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To the Woman That Toileth
Place a spray in thy belt, or a rose on
thy stand,
When thou settest thyself to a com
mon-place seam;
Its beauty will brighten the work in
thy hand,
Its fragrance sweeten each dream.
When life’s petty details most burden
some seem,
Take a book —it may give thee the
solace thou’st sought —
And turn its leaves o’er till thou
catchest the gleam
Os some gem from the deep mine of
thought.
When the task thou performest Is irk-
THE PIGMIES OF SOUTH AFRICA.
A correspondent asks: “Is it true,
or just a picturesque myth, that a race
of handsome pigmies inhabit a portion
of South Africa?”
The pigmies are a sure-enough fea
ture of the great dark continent,
though they may be sadly dessiminat
ed by the inroads of more physically
powerful people. Stanley told very
interestingly about his acquaintance
with the pigmies. He says: “Near
Avetiko, on the Ituri river, hungry
men found the first male and female
of the much-talked of African pigmies.
They were squatted in the midst of
a wild Eden, peeling plantains. You
can imagine what a shock it was to
the poor little creatures to find them
selves surrounded by Soudanese, 6 feet
four inches tall (nearly double their
size) and black as coals. But my
Zanzibaris —always more tender
hearted than the Soudanese, prevent
ed the clubbed rifles and cutlasses
from extinguishing their lives there
and then, and brought the pair to me
as prives in the same spirit as they
would have brought a big hawk-moth
or mammoth longicorn for inspection.
As they stood trembling before me
I named the little man ‘Adam’ and the
miniature woman ‘Eve’ —far more ap
propriate names in the wild Eden on
the Ituri than the ‘Vukukuru’ and
‘Akiokwa’ which they gave us. Their
faces said clearly enough, as they fur
tively looked at one and the other of
us, ‘Where have these big people
come from? Will they eat us?’ There
were some nervous twitches about
the angles of the nose and quick up
lifting of the eyelids, and swift,
searching looks to note what fate was
in store for them. The height of the
man was four feet, that of the woman
a little less. He may have weighed
about eighty-five pounds. The color
o the body was that of a half-baked
brick. So far as natural intelligence
was concerned, within his limited ex
perience, he was certainly superior to
any black man in our camp.
“I suppose we must have passed
through as many as one hundred vil
lages inhabited by the pigmies. Long,
however, before we reached them
they were deserted and utterly cleared
out. Our foragers and scouts may
have captured about fifty of these
dwarfs, only one of whom reached the
height of fifty-four inches. They va
ried from thirty-nine to fifty inches
generally, They are so well proper-
THE HOUSEHOLD
A Department of Expression For Those Who Feel and Think
some and long,
Or thy brain is perplexed by doubt
or by fear,
Fling open the window, and let in the
song
God has taught to the birds for thy
cheer.
€)h, a branch of wild roses the bar
renest lodge
Maketh fit for a throne, while the
blossoming vine
Will turn to a bow’er the thorniest
nedge;
So will beauty make home life di
vine.
CHA T
tioned that at first sight they might
be taken for ordinary mankind; but,
when we place by their side a Euro
pean, a Soudanese, or a Madi, they
appear exceedingly diminutive. By
the side of dwarfs of mature age, a
Zanzibari boy of thirteen would ap
pear large.
“The agricultural settlements in this
region are to be found every nine or
ten miles apart, and near each settle
ment, at an hour’s march distance,
will be found from four to eight pig
my villages situated along the paths
leading to it. The larger aborigines
are very industrious, and form a clear
ing of from four hundred to one thou
sand acres. Amid the prostrate for
est they plant their banana and plan
tain bulbs. In twelve months the
prostrate trees are almost hidden by
the luxuriant fronds and abundant
fruit, of unrivaled quality, size, and
flavor. It would be easy to prove that
in the forest an acre of banana plants
produces twenty-five times more food
than an acre of wheat produces in
England.
“The pigmies appear to be aware
that a banana plantation is inexhaust
ible, and to think that they have as
much right to the produce as the abo
riginal owners. Therefore they cling
to these plantations, and make the
larger natives pay dearly for the hon
or of their acquaintance. In another
manner they perform valuable service
to them by warning them of the ad
vance of strangers and assisting them
to defend their settlements; they also
trap game and birds and supply the
larger natives with peltry, feathers
and meat. It appeared to me that the
pigmies were regarded somewhat as
parasites, whose departure would be
more welcome than their vicinity.
“When honey and game, meat, pel
try, and feathers get low or scarce in
the neighborhood, the pigmies pack
their household goods on their wo
men’s backs and depart elsewhere to
attach themselves to some other plan
tations. A forest village consists of
from twenty to one hundred families
of pigmies; and'probably in the area
between the Ihuru and Ituri rivers
there are as many as two thousand
families living this nomadic and free
life in the perpetual twilight and free
great and Umbrageous forest of Equa
torial Affica.”
The Unbusiness-Like Way of Some
Women.
We love sympathy—all of us do—
The Golden Age for November 7, 1912.
—Home Maker.
but it is poor taste and poor policy to
thrust our troubles upon strangers
in away, too, that will militate against
our success in business.
