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If heaven were illusion,
And paradise a myth,
And all the great hereafter
A legend linked therewith;
O, then indeed were futile
The faith and works of man,
AA ith neither hope nor courage
The solemn grave to span!
If heaven were a fable,
And paradise a myth,
If morals and religion
Had neither point nor pith,
If virtue were delusion
And honor but a hoax
Then would life be the grimmest
And cruelest of jokes.
If heaven were illusion,
And paradise a dream,
Dissolving like the vapor
That hangs about the stream;
O, then indeed were fruitless
The toil of those who strive
In spite of fault and failure
To keep their souls alive!
Mothers Day in the Golden Age
had many fine things to say about
mothers, but there were no roses for
the much-maligned mother-in-law.
In former years the mother-in-law
■was the standing joke of the newspa
per funny man. When there was
nothing in which a laugh could possi
bly be built in state or government
affairs, and the dust of the campaign
had well settled, then the musty chest
nut, the mother-in-law, was drawn out
and cracked with prospective laughter.
It still commands a masculine huf-faw
in many inner circles. As a sample,
this far-fetched paragraph was highly
appreciated when read from the town
paper to the habitat of the village
store:
Jones —Simpson’s wife wrote him
from Florida that her mother had
fallen out of a boat into the lake and
been devoured by an alligator.,
Brown —Ah, how did Simpkins take
it?
Jones —He said his feelings could be
described by one word —the term ap
plied to the fighter in the ancient Ro
man arena.
Brown —I see; Gladiator (glad he
ate her). Ha, ha, that’s good.
When a divorce suit, or a case of
marital infelicity is aired in the courts
the husband has only to say: “You
see, your honor, it’s just a case of
too much mother-in-law,” and the sym
pathy of the court is at qnce enlisted.
“You know how dt is yourself,” says
the wily culprit, and every man nods
and smiles acquiescently.
From the hard things said and writ
ten about the mother-in-law one would
infer that she was a domestic ogre—
a thorn in the matrimonial garland.
But this is rarely true. In many
homes the mother-in-law is a comfort
er, a wise counselor and helper. Of
ten she is looked upon by the son
in-law as a second mother, though he
is shy of acknowledging his fondness
for her, fearing that he will be heard
with jeering and incredulity. I can
not call to mind any book dedicated
to the mother-in-law or any poem in
scribed to her save that beautiful son-
Tne Golden Age for May 22, 1913.
THE HOUSEHOLD
A DEPARTMENT OF EXPRESSION FOR THOSE WHO FEEL AND THINK.
EDITED BY MRS. MARY E. BRYAN.
IF HEAVEN WERE ILLUSIONS.
—Arthur Goodenough.
CHAT
But paradise is real
And heaven is a fact;
Who questions their existence
Is more than inexact;
The robe of Christ still blesses
All such as press its hem
And God’s own glance illumes
The New Jerusalem!
Each moment has its message,
Each day its miracle;
And the skies are starry gospels
If we take the pains to spell.
And the cloud-burst and the sun-burst
And the heart within the breast
The wonder and the glory
Os omnipotence attest!
We speak of “ghosts” and “shadows”
And our hearts get slow and numb,
But this world is just—the shadow
Os a world that is—to come;
And the soul shall dip its pinions
In the crystal-running stream,
Since heaven’s not illusion;
Nor paradise a dream!
net which Edgar Poe wrote to the
mother of his “Lost Lenore.”
It has been asserted that Edgar
Poe wrote nothing human —nothing
that touches the chords of common
sympathy. But this beautiful sonnet
breathes sentiments that are not only
human in their tenderness, but almost
divine. The sonnet is not as well
known as it should be, and for this
reason I may be pardoned for giving
it here.
“Because I feel that, in the heavens
above,
The angels, whispering to one an
other,
Can find, among their burning terms
of love,
None so devotional as that of
Mother;
Therefore, by that dear name I long
have called you—
You who are more than mother unto
me.
And fill my heart of hearts, where
Death installed you
In setting my Virginia’s spirit free.
My mother —my own mother, w r ho died
early,
Was but the mother of myself; but
you
Are mother to the one I loved so
dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother
I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul
life.”
-. ... M. E. B.
With Our Correspondents
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING.
Perhaps I look at things somewhat
differently from some women; perhaps
a subject appeals to me from a dif
ferent view, but it seems to me that,
as women, our perspective in regard
to domestic economy is too narrow,
too limited. We need a larger view;
a woman driving in from town look
ed at the homes along the way, and
tried to wonder just how these homes
appear to strangers, and as she drew
near her home she tried to put her
self in the stranger’s place and judge
the home from the viewpoint of the
casual passerby. She knew why she
had done things others left undone.
