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FRINGED GENTIAN.
Little flower that through thy purple fringes
Lookest upon the earth and air and sky,
Seeing upon what creation hinges,
And maybe knowing why we live—and die.
0 that thou couldst inform us all thou knowest
Os love’s inscrutable and holy bowers;
0 that the meaning on thy petals written
Could be deciphered by these eyes of ours!
Wilt thou not tell us of the God who planned thee
And kept thee safely in this sheltered place?
Thou with the presence infinitely royal,
And heaven’s beauty mirrored in thy face.
Too long we heavy-hearted have been gleaning
O’er sterile acres where sad harvests grow;
Wilt thou not write us an inner meaning
Disclose and show us why it should be so?
ARTHUR GOODENOUGH.
n *
CHAT.
We have several new members with us today and
their talk is entertaining, and I hope will be re
sponded to by others who may have been thinking
on the same lines.
As to the matter of the parents helping the teach
er, there is no doubt of this being a great assistance
to the progress and development of the child. There
are children so shy. timid and self-conscious in the
pre.-ence of those outside their family circle, that
they do themselves grave injustice and are regarded
as sullen, or idiotic, when it is only the shell of
timidity that encloses and conceals their intelli
gence and in time will completely dwarf it. This
peculiarity of the child should, of course, be known
to the mother and she should inform the teacher of
it, who, if She is conscientious and kind, will deal
fovbearingly with her charge, try to win her or his
confidence and break the habit of shyness and self
consciousness. I feel strongly in this matter as I
•have known a sensitive, highly-strung child to be
driven to suicide because she was misunderstood,
called sullen and backward —a disgrace to the
family, when in reality she had a bright mind and a
heart aching for love and sympathy, as was proved
by her pitiful little diary, found after her death, the
last entry being the cry: “Nobody loves me: every
body thinks I aim the black sheep of the family;
why should I live any longer?”
The mother is the one usually held responsible for
the child's training, but the father should shoulder
some of the burden. Many men in cities are so
eagerly absorbed in business that they are not really
acquainted with their own children —are as ignorant
of their natures, of the desires, temptations, weak
spots and ambitions within the breiaats of the young
beings to whom they have given life, as if their
children belonged to an alien household. When
these young creatures go astray the fathers are
struck with astonishmeoit and feel resentment to
wards Providence for having allowed a. child of
good family and Christian parents to come to dis
grace. There are other fathers who make comrades
of their children, who go to them with all their lit
tle troubles and aspirations, and are never so happy
as when they have father for a companion. Such a
father is our 'big-hearted Householder. George
Wheeler, whose children look on him as their best
friend and most entertaining comrade. One of his
boys, Leon, is developing marked talent in drawing,
and the father is encouraging 'him in his aspiration
to become an illustrator of books and papers. Leon
must study originality—sketch from nature, find the
underlying spirit of what he wishes to draw and
give it expression. After he learns to draw cor
rectly, if he should wish to become a cartoonist he
will need to learn how to exaggregate in burlesque
fashion. The true cartoonist has a keen sense of
the ridiculous born in him, and assiduously culti-
THE HOUSEHOLD
4 Department of Expression For Those Who Feel and Think,
The Golden Age for May 20, 1909.
vates tihis. Cartooning is not a high form of aft,
but it is certainly a Money making one. Thebe is
no surer road to success than the art of clever fun
making. It has to be good and original, however.
The day of coarse jokes and broad lluftiol’ lifls passed,
but there never was a time When fresh, bright wit
and 'humor was more appreciated and better paid.
King Public must be amused-; this sad old world
wants to forget its troubles and laugh. It is willing
to pay its jesters.
Yet the things that abide with us, that take hold
of the heart and the imagination, are not the things
that make us laugh. Pathos and tragedy stir the
depths of the soul; wit and humor are the bubbles
that dance on the surface, but bubbles are pretty,
with their bright colored miniature reflections of
the surrounding scenery, and humor likewise re
flects in high colored miniature the passing life,
I would like to hear from some of you whether
comedy plays much of a part in the drama of yOur
dreams. It does not in mine. Sometimes t dfeain
of pleasant occurrences: often of romantic inci
dents; sometimes entire stories are played but in a
succession of dream pictures, but rarely do t see
anything in dreamland to make me laugh. How is
it with you?
I Ufflitb ®ur Corresponbents
SUMMER FROCKS FOR TINY GIRLS.
