Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,
I was once a barefoot boy.
The Children's Sunday.--What can we do with the children on Sundays? Do
not attempt to do anything unusual or make yourself miserable over their
natural antics. Send them to the Sabbath School, never deny a child this
privilege or be too negligent to give him the privilege, says the Woman's
National Daily. A walk during the day to the park, woods or some place
where the recreation is pleasant, is advisable. But do not get so modern
in your views that you will permit them the riotous amusements in which
they must usually indulge through the week. One cannot do wrong in
impressing the sacredness of the day upon the children, for it is one of
the deplorable features of modern life that the sacredness is sadly
abused, and mostly by the young folk.
Idleness.--Idleness among children, as among men, is the root of all evil,
and leads to no other evil more certain than ill-temper.--Hannah More.
Learning to Sew.--Every reasonable mother knows that it is wise to teach
her little daughter to sew. Let her begin on the tiny garment of her doll.
She will easily form the habit of mending torn places in dolly's clothes
and replace absent buttons. With this experience, it will not be long
before she will begin to take an interest in her own clothes, and so will
not need to be warned that a button is coming off or that the hem of her
skirt is coming out. But, of course, she could not begin by sewing or
patching her own clothes, nor by mending intricate tears. First see that
she sews on buttons correctly and then let her do some basting.
A Good Rule.--St. Edmund of Canterbury was right when he said to somebody.
"Work as though you would live forever; but live as though you would die
today."
--Henry Giles.
Double Duties.--Children should never be required to do housework to the
extent a housekeeper must do it, for the strength of a growing child
should be applied almost wholly to duties at school. A growing child
cannot do mental and hard physical labor at the same time. Wiping dishes
and assisting in the dusting do not interfere with school work, and are
really good exercises. But the young girl who is compelled to rise early
in the morning, prepare breakfast, assist with the family washing or
ironing and prepare herself for school will lose out somewhere.
[NURSERY HINTS AND FIRESIDE GEMS 805]