Newspaper Page Text
8
WomaHsWork-
„ Entered at Second Class rostaee Kaier.
A LITERARY AND DOMESTIC MAGAZINE,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY.
FIFTY CENTS ) < FIVE CENTS
PER YEAR. J I PER COPY.
EDITED BY KATE GARLAND.
Assisted by the Best Talent-
“ ’Tis done! dread winter spreads his latest
glooms,
And reigns tremendous o’er the conquered
year?
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends
His desolate domain! Behold, fond man,
See here thy pictured life: pass some few years
Thy flowering spring, thy summer’s ardent
sttength,
Thy sober autumn, fading into age,
And pale, concluding winter comes at last
And shuts the scene.”
,OREVER PAST is the Old Year
, the year eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight. Its history has been
F
written: its record has been made up.
"Whether it be a chronicle of glorious
events to make proud the hearts of those
who have participated in them, or whether
the pages are darkened by incurable er
rors, it is closed row, and cannot be
changed. We can look back over the
twelve months just past, and form our
own conclusions of the events which came
and went with them, but we cannot undo
them, however much such power might
please us. We will find many bright
deeds and glorious achievements to make
glad our hearts. Interspersed with them
we will see deeds of selfishness and cruelty
and crime which sadly mar an otherwise
love'y picture: these we fain would re
place with credits ble deeds and brighter
scenes; but they are there forever, fixed
and unchangeable. So it is in nearly all
things; there is scarcely a sweet without
some bitterr "ss mixed in, rarely a picture
”f sunshine without a cloud to cast its
shadow over some portion of the scene.
But, as I have often said in the past, I do
not and cannot believe that this is the in
tention of Nature, and of our
ever merciful heavenly
who nrar&bis Canvas with a dark
and ugly stroke must blame himself alone
for using the offending color: chance did
not spoil the otherwise fair scene; ’tis folly
to speal of ill-luck controlling the artist
eye and hand; Providence has better
work to do than to despoil the grand con
ceptions of man. Before the painter are
his colors: if he uses them with skill and
judgment, he reaps the glory and reward
of great achievement; if he defies the in
struction of his master-teacher, Nature,
there is no other but the artist himself to
receive the censure.
• « *
ITH THE ERRORS of ethers
we have nothing to do, except
as they may be affected by our
w
precep' and example To see that our
own influence is al ways for good, is a re
sponsibility far more serious than most of
us realize before it is too late. Perhaps
n ot until we are called upon to give an
account of the deeds done in the body will
we ever know just how many of the sins
and weaknesses of others are charged
against ourselves. The person who exe
cutes a crime is not always most criminal.
Often there is another who has suggested
it and who hopes to profit by it—and here
may rest the major portion of the respon
sibility when it comes to the final reckon
ing. «o it is of our influences in all the re
lations of li'e. We are keepers of other
lives to the extent that our association and
influence may fix their habits and their
ideas of living, for good or evil. Perhaps
as individuals we have performed but a
small part in makii g up the history that
Time has written of the Old Year, but each
has had some part, and for everyone,
however bumble and unpretentious, there
is either credit or reproach in the record
of the past. Opposite each name in the
great Book of Time there are either ugly
blots which signify that our lives have
been productive of poisonous fruits, a
blank space which classes us with the bar
ren fig tree that the Master ordered de
stroyed, or emblems of luscious fruits and
beautiful flowers which tell more eloquent
ly than words could do of the treasures we
have in store “where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
breakthrough nor steal.” And the differ
ence between these three records is made
up of the little things of life. Little sins of
selfishness and little indulgences of had
temper make black spofs which we will
never be able to erase from the page of
Time; little acts of kindness and little deeds
of love cast rays of light which often pene-
trate in darkest places and become as a
flood of sunshine to brighten and warm
the hearts therein. Let us carefully look
back over the pages of the year just closed,
and see if our record shows frightful
black spots, only a blank space, or if it is
illuminated with the glorious lights of
Charity and Love and Godliness.
