The Washington herald., 1913-11-01
WOMAN And THE HOME
LIVE JUST SINGLE
: DAY AT A TIME
Don't Look Ahead to Work Piled
Upon Work, but Just Take
II as II Comes.
ny FRANCES sHAEFER.


Awhile ago a woman found herself
skirting dangerously near to nervous
breakdown, and, as folk will who are
pressed pretty hard, she looked at all
sides Of her problem and tried to figure
out how she could free herself from the
tangle OF work and duties into which she
was bound.
Things that looked imperative loomed
ahead, big and unbreakable, 1t seemed; I;
and try as she might she could not see
any chance for release until at least six
months more had gone by.
Six months-but how could she endure
them, how follow the calls that were
but iIpoa her day after day and month
after, month, until all of her time had
tolIed by? Six months looked an end
less time, and thinking of all the effort
that must be brought into being to carry
her work along. II really seemed that
she must drop by the vayside before the
end of the road could be reached.
ConsoIins Question.
But then the consoiing question came:
Why think OF 1t all in a heap; why not
work piled upon work. but take It Just
as. 1t comes. and gradually the pile will
And, though the suggestion had moth
ing original about II, and had softened
the way for many another before her,
It somehow helped the days slip by to
remember that they need be lived only
one at a time.
And as a new morning came on an
other new day she fell into the habit
OF remembering that all there was be-
fore her was to do as well as she could
till the setting of the sun and leave the
q tEr,,a ha
thought OF the sIow-going six months
limit came into her head up rose the
pledge: A day at a time. b..
And they have been moving along
pretty well, with the pledge and the
promise together. the promise of welcome
release.
But she thought, How would 1t be
without the promise. with no prospect Of
a break when the six months were fin
ished? What would her song be then
still a day at a time? For she remem-
bered that 1t is not given to all to say
TO themselves that. all being well, at a
certain time they will slip out of harness
TO make themselves over and prepare for
the rush again.
But trying to picture necessity forever
on duty. relentlessly driving folk on,
with no fair promise to cheer them, she
knew very well that then more than ever.
she would need to follow the creed of a
day at time. Because when hope Is
not standing by, brightly holding out its
pleasant aliurernent. there is nothing to
do but live in the moment and steadfast-
ly refuse TO think of the morrow, SO far
as its hardships are concerned.
Not So Hard ns They Looked.
And she finds as she moves along, one
day nearer the promised goal, that the
days that already have gone before were
not nearly so hard as they looked when
she viewed them stretching away in the
distance.
Did you ever look at long. steep hill
a goodly way ahead and wonder how 1t
was going to be possible to climb its
prodigious heights7 For It stands out
there almost like a mountain, going UP
and up and up. But II is distance alone
that lends the deception, for drawing
nearer the menacing mountain II Is found
to be nothing worse than a meek. LITTLE
grade, or, at worst, an easily conquered
hill
And all the way from the start to the
finish il is travelled just a step at time.
Well II Is Hidden.
And it is well that the twists and the
turns Of the long Hfe-road, the heights
and the depths we sometimes must fol-
low,. are concealed quite a bit from eyes
that try to peer too far ahead. For per-
haps the weakest of us the most faint
hearted. might look in the distance, and.
seeing the roughness there, might say to
ourselves: But no. the way is to rugged
and there is no real promise in sight
Sitting, as we do. sometimes in the
shadows, again well out in the light, with
the pathway kindly shielded when the
long stretches come, We do not know
what awaits US, but we follow the road.
a little at a time
And 1t is hope that helps US along. a
promise of release when six months shall
have been spent, or another kindly lure
somewhere on In the distance. 1t Is that,
and the refuge OF a day at a time.