Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

8 WomaNsW Entered at Second-Class Postage Rates. A LITERARY AND DOMESTIC MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED MONTHLY. FIFTY CBNTS ) f FIYB CBNTS FBR YBAR. ) ( PBR COPY. Editbd by KATE GARLAND, aaaisrao st ths ■ ■•t talbnt. I have more than once made reference on this page to the importance of mental activity, and expressed regret that so many of us, by keeping our minds in idle ness, allow all our ideas to lie dormant. The subject seems to me of sufficient im portance to justify almost any amount of time spent in its consideration, and I wish to refer to it at greater length than I have yet done, with the hope that it may lead others to give it their attention, and there by accomplish good. We have all heard a great deal about the mischief wrought by idle hands, and no one will dispute that honorable and congenial occupation is the true basis for happiness and usefulness. Not only is it essential to individual con tentment and necessary to the advance ment of mankind that we should be em ployed, but proficiency in any line of work can only be attained through that continual practice which leads to experi ence and perfection. Take the skilled mechanic, and see the years of labor which he must expend ere his hands can shape and temper and polish the products of his practical art. Take the lawyer, and see how he must familiarize himself with authorities, acquaint himself with business customs, and with the principles and pecu liarities of customs in general, before the world will trust him as a safe legal guide. Take the physician, and see how broad must be his researches, how varied his ex periences, before we feel willing to have him guard the flickering flame of life in a loved one who is sick. Would the sur geon’s knife be safe ih the hands of one who had never studied his profession or tested his skill ? < • • In all lines of labor, from the most in tricate, delicate and difficult, to the most simple and commonplace, the same laws are at work—no worthy results without well directed and persistent effort. The jugglers of Japan have accomplished their feats by long practice. The Indian has been able to use bow and arrow with marvellous effect because of practice. The musician has charmed the ears of listeners only after years of persistent application; the artist has imitated the tints of nature only after much effort and many failures. In all lines of work it is the same—the dexterous hand is the hand that has had practice and training. We are ready enough to admit this as regards accomplishments of a physical and mechanical nature, but what do we to wards a mental development? Are we not often so alarmed for the results of idle hands that we overlook the more serious trouble to come of idle minds ? I fear that the great majority of us are going through life dealing in mental monosylla bles, as it were, and never drilling our minds sufficiently to know even the mil itary commands on life’s battle-field. We ask and answer simple questions about the weather and a few others of our most fa miliar topics; we indifferently inquire to know the ‘‘news,’’and actually get up a de gree of enthusiastic interest if some one near us gets into trouble, or a bit of scan dal reaches our ears. But as to casting our mental vision over the broad expanse of life’s beauties and responsibilities—we sel dom think of it. We have erected a very small habitation for our mental selves, and we are too fond of mistaken ease to venture therefrom. The sunlight of knowledge which shines on the mountain tops of broadminded thought is entirely too glaring for us; we mistake the needs of the human plant, and live in the very cellar of our mental abode lest the rays of light may dwarf or wither it. And then when the shadow of trouble is cast over the small window to our lives, we are shut off from every view of earth’s glad ness or heaven’s glory. It is a sad thought to me—ignorance prevailing when knowledge is so bountiful, and so easily within the reach of all who possess the mental energy to acquire it. * * * “But I have never had educational advantages,” you say. All the world’s a school, and all the men and women merely pupils. Experi ence is the principal teacher, and nature has provided a full corps of assistants; there is not one of these so humble that we may hesitate to receive instruction therefrom —not one so high that the least of us may not aspire to share its knowledge or its secrets. The blue arch that shelters us, the sun, moon and stars which light our dwelling place, the land and water, the woods, the birds, the flowers, the flocks and fields and fountains, the mead ows and the mountain peaks—these and the many thousands of other objects about us, constitute a course of learning such as God’s school alone can offer; each is a book that none are too young nor yet too old to read; you and I are pupils placed here to turn leaf by leaf and learn as we will— and yet teachers, with many looking to us to suggest the studies and point the way to development. There is no limit to our learning, except that which we may pre scribe by mental inactivity or moral in difference. No other school ever bestowed a diploma so priceless; it is the reward of success and happiness for honorable and untiring effort, and in bestowing it our Supreme Ruler will point out its true sig nificance by the plaudit: ‘‘Thou