The Advocate and news., 1899-04-12

5 Reading for the Young Folks. S
s. MAsLE pcCs.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES NnGNGNGNGNGNGNGNGNGNGNGN
BY MAeLE pIcCs.


/ ing hour the pleasantest of our day. On
Sundays we had a simple service of Bible
stories, hymns and conversation about the
state of our little consciences and the con-
duct of our childish lives, which will never
be forgotten
Walks each morning around the Common
while in the city, and long tramps over hill
and dale when our home was in the coun-
try, where part of our education, as well
as every sort of house work, for which ]
have alweys been very grateful, since such
knowledge makes one independent in these
days of domestic tribulation with the
"help" who are too often only hindrances.
NeedlewOrk began early, and at 10 my
skillful sister made shirt beautifully;
while at II / set up as dolls dressmaker,
with sign out and wonderful models in
my window. All the children employed
me, and my turbans were the rage at one
time, to the great dismay of the neigh
bors' hens who were hotly hunted down
that l might tweak out their downiest
feathers to adOrn the dolls headgear.
Active exercise was my delight from the
time when a child of drove my hoop
round the Common without stopping, to
the days when did my twenty miles in
five hours and went to a party in the
evening
l always thought l must have been a
deer or horse in some former state, be-
cause it was such a Joy to run. No boy
could be my friend till had beaten him in
a race, and no girl, if she refused to climb
trees leap fences, and be tomboy.
My wise mother, anxious to give me a
strong body to support lively brain,
turned me loose in the country and let me
run wild, learning of nature what no books
can teach, and being led, as those who truly
love her seldom fail to be, Through Nature
up to Natures God"
l remember running over the hills just
at dawn one summer morning, and pausing
to rest in the silent woods, saw, through
an arch of trees, the sun rise over the river,
hill, and wide green meadows as | never
saw it before.
Something born of the lovely hour,
happy mood, and the unfolding aspiration
of a child's soul, seemed to bring me very
near to God and in the hush of that morn
ing hour I always felt that "got religion"
as the phrase goes. A new and vital sense
of His presence, tender and sustaining as a
fathers arms, came to me then, never to
change through forty years of life's vicissi-
tudes, but to grow stronger for the sharp
discipline of poverty and pain, sorrow and
success.
Those Concord days were the happiest of
my life, for we had charming playmates
in the little Emersons, Channings, Haw-
thOrnes and Goodwins, with the illustrious
parents and their friends to enjoy our
pranks and share our excursions.
Plays in the barn were favorite amuse-
ment, and we dramatized the fairy tales in
great style. Our giant came tumbling off
a loft when Jack cut down the squash vine
running up ladder to represent the inn
mortal beam Cinderella rolled away in a
vast pumpkin, and long black pudding
was lowered by invisible hands to fasten
itself on the nose of the woman who wasted
her three wishes.
Pilgrims jouneyed over the hill with
scrip and staff and cookie shells in their
hats; fairies held their pretty revels among
the whispering birches, and strawberry par
ties in the rustic arbor were honored by
poets and philosophers, who fed us on their
wit and wisdom while the little maids
served more mortal food.-Extract from
Life, Letters and Journals of Louisa M.
AlcOtt
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