50 The Bulletin. 



Now that we have inspired this thirst for knowledge, we have a greater prob- 

 lem before us. There is a way in which we may satisfy this thirst that may 

 cause a bright, beautiful life to prove an utter failure. I have seen two 

 brothers, both equally brilliant and promising, with equal opportunities, one 

 make a man of whom our whole nation may well be proud ; the other become 

 an outcast and a curse to his country. This one failed to receive the inspira- 

 tion creating the high ideal of manhood and the desire to learn something to 

 lead to the true greatness. That is only reached by being truly good and useful. 



So, often the making or marring of lives is due to the taste for reading and 

 study. The child who enjoys history, biography, nature study and later on 

 science is not so likely to ever stray off into the haunts of vileness, always at 

 hand, as the one who quenches his thirst for knowledge or whiles away the 

 golden moments by reading sensational stories and dime novels, the vilest of 

 all vile literature. Do we mothers see this as we should? 



Of all the moulders of character, mothers are so much more responsible and 

 should more than all others rely on Divine guidance that they may not err in 

 directing the lives of their children. 



In a list of literature that we may safely give our little ones are the follow- 

 ing: First Stories from the Bible (nothing is so interesting to a child as well- 

 told stories from this wonderful Book), Andersen's Fairy Tales, ^Fsop's Fables, 

 The Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Kingsly's Greek Heroes, some 

 of Shakespeare's works, and mythology. There are other authors not to be 

 overlooked. There are no books more wholesome or enjoyable than those of 

 Louisa M. Alcott and Joel Chandler Harris. Of the periodicals, St. Nicholas 

 and The Youth's Companion are excellent. 



If we provide children with this most helpful of all pastimes, they are happy 

 and content in their own homes. Often if their minds are unemployed they 

 will find entertainment elsewhere. Country mothers and children are blest 

 beyond all others ; they have nature for a teacher — and where is the child one 

 cannot interest with all the sights and sounds seen and heard on a bright, 

 sunny day? The early song of the birds at dawn, the glorious sunrise, to watch 

 the sparkling dew — teach them to watch every one of God's creations from 

 morning till night. So much can be gained. The more one can see, the more 

 there is to enjoy through life. 



We must teach them to have thoughts for the future. What will they do, 

 and whom will they be like? Will they want to do something great, to be a 

 force and factor in their day, to make the world richer while they live and 

 poorer when they die? 



We must try to make them understand that these golden days of life's morn- 

 ing are the days of preparation for all life's battles. As the moments fly they 

 must get ready for living a life that is pure and noble, or else live in vain. 

 Let us teach them that they can train the mind as well as the sinews while 

 they plow the fields, or feed the horses, or sweep and dust — that 



There is a work for me and for you, » 



Something for each of us to do. 



And it befits us to do noble things — 



Not dream them all day long. 



We are not here to play, to dream and drift ; 



We have hard work to do, and loads to lift. 



Shun not the struggle; face it; 'tis God's gift. 



Carlisle said : "Men do less than they ought unless they do all they can." 

 There is another thought we must not pass — that of individuality. We want 

 our children to be themselves. We must have ideals, but still retain that 

 individuality. We all have seen people who tried to be just like some one they 

 had seen, and often they failed to do anything at all, though their ideal was a 

 charming personality. Teach them that they must think and act for them- 

 selves — that thinking well is wise, planning well is wiser, doing well is best 

 of all. 