hast been faithful over this work, I will give thee higher fields in which to labor.” Sincerely do I wish that all could have the advantage of education in the general ly accepted sense of the term; wisely ap plied, it is a great help in mastering the studies which confront us in the school of life. But I venture to say that if some power could produce a healthy mental ac tivity throughout the civilized world, if each man and woman could be induced to think on the problems of home and happi ness, of great questions of government or small acts of kindness, of beauty and charity and godliness, of the greatest good to the greatest number—if this could be brought about, the world be put to thinking, it would result in more for edu cation, for humanity and for God than the schools and colleges of man can ever ac complish. * * • “I read and read and read, but can re member none of it,” said a friend to me some time since. And the trouble is simply that she does not think. She is constantly taking beau tiful pictures but never stops to develop them, and all their beauty is lost. She climbs the rugged mountain side to enjoy a view of the rich fields beneath, but no sooner reaches the top than her eyes are closed to all the grandeur about her, and just as well had she never climbed. She complains that no gems repay her efforts in the mines of knowledge, but forgets that with all her delving she has not paused to search for gems, nor even meas ured the worth of those which have been exposed to her hasty view. I am not surprised that my friend does not remember what she reads, and she need not expect an improvement until she combines her course of reading with a course of thinking. I want her to change her plan; she may not go through so many books, but I am sure that she will derive greater benefit from the few than she has from SlAay. It may sometimes be WOMAN’S WORK. more profitable to spend a whole day of thought over the first sentence in a book, than to finish reading that book in a day ; if the first sentence is not suggestive, per haps one a little further on will afford food for reflection. Don’t be afraid to weave some of your own ideas in with those of the author. It is no disrespect to him, but rather it is proof that he has written well, if seeds have been sown for cultiva tion in your brain. Not only does the combination of reading and thinking strengthen the memory, store the mind with knowledge which is permanently im pressed thereon by the mind’s individual action, and bring the reader into a near ness with the writer’s ideas which can be secured in no other way, but it opens up the world of books to thousands who could not otherwise enjoy this luxury and real necessity to culture. If Mrs. Jones must have a day of leisure to sit and read a book, the book must remain unread, for Mrs. Jones—good housewife that she is— has no leisure days. And yet, the fact that she must do most of her domestic work, by no means argues that she cares nothing for reading, that she should be deprived of its pleasures and benefits, or that she is less capable of comprehending and appreciat ing the contents of a good book, than is her neighbor who has no household cares to engage mind or hands. Let not Mrs. Jones envy the opportunities of her neigh bor for literary culture. While this neigh bor is reading book after book, and casting them aside only to say that she finds little of merit in them, or that she can remem ber but little of their contents, let Mrs. Jones select a good book to be read without in any way encroaching on her daily du ties, though they be numerous. If she has adopted that system which should govern in all work, that orderly arrangement of duties and utensils which will accomplish the greatest amount of work with the smallest outlay of time and strength, she will be able to sit, after the noon meal has been served and the dining room put in readiness for tea, and read a chapter in that book while she is resting from her la bors. And when this chapter is complet ed, and she again goes about her house work, there is an excellent opportunity for reflection on what she has read. * * * Perhaps there is some idea expressed that bears on a phase of life which she has never contemplated. Perhaps there has been introduced a character who leads her into new paths of human nature, and brings to view a weakness or a power which she had not conceived. Perhaps there is an old man who will lead her im agination back into the long ago when the pace of life was less rapid than now when her grandparents lived in affeetion ate simplicity and dreamed not of the fol lies that were to come after them Per haps there isa young girl who looks out from the midst of that one chapter, and wins your admiration by a smiling face and hap py disposition. Here, then, is a field for much delightful speculation. Look ahead and dream out the future of that girl weave garlands of flowers fur hanging along the pathway of a true woman,'and take note of the webs whish will be woven by Satan’s spiders for entangling the feet which wander even a little distance from that pathway. Mark the disposition of this girl or that boy, and ponder well the influences that are brought to bear by par ents and associates; think of your own example to those about you, and consider seriously your responsibilities, if into your keeping is given a mind and a character which must be developed and