The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1903-09-09
The Simple Life.

But the courage of simplicity is
sadly needed among American
women Every d,tail of house
hold life is becoming more and
more complex. Many a husband
and father is overworked year after
year. till the strenuous life finishes
him decade earlier than neces-
sary, because his household re-
quires too much furniture, too
many clothes, too many outings,
too many entertainments, too
many servants, too much keeping
up with the rising standard of lux
urious living 1t trequires high
courage for any woman to set a
simple standard, and hold to it;
but her family will rise up and
icali her blessed IN the end. if she
has the courage of her conviction
that simplicity is the keynote of
true living.
When we sit down and think
about it, how few are the essenti-
ais of life. after all Shelter,
warmth, clothing. cleanliness,
plain food, education. religion,
family ties, friendship-there is
little more to be added to COM
plete the list They are practio-
ally within any ones reach, with
out exhsusting effort Strenuosity
begins when we add brown stone,
steam heat, laundries. entrees.
university courses, pews in ex-
pensive churches, and relatives
and friends who spend largely and
expect us to do the same. Caught
in this luxurious whirl, we lose
the realities for the appearances of
life. Many a home which might
have been happy if it had been
contentedly simple, becomes a mere
abode of contention, debt, and
pretense, from which all possibili-
ty of happiness has faded forever.
1t requires bravery to wear one
dress for three seasons when all
ones neighbors have three dresses
in one season. 1t requires a calm
courage to do without new curtains
and oenterpieoes when our friends
regard them as neoessaries of ex-
istenoe. 1t demands firm mental
balance to read standard books in
stead of the last novels. and to let
the flood of magazines and news
papers sweep by without wading
in neck-deep in company with
every one else. The woman who
rushes from kitchen to club, from
sewing machine to charity meet
ing, from teas to card parties, with
haste and without rest, is called an
"all around" person in approving
tones. "She neglects nothing" is
the formula of praise from all her
friends who toll after her, inspired
by her strenuous example. The
woman who simplifies kitchen and
sewing, who restricts clubs and
charities to the point where she
really gains strength and gives
strength from and to them, and
who aims for true social inter
course and not empty social dissipa
tion, is regarded as $50 eccentric"
if she is a person of position and
means, or $50 queer" if che poss-
esses neither. The average woman
has not the courage to take this
stand, 1t involves mot being
like other people," and we all
know the horrors of that phrase to
the average mind.
Yet, unless the simple life gains
on the strenuous one, what are we
coming to? The modern dinner
table, with it's flowers, its en-
broideries and laces, it's successive
courses, it's thousand and. one lux.
urious details, its costly service
and food, is fair illustration. II
does not nourish; it over-feeds and
over-stimulates, as any doctor with
practice among welI-to do families
knows. In point of fulfilling its
legitimate uses, it does not com.
pare with farmhouse table of the
plainest pine, with all the dinner
spread on it at once. and small
variety at that. The common
phrase regarding a well.cooked
article of diet. ''the same your
mother used to make" reveals
what memories of simple tables
cling fondly to many minds.
What is gained by the luxury of a
modern dinner. except the tempta.
ton to overhead. and the conse-
quent tendency to dysepsiaP Yet