Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-01

ting another, but had failed to accom-
piish this through her fatal habit OF
putting off doing things. Her lingerie
was in q dreary state Of incompleteness,
etc, etc.
How many women reading this articie
will give a little laugh Of recognition
Of the condition of affairs that am
trying to picture! Nothing was so
wrong that 1t could not somehow be
got along with in ordinary home life.
but everything was wrong when set III
the white light of q special gala occa'
sion. It would have taken my friend
good week Of hard work to get ready
! for that trip.
Dolefully she had to let golden op-
portunity pass. and all the more dole
fully because q her keen realization
that it was ali her own fault. that II
her wardrobe had been intact. as 1t
would have been had she acquired the
habit Of managing 1t properly, she
could easily have packed up at short
notice.
| There is no gloom so utterly gloomy
as realization that things have all gone
wrong through our own fault! In her
despair there came one Of those flashes
Of clear vision into the right way that
always do come in defeat If our minds
are not logged with self-commiseration
Determine from now on to be ever
ready" That was the birth of her guild
ing motto.
With Spartan grit she Immediately
set to" upon her clothes, attending to
all mending. repairing and renovating'
adding this and that that was needed
to make her wardrobe a really complete
affair-one adequate to meet the nor
mally unexpected occasion. The new
dinner frock was ordered at once.
| While working away at this new or,
der of things she happened to confide
her purpose to her brother. Right"
| he exclaimed. I'D go crazy if my ward
robe was not complete and in perfect
| trim. and if did not have right on tap
all the conveniences of trip. Men are
better at that sort of thing than you
women
| And this set her thinking Of how
| much comfort most men get into their
lives by their insistence upon the right
clothes and the constant proper care of
them. She rejected upon her brothers
spruce trunk and his just-right travel
| ling bag and suit case. Her trunk was
out of date and inconvenient. Her trav-
elling bag and suit casc-well. she did
not possess them. They were always
borrowed commodities. And all this
careless state Of affairs was not due
to the fact that she could not afford
the right thing, but simply to happy
| go-luck Cor. I should say. an unhappy
go-lucky) shiftlessness, due to q com
plete want Of realization Of the pleas
ure she was depriving herself of
through it, The irksome task of at
| tending properly to things for her COM
ed by the achievement Of the task, and
she had shirked the task.
After bit her determination to have
her motto win out crystallized into a
habit, calmly and unremittingly pur-
sued. She made a perfect study of
this ever-readiness Of wardrobe. Never
again did she have to miss a good time
through not having the right things to
wear. And she insists that there is a
magic in thus being ready-that 1t
brings good times. The magic is simply
the fact that ones spirits marvellously
frightened by the fact of ones readi-
ness to meet good times halfway. car
~ one into the paths of meeting them.
My girl friend is married now. Her
ever ready motto rules her management
of her home and no young married wo-
man could adopt better one. 1t can
be carried into full effect in almost ev-
cry department Of housekeeping. 1t
calls for perfect promptness. it insists
upon intelligent foresight and arrang-
ing ahead of time. 1t won't stand for
late meals. for things put away from
the moths after moth season has begun
1t means greeting a season absolutely
ready for that season. scot free from
work that should have been done in
preparedness for the new in the old. It
means house so we'll ordered that an
unexpected demand for leisure can be
met without furry. a larder so managed
that an unexpected guest to dinner does
not throw housekeeper and cook into ag-
itation. a spare room ever charming
with the warm spirit Of welcome some
thing a spare room cannot have If 1t
has hurriedly to be got In order for a
guest.
And it means readiness for sterner
observation-disclosures. for example. All
the -conveniences and necessities for an
ordinary illness are in the home Of my
young ever ready friend.
The practice OF ever-readiness robs
life of much confusion. nerve strain and
mental worry. 1t pours into it comfort,
joy-in-living and efficiency. 1t blesses
her who practices it and all with whom
she comes in contact. 1T pays huge
interest on the investment of before