prepared for future manhood or womanhood. Look if you <.an, into the hearts of those lovers —not many books omit lovers entirely— and see the secret purposes buried there. Are they pure and consecrated, and will they blossom into those flowers of noble effort which shed a fragrance and a beauty in the garden of life, or do treacherous thorns reach up to prick the unsuspecting flower lover? Weigh the qualities of manhood and womanhood and find if they are such that God indeed would join to gether, or does the man represent that cold and unappreciative nature which were better in a marble stature, and the woman that weak impassiveness that were less harmful in the feelingless doll which she represents ? *** Can’t read a book in a day or a week ? Fortunate then, my dear woman, for you will have time to analyze that book as you go, and when it is finished you will know something, not alone of its contents, but there will have been formed a better un derstanding of your own weaknesses and powers, of our fellow creatures and how near akin to them we are, of Nature and the songs which we may always hear when near her instruments, of God and his bountiful mercies to all who trust Him. There is never an end to a good book; the author has finished his work, but we may graft his ideas onto our own, and keep them always productive. After all, it depends entirely on ourselves. No au thor can do his part and that of the reader also. The good we derive from his work depends on the capacity which we may de velop for thinking. A gentleman recent ly agreed with me on this subject to such an extent as to say : “The world does not need books or book knowledge—it needs individual thought.” I could not go so far as this, but I expressed myself then as now, that books are of but little impor tance unless the reading of them is to be accompanied by a line of independent thought, followed by a deepening of our mental powers, and a broadening of our views. • * * “But I have no time to read,” you say. Can’t take an hour a day for restful reading ? I wish you could. I know how busy you are kept, looking after the home which is your greatest pride, and in which faithfulness to duty will bring such glories as rulers of nations have not known; but I think you may arrange your work so that a little recreation can be had. Econ omize steps and strength, teach the chil dren to assist you in keeping things in their places, and thereby maintaining proper order in the home. Do some think ing right here in your housework, and see if a reasonable amount of headwork will not simplify matters and relieve burdens to a great extent. But if you cannot find a short while each day which you can call your own for reading and for rest, don’t despair. If you can't read, why just de termine to think all the more. Maybe you can have a book or paper or verse be fore you, or near you, while the dinner is being cooked, the dishes washed, or the sewing machine made to serve the family. Glance when you can to the words before you; memorize them, criticise them, meas ure their language and their meaning. Thus may bits of knowledge be stored away, and by working with a busy mind our tasks go by most pleasantly. No time is lost from household duties, but many a sting is taken from household cares, for the mind which has congenial occupation will not take time to corrupt the body by dwelling on its hardships. • • “I have A poor memory, anyway, and cannot train myself to think.” Very strong evidence that you have neglected your God-given powers, my dear, and the sooner you commence a sys tematic course of mental activity, the bet ter it will be for you. Don’t expect very much at first; if you can’t read over a poem and repeat it without further trou ble, it is no evidence of a weak memory, nor of inability to train your thoughts’ Great results are usually achieved by slow degrees, and we will do well to go back to the truths about “little drops of water little grains of sand,” which we were taught in childhood. It is a mistaken idea that some persons aro born with knowledge, while others can never attain it. There are few imbeciles, and there is far less difference in the natural mental capacity of individuals than most of us imagine. To my mind the “bright” men and women are those who have exercised their mental organs, and gradually widen ed their scope by activity, rather than al low idleness to dwarf them. The “dull” person has simply shut himself or herself up in mental idleness and courted a stag nation of ideas. An arm that is never used will lose its strength and shrivel away, because it was made to be em ployed. A brain that is never exercised can never be a healthy brain Mothers fathers, I hope you will guard your children and yourselves against this sacri fice of man’s highest power for usefulness Encourage thought—consideration of great thingsand small things. When the Tittle toddlers ask questions, it means that their minds are taking that exercise which na ture intended; don’t be too lazy to answer them. A lazy person is a disgrace to self, to parents and to God; do all you can to reduce the number of mental and physical drones in this great hive of humanity If you have been negligent of yourself, you are neither too young nor too old to begin the development of your resources • if you have contributed towards the dwarf ing of another’s powers there will be no time so good to make amends as NOW.