She knew how to make allowances for
omissions and commissions; she knew
the mitigating circumstances and so
far as she was concerned the cir
cumstances mitigated; but strangers
could not know the circumstances,
and so with strangers the circum
stances could not mitigate, and all sins
of omission about premises, care and
keeping, stood out in bold relief. She
looked and resolved to improve. The
resolve to improve about the prem
ises was followed by a resolve to im
prove about the domestic economies.
The high cost of living is brought
about by four things: Injudicious buy
ing of home supplies, ignorance of
food values, lack of foresight and cap
ability in the matter of home produc
tion and unnecessary waste and care
lessness about home management.
When I say unnecessary waste, I
mean the company, the agents, the
idle gossipping, the useless reading,
the useless bric-a-brac and the abso
lutely useless worrying about many
things that sap the life from nerves
and mind and the strength from the
heart leaving discouragement and
blues and tears —a woman’s worst
enemies—to cause discontent and dis
satisfaction to all about her.
I believe in recreative reading and
in company and in the exercise of the
beautiful spirit of hospitality and many
times a cheerful caller is just what
is needed to brighten and uplift—
and note carefully that I say the cheer
ful caller. When a woman goes to
call on a friend she leaves home wor
ries at home and carriesi with her
something new to cheer the woman she
is to visit and she has a right to ex
pect a cheerful mien and subject in
return. This interchange of cheerful
ness is good for both women and for
all who listen to them.
But when a woman goes calling
and fills the time with gossip and with
a recount of her daily duties and cares
and worries she is not doing her duty
by her neighbor as the neighbor has
cares of her own and has no right
to be burdened with even having to
listen to the cares of someone else.
When a woman is keeping house ev
ery woman in the community and, in
fact, every woman in the world who
keeps house knows about what that
woman has to do and so when she
recounts her duties she is merely tell
ing an old, old story that every wom
an knows and has to live for her
self and this account of duties and
worries is absolutely unpardonable.
The hostess should not listen to them;
she should sidetrack the conversation,
or that particular subject; and get on
a subject that will give some change
of atmosphere for the guest and for
herself. This effort to say something
bright and cheerful and to make a
subject from which something new and
interesting can be evolved will re
dound to the credit and help of both
as both need the change and stimu
lus given by new lines of thought and
both will be improved and entertain
ed and be helped.
Then, too, the taking care of num
berless little things that are of no
value except that they were gifts and
that you value them from that stand
point and wish to keep them. Take
those small things and put them where
no dust can fall on them and where
they will not require handling once
or twice a week to keep the dust from-,
accumulating.
Glass doors to a cabinet will help
along this line and do not cumber
mantels and tables with the useless
trifles. Avoid unnecessary sewing by
getting many things ready made.
Avoid unnecessary sewing by not de
veloping a taste for having everything,
embroidered and scalloped and drawn
work—all very beautiful and artistic,,
but sapping a woman’s strength and
nervous energy.
i am sure that the best use for
a woman’s strength and nervous ener
gy is to make the home happy for
the loved ones and as this demands
a rested brain and nerves in order
that a sound, clear judgment may be
given to the domestic problems. The
sound, clear judgment and sensible
thinking cannot come from a tired,
jaded body and worn out nerves..
Let me illustrate: The evening
meal is the one meal when the en
tire family gather around the table.
At breakfast the children are not up,
at 6 or 7:30, and growing children
should be allowed to sleep until 7
<if possible. At the midday meal the
children are away at school and the
father at business, so the evening meal
is about the only meal when the par
ents can be with the children when
eating and try, by example and pre
cept to teach correct table conduct.
Then if the mother is so tired she
doesn’t care if she eats or not, and
too listless to care if the children
are correct or incorrect, if the father
is too tired and utterly worn out to
care if they eat at all, you will readr
ily see that the children suffer from
the very worst form of neglect—neg
lect that will affect the entire future
and no one can dispute the fact that
table manners determine the standing
of the man or the woman of real gen
tility. If a man has the self-re
spect a gentleman should have he will
eat correctly and with some regard
for the ideas and regulations for cor
rect eating. If he is so far lost to
the eternal fitness of things as to think
he can eat like an animal and yet be
a man and a gentleman, he is vastly
mistaken. There are manners and
methods of taking food that show
whether the consumer of the food is
a man or a brute. If a man he will
consume his food wuth some regard
for social rules and regulations; if a
brute, by instincts and temperament
he will gulp the food regardless of all
present and regardless of the feelings
of w r ife, children and the effect his
example will have on his younger chil
dren.
So let us who are to teach the fu
ture generations keep ourselves in con
dition to do the teaching ethically
as well as practically, and we can do
the duty all the more sensibly if we
are not utterly worn out as to body,
mind and nerves, and not utterly
wrapped up in the material as more
important than the ethical and the
practical.
The high cost of living can be paid
in a more vital coin than silver and
gold and can cost more dearly in
wrecked mines, nerves and body and
general ability to do the fullest duty
to those who are dependent on us for
the higher things.