Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-30
When the First

When the First e.
Busy hours of the morning are passed and
there Is an instart's lUll before the ma
chnery starts afresh for the next goal in
the days work. the wise house mother
catches herself at just that moment. She
goes into her room and lies down fiat on
the floor or on couch with one pillow or
only tiny pillow.
She let's her arms lie fiat at the sides and
relaxes all muscles as far possible. 1t
seems idle to suggest either to busy house.
wives or to active daughters that for these
ten minutes they must think of nothing. for
the brain seems to increase Its activity at
such times. The direction of the thought,
however. usually may be changed by the
will.
II you must think. try to think of some
thing pleasant. Let the worries and engage
ments go for just ten minutes. Pan new
gown or the next outing, If you cannot lull
your thoughts a happy "reminiscences
or gem of thought. Repeat a few lines of
favorlte poem or even decide what you
would do or have next IL you could choose
freely Many a useful suggestion has come
from just such Juvenile diversion.
Perhaps the first ten minutes thus tried
will not rest you greatly, but try 1t again
after lunch In loose garb and comfort.
rest. In all there only will be a half hour
borrowed from the entire day. and alter
few days experiment 1t usually Is found
that the amount of work accomplished dur
ing the day has increased vastly, and that
1t has been achieved with less fatigue than
usual.
The hardship in following such scheme
as this Is felt al the beginning in the
wrench that is felt by the conscientious or
nervous woman or girl when first detach-
ing herself from work or play and lying
down In the forenoon. To such the p an
savors of Incidence. But Incidence is just
what it is not The human body is a
ma chine which the inner ruler uses. and,
like all other machines. It requires rest
periods and good care.
When
Saint Paul admonishcd his spiritual chill
dren 800 years ago what things to desire
what things to busy themselves about,
what things to make the real aim of daily
life, outside of the necessary drudgery for
daily bread he gave them advice in words
So true. so broad. so noble that when a
great English teacher of our own times
wished to lay down for the remnant who
are 10 save the numbers" of our modern
civilization a rule OF conduct which should
be explicit and yet wide enough to include
all honest sous. he used the exact words
of the great apostle to the Gentiles and adj
v.sed those who would be rich in mental
power and physical and moral health. to
busy themselves exclusively with "whatso-
ever things are true, whatsoever things are
honorable, whatsoever things are just.
whatsoever things are pure. whatsoever
things of good report: if there be any
virtue. II there be any praise. think on
these things"
These are the only kinds of pleasures and
riches that endure and that build a king
dom in the heart and in the life which
worldly calamity cannot overthrow. nor
personal disappointment destroy.
1t is only our desires. our admiratons,
our wishes, from an old German word that
means pleasures. which fashions the i'm
mortal part of us, that measures our value
human atoms In relations and in
fuences with other atoms, that surround
us with an atmosphere OF either pure
foul associations within which our little
day must be lived out. that ultimately
makes our happiness and the happiness of
those nearest us; for ITO be truly happy
is u question OF how We begin. not of how
We end; of what we want. not of what
have. An aspiration Is joy forever, a pos
session solid as a landed estate. for
tune which we can never exhaust. and
which gives us year by year a revenue of
pleasurable activity. To have many Of
these Is to be spiritually rich"
Most
Finely organized women are 30 suscep-
tible to the quality of the moral atmosphere
that their personality alters with the con-
dumb in another. quite irrespective of their
likings or dislk!ngs. In the warmth Of
sympathy. of interest, and approval. even
In the comfortable medium Of a decent
civiity. they flower out into variety and a
gracious agreeabeness In the chill OF in
difference tolerant silence their men,
tai powers shrink into torpor. they have
nothing to say. and. II from a sense of
loyalty to the domestic idea they try to
make talk they are tactly informed that
they succeed in being tiresome.
No unequal struggle is more courageous.
perhaps. more pathetic than the effort
OF wife to conceal from herself that the
debonair lover. her Gratiano. gay and airy
speaking his infinite deal of nothings, is
converted into the silent boor.
The tenderer and more conscientious the
woman. the more ready she is to excuse,
but the more she suffers. When Gratiano
comes home at night with heavy step and
heavier countenance. bidding her a scant
good evening. sitting silent through din
ner. and by way of postprandial enter
tainment falling asleep in his chair. bury
out his business papers and working at
that he Is worn out with work and anxiety
that he Is absorbed In the pious task of
providing for her future and the childrens
in case he should fall a martyr 10 his do
nestle devotions. and that she must not
mind his moroseness. which simply Is ner
vous exhaustion, for which he is not re-
sponsible.
But she is not deceived. She knows that