig to twig
among the treesi
There's much to talk about, and the
sober-hued mother bird seems much
concerned, while she chirps in CHEEKY
notes in response to the gay-winged
male.
All day long these happy chorus
| singers have been calling and chirp-
ing, singing and whirring through the
air. Flap, flap have sounded their
wings, while they have sailed from
point to point, seemingly in haste to
carry a message of love. What does it
all mean? Why don't the dear things
go and sit on a swinging bough and
enjoy freedom from care and take life
easily? Any bird can catch enough
worms for herselfl
| Ali 1 have found out what is the
matter; there is new home to be
| established, and it is to be built in
| just the best spot that the newly
mated birds can find.
| 1t must be hidden among the leaves
and rest in the crotch of gently sway
| ing boughS.
| together to hold a, final conference
over their decision. And yon maple
tree provides the selected building
place. For in that wide-spreading tree
no jealous enemy or pitiiesS boy will
intrude to destroy the family peace.
The little brown mother bird hops
merrily from side to side, and tells
I, g
ton, while she carefully shapes her
nest from the tiny twigs she gathers
here and there.
She has no anxiety for the success
Of her home; she knows it will be after
her own liking, and she sings with joy
while she builds the nest over which
her chosen mate is to preside.
How beautiful is the home-building
when love inspires it; and love keeps
guard over it, and only glad songs
tell the story OF its experiences Why
are not our homes just what we want
them TO be? Why do so many of us
build houses and live in them, and yet
feel ourselves to be homeless? Let us
learn from the birds. The mother bird
builds her nest to suit the needs of her
family; she tolls to weave into its tex
ture warmth, protection and comfort
And she watches over her home from
the day of its inception until it is
broken up and no longer is needed.
Girls who marry forget. oftentimes,
that upon the mother depends the es-
sential fitting of the home. She it is
who guards the home by her presence
from all intruding influences that might
rob her family of the warmth of her
love and the protection of her care and
the comfort of her spirit.
No better definition of a home can
ever be given than the one familiar to
everybody Home is where the heart
is And we all know that our hearts
cannot be satisfied without love-.
Tenderly God has implanted in His
children the capacity to love. Every
woman possesses the power to make a
home. But it is a hard task when a
woman is the only member of the
household who loves. To create a home
requires a joint purpose and a united
effort between those who expect to
share the home with each other.
For home is not place in which
one simply eats and sleeps; one could
do that alone in an empty barn, pro-
vided one could secure the use of the
barn.
But to make a home is to establish
a place in which two people who love
each other mean to bring their best.
Where they will be the most consider
ate of each other, and will share their
best thoughts, do their best work and
participate in each others highest
aims.
And this will all be a natural and
easy process if love tempers the ele-
ments within the home. Without the
love that brings joy into the COM
partnership of the daily life, the most
beautiful mansion, adorned in rich,
artistic taste, must forever be but "a
house." 1t cannot give to its inmates
the characteristics of a"home." Gold
and silver can buy and furnish houses,
but no money can buy a home But
the poorest room may become to its
occupants a home, rich in treasures
of self-denial, considerateness, minis |
try and happiness, if only love sits
with magic power within its portals