I have found it an economy in the end to dress
my little Helen in white, since it never fades under
application of soap and sunshine, and when well
laundered looks presentable to the last. White
goods, too is easily matched, and many a- spot and
stain have I removed with lemon juice, lard or but
termilk, which on colored material would have left a
lasting disfigurement. But, you will say, white soils
so easily. Well, do you know of anything that
doesn’t soil quickly when put upon a child? But if
all white is not liked, try the seersuckers, crinkly
and pretty, or other goods with crapy surfaces that
are so easily washed and require no ironing. Did
you know that a good quality of unbleached domes
tic (sea. island) makes a pretty and almost inde
structible morning frock for little girls? A suit of
rompers heightens the pleasure of climbing apple
trees and making sand houses, and these can be
bought as low as thirty-five cents —excellent ones
for forty and fifty cents. Little wash dresses, made
up in all sizes, can be bought from seventy-five
cents to a dollar and a half, and large gingham
iaprons for twenty-five cents. Little drawers of good
soft domestic, tucked and trimmed with Hamburg
ruffles, sell for as low as fifteen cents. There is no
use in a mother wasting time and spoiling eyesight
in making these little garments When she can buy
them at the same price she would have to give for
materials, buttons and thread. The little wash frocks
are trimmed with braid or with edging, and neatly
and prettily made. They can be found in all de
partment stores.
NELLY CARTER.
Atlanta, Ga.
*
THE CONFEDERATE WOMAN’S MONUMENT.
I would like to ‘hear from some of our readers
and members as to what they think concerning the
design for the Confederate woman’s monument,
which has been accepted by a committee of promi
nent men. I think it is neither artistic nor ex
pressive of the typical Southern woman during the
war. I fully concur with the opinion of the gifted
and witty Confederate veteran, Dr. Hamill, of Nash
ville, Tenn., who thus describes and comments on
the accepted design: “This alleged symbol of the
women of the Confederacy violates every canon of
art or good taste or historic condition. In brief,
it presents the typical woman of the Confederacy
Standing in defiant pose upon a pedestal something
after the manner of that other ‘I Will’ Chicago
travesty in symbolism that eonfrouted Exposition
visitors ekcept that this braWny Southern Amazon
iii 'her fig'ht 'harid is brandishing an -antique sword
which she grips by the blade not by the hilt! Be
neath her feet, as the text of a stump speech which
she is artistically supposed to be making, is carved
the sentence, ‘Uphold Our State Rights.’
“Not a line of womanly grace or modesty or
tenderness, not a 'hint of the dear home keeper and
home builder of the Southland, not a reminder of
the sweet and gentle minister of mercy and com
fort who bent over the hospital cot and soothed
the pain of the wounded soldier and left in hi«
heart of gratitude fore Vera trite picture of that
noblest of all memories of the Confederacy} the
patient, self-sacrificing, iirtWedried helper arid 00ffl=
fort er of tile boys in gffiy. NOr is there a falfii lit
the unsightly figure -proposed of tlidsC tfioiisaiids of
heroic souls Who iii lotieliriess and drefid df eVil
tidings froth the fr'bnt took bare of the dbshrit sol
diers’ home, kept iii otdbr thfi shrVaritSj la tight the
children, made lint of their cherished linens sos the
army surgeon, brewed home medicines for the sick,
watched after the growing crops, Wrote brave letters
to the front when their own hearts were breaking,
and thus won imperishable love and honor from
every soldier in gray down to the latest of 'his de
scendants. Think of the sweet little home body of
the Southland, brandishing a big sword by the
blade and declaiming like a candidate for the Legis
lature an oration upon State rights!”
HELP THE TEACHER.
A conscientious young teacher said to me lately 1
“I can always tell those of my pupils whose parents
take an interest in them and help them at home
with their lessons. 1 am always grateful to such
parents. Try as she may, a teacher can not pay all
the attention needed to individual pupils.”
A loving interest in the daily lessons often proves
a strong incentive to earnest work on the child’s
part. For instance, arithmetic may be much harder
for your little girl than for ‘her classmates, and the
teacher having a. good many in_one class fails to
see where the difficulty lies. By helping her a little
at home, she may be spared the mortification of fail
ing at the examination. Don’t worry because the
modern methods are not like those in use when w-e
went to school. They tell us these methods are
short paths leading to the same g*oal, and no doubt
it is true. Visit the school occasionally, if you
have time, thereby showing an interest in the work
that is being done. The child should be taught to
obey the teacher without a question. In no other
way can a teacher maintain the order that is neces
sary to procure good results from her work. Some
times Johnnie comes home telling that he has been
wrongfully punished. Remember that when such a
story comes from the school room you 'hear only one
side of it, and then even grown-ups are prone to
keep their own wrong-doing in the background when
telling their story to others. If you are sure the
teacher has made a mistake in correcting the child,
it would be very unwise to tell the child so. If some
thing must be done, go privately to the teacher. In
nearly every instance, the information she will give
you will greatly mitigate, if not do away with, the
seeming wrong. Then you may suggest to her the
benefit it may do the child’s hurt feelings if she
will give him a little private talk that may remove
the bitter sense of being wronged.
Florence, Ala. CLEMENTINE AMES.
H *
The country parson was condoling with the bereft,
widow.
“Alas!” he continued earnestly, “I can not tell
you how pained I was to learn that your husband
had gone to heaven. We were bosom friends, but.
we shall never meet again, ’’—Lippincott’a,