As an instance, a woman has found
work as a seamstress —going into dif
ferent homes and doing up the fam
ily sewing, at so much per day. She
meets with courtesy and considera
tion. Instead of responding in kind
by prompt attention to the work in
hand, she spends the first morning hour
in detailing the various reverses
which have brought her down to this,
while her employer moves about rest
lessly, glances meaningly at the si
lent sewing-machine and wonders how
her four shirt-waists are going to be
finished in two days.
The girl who wants to write has
just sent a story to a busy editor, and
carefully indited a long letter to ac
company it, telling him how much
she needs the money she is going to
get for her story, since she is going
to use it in helping a sick broth
er, but she quite neglects to take
time to punctuate the manuscript
itself, to even save the tired eyes of
the person who must read it by writ
ing legibly, if her funds do not admit
of having the story typed.
Now, dean woman, whose needs de
mand that you should sew by the day,
please put yourself in your employ
er’s place. She is paying you to work
for her, not to tell about your affairs.
And if she should find having to de
cide between a Dutch neck and a high
stock collar more absorbing than the
numerous trials you have undergone
consider her point of view before you
blame her.
What can I say to the girl whose
manuscript has just been returned to
her —after she wrote such a nice let
ter to the editor, too! Ah, my dear
girl, it is not letters to the editors
that will help you dispose of your
wares. Come, let us look over your
story together, you and I. What do
we find? One, two, three mistakes
in spelling, and (we must admit it is
pure carelessness, for you know bet
ter, I’m sure) three grammatical er
rors all in two pages. You say you
didn’t have time to read it over?
Then why not have done that and left
the letter to the editor unwritten?
With Our Gorresponbents
CHILD CULTURE BY MENTAL SUG
GESTION.
To many thoughtful minds one of
the most vital problems in the world
today is the moral education of the
child. It is comparatively easy to
mould aright the little mind and soul
during the plastic, formative period,
but if this is neglected the result is
often a malformed brain that may
rule to ruin in after years. Many pa
rents and teachers, including the
writer, have employed mental sug
gestion with remarkable success in
character building. A brief outline of
the method may prove helpful to
some of the readers of The Golden
Age.
First, win the child's love and con
fidence. Explain to it that you wish
to help it develop a strong, beautiful
character, and that if it will work
with you, you will surely succeed.
Every morning have it repeat after
you these or similar words: “This
day, I will be kind, good, pure and
true. I will do all I can to make oth
ers happy. I can and will do right.”
If it'has any fault to overcome, ear
nestly and impressively repeat to it
affirmations adapted to its need, and
have it also repeat them several
times each day, and at bedtime every
night, but always when it is in a pas
sive, receptive mood. For instance,
if it is selfish, say to it: “Deep down
in your little heart you are kind and
loving. You will always do unto oth
ers as you would (have them do unto
you.” Embrace every opportunity to
praise it for the desired virtue. Ex
perience proves that if these affirma
tions are often and thoroughly im
pressed on the child’s mind and heart,
they will become integral parts of its
soul and the ruling motives of life.
Every true life and every noble
deed is inspired by an enlightened in
tellect, conscience and love. To de
velop these qualities in the child, they
must be constantly appealed to and
made the ruling motives of conduct.
Teach it what is right and wrong,
and why, and urge it to do right for
right’s sake, not from fear of punish
ment or hope of reward. Seek to
have it obey its conscience as the
voice of God in its soul. Ehcourage
it to do acts of kindness and helpful
ness. Teach it the laws of personal
purity. Impress upon it that every
good thought and desire helps to de
velop a beautiful soul —the one abso
lutely essential condition of highest
happiness in this life and that to
come; that every evil thought and act
deforms its soul and must inevitably
result in misery and unhappiness.
Above all, exemplify in your own life
what you would have the child be
come. “Like begets like”; an angry
word excites anger; love awakens
love. By always living, thinking and
desiring the noble, the good and the
true, you may most surely create these
conditions in the child.
When the little mind is unfolding
beneath the mother’s heart, then is
her golden opportunity to mould it
as she will. According to the new
psychology, every absorbing thought
and earnest desire she entertains dur
ing the pre-natal period is telephated
to the forming brain cells of her babe,
leaving there its impress of good or
ill —“a chisel that cuts to mar or
beautify the stature of a soul.” There
fore anger, hatred, worry and all un
desirable mental states must be care
fully shunned. She should cherish
only beautiful, kindly, happy thoughts
and aspirations, and pray silently,
earnestly, every waking hour that
her little one may be lovely, pure
and good. She thus attunes herself
to all holy influences, and the power
of the Highest will overshadow her
and fashion a beautiful soul —may we
not hope a great spiritual genius?—
that will ever prove a joy to the pa
rents and a blessing to mankind.
F. M. CRAIG.
Denver, Colo.
FLORIDA WOMAN LOVES OR
PHANS AND THE GOLDEN AGE.
Mrs. J. H. Godwin, of Bonifay, Fla.,
writes: “The stirring appeal in The
Golden Age in behalf of Buckner’s Or
phans’ Home, at Dallas, Texas reached
my heart. Here is a check for $2.00
to help finish the building. God only
knows the possibilities hidden in the
heart and life of a boy or girl—and
only one who has tried it knows the
joy and peace of helping an orphan
it