* * *
jERHAPS NONE OF US can view
the past and be entirely satisfied
with the efforts we have made and
p
the results we have accomplished. It is
not well, in one sense, that we should feel
content with any achievement, for our
constant endeavor should be to grow bet
ter, to do greater good, to ascend higher
and higher in the scale of worthy under
takings and nob'e deeds performed. But
those of us who have conscientiously tried
to do our part with credit to self and ben
efit to others, will not be ashamed of the
record, even though we wish that our lives
had been much nearer to per’ection. The
past being forever beyond recall, our best
atonement for its errors and shortcomings
must be in striving to make the future
more creditable to ourselves and more
profi 1 -bln for others. The trouble with
too many of us is that we wish both the
credit aid the profit entirely for self. We
are striving all the while for gain, but it
is not for gain of the highest and truest
nature. I believe there can be no better
or nobler victory than tocorquer self and
selfishness, than to overcome the spirit of
greed and the disposition to question the
motives of others in everything they may
say or do. I have ‘known persons who
could never recognize true charity and
generosity in anyone, but who always
looked for some selfish and mercenarv
purpose back of every act of kindness. I
am sorry to say that such unworthy mo
tives are often present, but there are too
many instances in which this is not true
for us to be justified in making ourselves
and others miserable with suspicions and
accusations, either openly or secretly. The
truest method of gain is in liberal dealing
and generous giving. The best investment
that any man or woman ever makes, even
in a worldly sense, is in gaining the true
friendship of others: penurious dealing has
never won friends, and it never will win
friends If we wish for people to deal
generously with us, the one sure and in
fallible method is to deal likewise with
them. The world is not going to bestow
its favors on the narrow-minded and stin
gy natured man or woman. I have known
a few persons who were wise enough to
recognize that whatever mercies and ben
efits they enjoyed were but lent from
above, and were intended to be shared lib
erally with others. Such persons are al
ways wealthy, whatever may be the condi
tion of their finances. 1 have also known
a tew who grappled and grasped and
struggled in every transaction, trying to
gain some advantage over a fellow crea
ture. Such individuals may, by chance
and penury accumulate money, but in
reality they are always poor and deserve
to be.
* « *
ERY FEW PERSONS seem to
realize the true responsibility of
livinor I RnliaVA Ylirrlioct aim
V
living, i neiieve tne mgnest aim
in life is to secure the greatest good to the
greatest number. If we work for self
alone we are working for but one,
and in that case the one is not a very ap
preciative or even a fair minded beneficia
ry. If we work for others, the world is
before us, and whatever we do or attempt
to do will go on and on, extending to oth
er lives and blesdng other natures. In
numerable instances might be mentioned
of grand harvests resulting from the un
selfish sowing of tiniest seeds in the broad
field of humanity. Most persons are fa
miliar with the case of a noted temperance
lecturer and worker who was raised from
degradation and the gutter by the friendly
lick of a dog. Dissipation had carried
him to the lowest depths, and by the side
of an alley-wav he lay in the sleep of in
toxication. He had gone down, and
down, and down, until all was sone—am
bition, hope, money, friends. While ly
ing there in the stupor of a drunken sleep,
a dog—perhaps as friendless as the man
—came by ard licked an outstretched
hand. The man awoke, and his first
thought was: “That is a touch of friend
ship—the first I have known in many a
day.” Tne satisfaction of having one
friend brought with it a determination to
make others. The drunkard reformed,
and the world was made better by his la
bors for temperance—by his fight for man
kind in the conflict with Satan’s most
faithful and influential ally.
