

338 
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

on an errand, and all with a cheerful look 
and pleasant teusper—has a reward attending 
such good deeds. 
her grandfather on her lap, as he takes her 
on his, she can get his slippers, or put away 
his book, or gently comb his thin locks ; 
and, whether she thinks of it or not, these 
little kindnesses, coming from a loving heart, 
are the sunbeams that lghten up the world 
we live in. A loving heart and an affec- 
tionate disposition, however, want no prompt- 
ing. As regards ourselfi—when we cease to 
love, we shall cease to live. Life without 
love, is as a body without a soul. 
Early rising is another point strongly in- 
‘isted on; and the reasons “ why” are ex- 
cellent. In England, laziness is carried out 
to a fearful extent; nor is it unusual to see 
people creep down to breakfast with their 
eyes hardly open. This, among all classes. 
Housekeeping duties are then hinted at, and 
rules given to make them sit easy. We 
are also shown the folly of not beg “ ready” 
when dinner is announced—keeping the com- 
pany waiting, &c. All these evils exist, more 
or less, in half the families in the kingdom. 
The following is worthy of attention :— 
‘There is an old saying, which was often 
repeated to me in my youth—‘ Can dois easily 
carried about with you.’ And really I 
think it amounts to a duty in woman to attend 
to this saying, for we hardly ever learn to do 
anything that we do not find the advantage 
of at some time or other. Some persons 
are naturally more neat-handed and notable 
than others; but every woman should en- 
deavor to learn all she can of the little arts 
that make life comfortable; and above all,.of 
whatever can make her useful in a sick-room. 
No doubt the same qualities of method, 
order, and good management, will show 
themselves in every department of duty ; 
but much may be gained by observation, and 
a desire to learn, from whatever source. 
“There are some people who never go 
from home without bringing back some use- 
ful hint in housekeeping, in the arrangement 
of a room, the order of the table ; or, it may 
be, the planning and planting of the flower- 
garden. ‘These are the persons who know 
the best way of doing everything; their 
homes may be known by the air of comfort 
and elegance they contrive to give by 
attention to little things; not merely by 
tidiness, but by tasteful arrangement, and a 
degree of attention to decoration. Some 
one speaks of the little things that mark the 
whereabouts of woman—flowers especially do 
so; and trifling as some may think it, I up- 
hold it as one of our little duties, to make 
our homes not only as comfortable, but as 
pretty and pleasing as possible. 
“There are some people who pay no heed 
to niceties of this kind, either esteeming them 


If a little girl cannot take | 
their personal attire is always unlike other 




beneath their care, or not having taste enough 
to feel the want of them. ‘Their rooms have 
a blank, uncomfortable, uninhabited look ; 
people’s, they never seem to notice any im- 
proved way of managing little matters, or 
they do not like the trouble of learning and 
practising it; and it is ten chances to one, 
that by beginning with despising decoration 
and taste, they end by neglecting comfort.” 
There is a great deal of truth in the fore- 
going. We could easily judge of the mis- 
tress, by a peep at the arrangement of her 
rooms and garden. 
We are always advocating cheerfulness 
and good humor. Let us hear what the 
book says about these :— 
“The duty of being always in a good 
humor is so important, ihat I hardly should 
enumerate it among little things ; but all else 
is almost valueless without it. It is like the 
soft balmy air and bright sunshine of a sum- 
mer’s morn, which when we feel and breathe, 
we think no other enjoyment can equal; with- 
out which the finest landscape wants a charm, 
and with which, the dreariest moorland is 
bright and beautiful. Great duties, great 
kindnesses, lose much of their virtue and 
power to benefit others, 1f not performed in 
this spirit; and little duties and little kind- 
nesses are indeed nothing without the sun- 
shine of cheerful good humor to gild and 
adorn them. Akin to this, is the duty of culti- 
vating a cheerful disposition,—a disposition 
to be easily pleased. There are persons to 
whom this seems natural, who are always 
pleased; andwe all feel how much more 
agreeable it is to have anything to do with 
them, than with those who, either from in- 
difference or discontent, are seldom or never 
pleased. By this duty, however, I mean 
rather more than merely not being discon- 
tented—I mean the disposition to show that 
we are pleased, a good-humored way of re- 
ceiving little services, a readiness to admire 
what we see others wish us to like, and a 
willingness to ‘do unto others as we wish 
they should do unto us,’—the reverse, in 
short, of a captious fault-finding spirit. 
“Tt may be alleged that a careful attention 
to some of these little duties may lead to an 
irksome particularity, a teasing habit of for 
ever putting to rights, and toa neglect of more 
important concerns. This will never be the 
case, however, if we remember to perform 
little duties with a large spirit, and consider 
first the comfort of others.” 
“We shall now conclude this paper. In other 
parts of OuR JouRNAL ‘will be found many 
similar sentiments; nor shall we ever cease 
to advocate the observance of “Little Things.” 
Sweeteners are they of life, on the one hand ; 
or perpetual sources of discomfort and annoy- 
ance on the other. 


