Good Attitudes About Home

This poem and thoughts are from a booklet by Mary Brooks Picken, which is titled, "Thimblefuls of Friendliness" and was written 1924.

"Stepping Stones"

"Isn't it strange that Princes and Kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And just plain folks like you and me,
Are builders for Eternity?
To each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass and a book of rules,
And each must make ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a stepping stone."

I heard a young woman say the other day, "Oh, I give up. What's the use of my trying to be anybody or trying to have nice things? My ambitions only make me restless and miserable."

But we all know that ambitions once entertained are hard to lose. The farther you come from attaining them, the more miserable you will be. Hence the need of continual effort.

To the woman who says, "What's the use?" one might say: "What's the use of working, of washing the dishes, of getting up in the mornings, of liking air and sunshine and pretty things?

There isn't any real use, perhaps, in it all, but it is, oh so satisfying, to go into a kitchen to cook dinner where everything is happily clean and in place.

What a satisfying, luxurious feeling it is to crawl into a well-made, cozy, bed.

What a delight to don fresh, clean clothing.

What a self-respecting feeling one has when one puts on a well-made dress that is appropriate and becoming.

And these things take time and effort, but they pay double in sheer pleasure.

And we should use our energies to make happiness come for every effort, pleasure for every thought that we give to family, home, or clothing, and thus make of all our responsibilities stepping stones to success, via happiness.

For surely, when we are happy, we are successful, at least in that little domain where we are queen. No matter what our environment, no matter what our circumstances-a singing teakettle, a cozy fire, some one to care for, some to care, a conscience that does not disturb--all these help in our walk up the steps to divine content.

For some of us it may seen a long journey but trying makes it interesting. And we have the satisfaction all the way of having done our best with our "bag of tools", our "shapeless mass", and "book of rules."

When I was growing up, I knew many girls to get out of work by not wanting to do it. Sometimes I thought my mother pretty severe because she expected us to wash the dishes. It was part of the work for my sisters and me. She expected us to arrange the table, make the beds, peel the potatoes, help on wash day, and iron the plain things. It never occurred to us to say, "I don't want to do it." I admit many times I didn't really want to, but I should only have made myself ridiculous by saying so.

Self-pity was not scarce with me sometimes, especially when there was an all-absorbing book that I wanted very much to read or a guest who had interesting things to tell after dinner that I wanted very much to hear, or when the call came on a sleepy morning to get up quick and help with breakfast. But now I realize that having to do things, being expected to do them without any alternative was good for me.

Girls who grow up and take the mother place in the home understand little girls and little boys who don't want to do things. Yet they know from experience that success and a happiness within come from learning, as children, to do the things they don't want to do when they don't want to do them."

Note: I find some things in this book to be very much like "Beautiful Girlhood," which is available online, and is free domain. My daughter copied off some of the chapters to give to a woman to help her teach young girls.

Go here http://library.timelesstruths.org/texts/Beautiful_Girlhood/ and read some excellent and timeless instruction that will fill the heart with love and contentment.
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