If this incident is true as told, (and I
have no reason to doubt its authenticity)
what a forcible example it gives of the un
expected results which may come from
seemingly insignificant causes! And how
well it illustrates the importance of mak-
WOMAN’S WORK.
ing an effort, even where we have little
reason for faith in its fruitfulness! Take
the instance 1 have just related; looking
at it from a human standpoint, how many
persons would have bestowed the touch
that saved the drunkard from his misery
and depravity? The reasoning would
have been: “If I touch him and he
awakes. I will get oaths and vile abuse for
my trouble.” Doubtless in some cases
that would be true, but we never know
what seeds may bear fruit, what deeds
may be productive of grand results. Let
us not excuse ourselves from making ef
forts to do good because we cannot be sure
of the outcome. If we bravely meet the
responsibilities of living, and earnestly,
conscientiously embrace every opportuni
ty that offers a chance to uplift the fallen
and to inspire the discouraged with hope
and confidence, we may feel assured that
our lives will not have been spent in vain.
« * •
p
whether or not we are prepared for its re
sponsibilities and to honorably acquit our
selves in the requirements that will be
made of us. Most of us are not accus
tomed to meditating, to looking ahead and
preparing as best we may for the duties
before us. We are prone to suppose, if
indeed we think of the matter at all, that
the New Year will be like the others, and
as we have managed to get through them
without any great amount of exertion or
expenditure of brain force, it is likely that
we can c intinue in our easy-going way.
Os course we expect, somehow, for tne
way to be smoother and the twelve
months’journey to be easier than in the
past, but just how and why we probably
have not stopned to consider. We are
told that “sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof,” and I would not have any
one looking forward with long and mel
ancholy face *o dire calamities which may
not come. Verily, each day brings with
it a sufficient amount of evil, or else we
borrow the evil and by some means force
it in; but what we need to do is to look
forward to the good that we can bring, to
the efforts that we can make evils,
and to have all things work together tor
the elevation and the happiness of those in
our own households and round about us.
We do not need to be worrying and
fretting for great opportunities. If we do
the things which come to hand, a- d do
them well, we will not lack for profitable
employment, and w 0 will have no cause
to be ashamed of the results. They will
be directed by One Who makes no errors
and Who does not suffer earnest labors to
go unrewarded. I know there are those
who profess to believe in an Almighty
God, but who ridicule the idea that an
Omnipotent Being will take notice of in
dividual interests and efforts and see that
your labors and mine are directed in cer
tain channels and finally crowned with
success. But scoffers and professed
Christians who prefer to trust solely to
themselves, and to manage (?) their own
affairs without divine aid, have not the
power to deprive any true believer of a
personal Saviour and an ever watchful
God, Who is ready at all times to give
strength to the weak and aid to the needy,
if they will but faithfully perform their
part and trust the rest to Him.
* * *
l* 1
how different the new one may prove from
what the old one was! Gently and silent
ly the day changes into night. Ofttimes
we are almost unconscious of the transfor
mation when it comes, and yet how dif
ferent is the one from the other! So of
the going and coming of the years: the
sun sets in silent grandeur, soon to rise
and smile again on a beautiful world; the
clouds gather and shed tears over a sinful
people, but they soon disperse and the
skies show clear and blue once more. We
pass from day to night and then from
night to day; a month glides by and qui
etly brings on the next successive month;
the seasons go with such grad
ual, gentle changes that we hardly know
the end of one nor where the next begins;
a year goes out into the boundless realms
of the past and another comes in from the
deeply mysterious beyond, but we hardly
stop to know just when, nor why. nor how.
Thus will we pass from the Old Year into
the New Year, with little thought, I fear,
of what has the testimony of the old
one. either for or against us—of what we
may accomplish for mankind and our
Maker in the new one which has come to
linger a little while and make up its rec
ords, then to go on and join the many oth
ers in the vastness of the past. We gave
no special heed to eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight when it came upon us. It
had come like the other years; like them
ASSING INTO the unknown, as
we do when we meet the New
Year, we should carefully consider
HERE IS USUALLY no great and
sudden change in passing from one
calendar year into another, and yet
it would soon go by and leave us very
much the same. Os course we would be a
little older, but somehow we don’t really
think the end will be nearer for us; we are
too young to trouble about those things—
there is so much else to engage our atten
tion, yet awhile.
