The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-10
THE LITTLE klNDNEssEs
Which Are Generally Left Undone q
Dcspised.

People are apt to forget the lit
tie things of life in striving to accom-
plish the big undertakings.
There is a thrifty old proverb that
says if we take care Of the pennies the
pounds will take care Of themselves.
All of us have had ample occasion to
prove the truth of the homely old saw
and to find out how much easier it is to
economic on big things than 1t is on
little. 1t is comparatively easy to do
without the expensive articles you de-
sire, but it takes Spartan fortitude
and determination to keep from throw
ing away your dimes on silly things
that you don't really want, but buy be-
cause they are so cheap. 1t is seldom
the dollars that we waste. 1t is with
the small change that we are reckless
Might not a very similar applica ton
be made to many other things in life?
We are scrupulously careful of the big
moralities. We do the duties that the
church and society and conventionality
have marked out for us. We would be
Mortified at the very idea of harrning
our neighbors or mistreating our fam
lilies, but how often are we utterly neg
lectful of the little things-the kindly
word that cheers a lonely heart, the
gentle consideration that makes the
daily work easier for some one, the
tSibeI uteu lIdl we illlSnL 90 SO easily
if we only would. 1t IS a question of
small change over again.
If 1t was something great we would
do it. There are devout women who
deny themselves to send money to sup
port foreign missions,yet who never say
one word of religious counsel to the
heather in their own kitchen. There
are women who belong to societies for
the extension of human brotherhood
throughout the world. but who treat
the shop girl who waits on them as if
she were an automaIton with no more
feeling than a wooden image. There
are women who. would die for their
husbands, yet who hardly give them a
pleasant word. They are careful enough
of the big duties, but the little ones
don't seem worth attending to.
In reality we can no more afford to
neglect the little courteses of life, and
the little duties, than we can afford to
throw away our pennies. The prompt
answer to a letter, the note of thanks
for book or paper We owe to some
ones thoughtfulness, the genuine ap-
probation of the effort to entertain us
may seem trifling, but they go long
way toward making or marring our
happiness. They are the small change
with which we pay our passage through
life and if we neglect them we are in
the unenviable position of one who is
trying to dead-beat her way
IF we take care of the pennies the
pounds will take care of themselves"
IF we take care of the little duties. if
we were sweet and kind and consider
ate, wouldn't the big duties take care
of themselves? More homes are wreck
ed by bad temper than by drink. More
affection is alienated by fretting and
nagging than by all the correspondents
ever cited in the divorce courts, more
friends are lost through carelessness
than by treachery. It is always the
little things, the etceteras for the gown
that run up the bill at the dressmak-
er's, the tiny leak in the household
economy that counts at the end of the
months, and the woman who would be
wealthy or happy must keep a sharp
lookout on the small change of life
Chicago Chronicle