The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-11-25
When the Mind Wanders Back"

that, as the years came on, he could
often live over again the times of his youth,
but at night, when he tried to sleep. his mind
would go grasshopperin = and he could not
sleep.
So, there are degrees of enjoyment ia ones
mind going back, but when we reach middle
age, there is often great deal of happiness
to be gotten ont Of living over again the old
times the old ways, and the old methods, in
ones memory.
In these days of ready made clothes, ready
cooked foods and teacher-tr trained children,
the homemother has SO little to do, it often
puzzles the home-keeper of the old regime
to know just what the mother and house
keeper of today does with her time.
The young wife of-say twenty years ago
had a sort of special delight in being at
home when the young husband arrived OF
course, this applies only to the branch of
the human family which the society writer's
call the middle class" rich folks have al
ways acted foolishly, and are not to be con-
sidered in an article of this sort
At that time, it was also considered proper
to get ready for Christmas" in a way that
brought great deal Of enjoyment in the
getting ready, made the gifts things to be
treasured and the woman who could point
with honest pride to the things she had really
made, was the woman who had the greatest
right to be really proud
In those days the cheap magazine was not
so plentiful; the shopping by-mail had not
'come in and it may have been because of
the lack of these two things that womans
inventive power was keener, and the results
bore no amateurish marks that could shame
the maker
For instance: in these DAYS of rafia work.
what woman would ever realize the posi-
bilities of old straw hats? And vet. when the
minds of some OF us get 9rasshopperin, we
can recall wondrous things made from old
straw hats that had been ripped, or not rip
ped, as the ex igencies of the ease demanded.
If one ripped them one could re-sew them
in the shape Of little cushions. sewn on a
foundation of-well. sometimes pieces of old
dresses, with Il bottom of, maybe piece of
an old coat, Or the front of vest that had
seen better days; and the filling was likely
to be the carefully shredded parts of an old
wooden garment, for III those days they had
wooden things that were really made of wool.
Who would have thought, looking at the
dainty sewing bag, with its draw-top of silk,
that the bottom of that bag had reposed
peacefully on Fathers head. all of one sum-
r1er? Fact though, and the little woman who
made the bag and gave it as gift to one
who appreciated it doubly, made no bones of
telling the history of that hat, and this would
include the tragic day when Father got
caught in the rain. with no umbrella, and
ended the career of the hat. as hat
And in those days, ''sachets" were very
popular as gifts. Silk handkerchiefs were
the most elegant form Of expression when in
doubt and sachet went along, as sort of
last touch to the dainty present. How many
scraps went into the making of those sachets;
how we'll some of us can recall the careful
ripping Of dainty, delicate silks, and bits of
lace from fine old dresses that had-bcen, relics
Of other times. when money was plenty, and