We can think now, though, of many
changes that this short year has brought.
There are vacant chairs and sad hearts in
some households; there are wrecked lives
and miserable souls in others. Not many
days ago I received a letter, and oh, how
it shocked me! I had waited long for tid
ings from a dear friend who once wrote
often to me and to Woman’s Work. I
had written to her, but there was no re
sponse I was expecting to write again to
ask if I had unconsciously given offense,
to beg for some explanation of the painful
silence. The explanation came from an
other dear friend: “I suppose you have
heard the awful fate of our loved one: she
is confined in an insane asylum.” That
was all; I know nothing of the history,
but I think of my bright and entertaining
and gentle, lovely friend—l think of the
change that has come, and I weep for her,
for others. May God spare each of you,
my dear friends, from serious trouble
through the passing year! Will we help,
as we can, to spare others?
• * *
w w we
ONGING FOR WIDER fields and
greater abilities will not avail for
’ good. “Honor and shame from no
L
conditions rise.” Do first that work
which is within your reach, and, according
as this is done, other work and other op
portunities will be provided. Those of us
who are waiting for greater undertakings
are in danger of waiting until it is too
late, and after awhile our portion will be
to look back in lamentation over neglect
ed duties and privileges ignored. Day by
day we may sit and watch for some good
work that we may do, but if we shut our
eyes to the common place needs of hu
manity, we will remain in idleness and
our lives will prove of good deeds.
The great achievements of this world are
for those who have shown themselves
willing and c ipable in small matters. To
the wise mind nothing is too insignificant
for earnest attention, if only some good
may result therefrom.
I remember as a child how I watched
my energetic elders as they gathered stitch
by stitch on the slender knitting needles,
or gradually added to some handiwork by
constant plying of the little crochet hook.
It seemed so slow, so tedious to me, that
my only thought was of wasted time and
a very foolish expenditure of energy. I
look back now, and I still see that it was
tedious and slow, but it was just that
much gain over the same amount of time
spent in idleness. When birthdays came,
or the season arrived for the giving of
Christmas presents to loved ones, 1 re
member how useful those articles proved
to be, and how they saved many dollars
that would have been spent if a like num
ber of gifts had been purchased from oth
ers. 1 can see now that they represented
the value of moments that would other
wise have been wasted: I can appreciate,
to some extent, at least, as I think of
those collections of beautiful and useful
gifts, what may be accomplished just by
one little stitch at a time, if we but dili
gently utilize the moments as they pass.
A penny saved for some worthy cause is
better by far than a penny wasted. A
moment is but a fleeting bit of time, but it
becomes of great consequence when wo
must decide between wasting it or turning
it to commendable purpose. A particle of
dust is thought too small to count of val
ue, but the earth is all composed of such
particles, and there i« need for everyone.
* * *
NVY NOT the chances of other
persons, and seek not to excuse
your own shortcomings by com-
E
paring your hardships and deprivations
with the supposed ease and comforts of
some acquaintance. This old, old folly of
wishing we were someone else is responsi
ble for many of the sins and for a vast
proportion of the discontent of men and
women. The wish may often be an un
conscious one, but when we spend our
time in fretting over troubles, and in
thinking of the greater blessings enjoyed
by others, we are really guilty of mur
muring against our fate, and of covetous
ness towards our neighbor. In at least
ninety-nine times out of each hundred,
this neighbor is also deploring his fate,
and thinking of the blessed freedom and
happiness enjoyed by us.
I once knew two ladies of widely dif
ferent stations in life. Each seemed to
be an earnest, consecrated and contented
Christian, happy in her endeavors to help
others, and to make her life a true success.
One was known to be very poor in this
world’s possessions, her circumstances
being such as would have made many a
{Concluded on 13 th page.')
JANUARY, 1899.