The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-04-13
FUN AT HOME.

American parents are apt to be little
too sober and grave, not to make quite
sufficient provision for mirth and frolic-
some pleasure in the daily life. 10 the
majority life here in our great land
means strenuous eXertiOn, and great fru-
gality: The effort to. get on takes a
good deal away. from the fund of animal
spirits, and we hardly estimate at its true
worth the great value of holiday.
Among the pleasantest memories of
many childhood are the recollections
of those rare and eventful days when
work was suspended for the time and
d drhef for and uuhg Tf %h the s sh
of the start, the baskets packed with
dainty food, the stories father told, the
laughter, the fun, the Astounding JOY, arc
never forgotten. Home should all along
be place of interest, place to seek,
not to shun, place Of freedom under
law, a place where the children may
bring their little playmates and friends.
sure that they will meet welcome. If
could bestow on any child a gift which
should stand it in stead through it's whole
career, though that should reach four
score years, l would ask for it, from the
beneficent gods, the gift of humor. The
ability to laugh, the quick responsiveness
to fun, the subtle comprehension of a
jest, and the habit of smiling, are armor
Of mail against many of the savage
thrusts of life.
One adorable doll, or two at the most,
used to fill the little mothers heart with
joy, but in our lavish days we are not
over Melinda and Sophy; she must have
whole infant school or orphan asylum
OF dolls, in various stages of neglect and
decrepitude. Noah's arks, mechanical
toys, dogs, locomotives, cats, pigs, blocks:
contrivances without end, litter the nurs-
cries of many modern children, so that
it is almost an impossibility for the little
hands to learn what they should always
be taught, to keep their own possessions
in order. A few playthings taken care
of are better for children than the con-
tents of toy shop. A tool box, box
OF colors and a brush, paste-pot and
scissors, should be part of the childish
outfit for pleasure, and each lad and
lass, responsible for it's property, should
have "a place for everything and be
redufred TO Keep everything in its
place."
Guard our dear ones as we may, sur
round them as we may with safeguards,
provide them with the best appliances
IN books, in apparatus, and the best at
talnable teachers, we shall still find them
indebted for many lasting impressions,
to- other peoples children. a boy re-
celves many suggestion from another
boy, size larger, resident down the
street: A little Lord Fauntleroy child
sometimes very wistfully regards the la
borer's lad playing in the gutter. The
well-dressed, beautiful little girl of your
opposite neighbor may be Il small pagan,
for all you know.
1t is always desirable for parents to
have some acquaintance with the homes
of their children's playmates. Without
apparent ESPIONAGE, mother may sat
lsfy herself by observation. as to the
speech, the manners, and the COARSE
ness or refinement of her chld's asso-
GATES: To allow Ned or Will to invite
his friends to the home, to have right
OF way over the garden for the neigh
DORIS children, is Il manifest piece of
prudence, not that one so highly esteems
or overrates her own that she thinks no
ones else good enough to be their COM
rades. but because Il mothers first duty
in life is to start her children we'll, and
she cannot do this if they habitually con
sort with ill-taught or ill-mannered or ill.,
doing children.-AI e. Sangster in
Good Housekeeping.
DON'T TOSS BABY IN THE AIR.
The foolish practice of tossing help
less baby in the air, while it screams
both with alright and delight, is most
dangerous one.
"A physician with large practice tells
which showed evident delight when
tossed in this way by doting grand
father who was accustomed to play with
it every evening, says the Pittsburg Dis
patch. The child tremblcd with delight
when the nights frolic was over, but
one evening from this trembling it passed
into a SpaSm, the first indication of one