61 
American Agriculturist, July 26, 1924 
obediently enough to her allotted task. 
She does a good deal in the course of a day, 
when you come to think of it. You take 
her help for granted; do you also take it 
for granted that she has a right to some 
time to herself, just to dream and idle, if 
she so desires? 
Let them alone occasionally! Let 
them loaf a little, even if the sight of 
anyone “just doing nothing” exasper¬ 
ates you. 
Storing Up Future Reserves 
You may not realize it, but it is partly 
because you arc envious that you feel 
such irritation. 
You once could 
relax utterly in 
the same way,but 
it is an uncon¬ 
scious art that we 
almost all out¬ 
grow. Responsi¬ 
bilities crowd in, 
driving mind and 
body to the ut¬ 
most effort, and 
you become so 
used to pressure 
that you cannot 
just let go and 
rest. Except for 
a few wise’ and 
philosophic souls, 
only the very 
young can attain 
that perfect re¬ 
pose in which 
identity is almost 
lost because it is 
so merged with 
earth and sky and 
wind and sun. That is a very precious 
possession which' your children have— 
something which they themselves cannot 
appreciate. Do not help bring it to. an 
end by making them ashamed of “just 
doing nothing.” 
Please don’t think that I would encour¬ 
age laziness or ask you to free your 
children entirely from their share of farm 
tasks. Faithful performance of the daily 
routine of duties is not only a much- 
needed help to you, but carries a disci¬ 
pline which "will mean much to them in 
future years. I only urge you. to give 
some thought to planning their hours 
of work and leisure as I hope you do your 
own. 
Let each child understand clearly just 
what he or she is responsible for. Work 
out with them how long each task shoidd 
take and the time it ought to be done. 
Then see what time is left for the child to good for all of us. 
read, to play, to “loaf,” as he or she 
desires. 
Play is Serious to a Child 
You must expect the child to follow 
your schedule in the work, for farm work 
demands that everything be done at the 
right time or the whole day is thrown out 
of order. But do you on your side respect 
the child’s free time and remember you 
have no claim to it? I have seen mothers 
who resented any interruption in their 
own scanty half-hour of leisure call upon 
their children three or four times to stop 
an exciting game or lay down an engross¬ 
ing book for some 
small errand that 
couldhave'waited 
or been planned 
for earlier. And 
remember, the 
mother chides the 
child forinterrup- 
ting her, but at 
the risk of being 
punished for im¬ 
pertinence or bad 
temper the child 
cannot resent 
the mother’s 
thoughtless de¬ 
mands. Even 
“grumbling” is 
sharplyTep roved, 
and the child is 
left to pick up the 
thread of his 
broken play or 
his vague, won¬ 
derful dreams as 
best he can. 
Be patient for a 
while with the long, long thoughts of youth. 
Even the most matter-of-fact and hard- 
headed man or woman had youthful days of 
dreaming of which they are now somewhat 
ashamed, perhaps, but which they. can 
never quite forget. Gilbert Murray, writing 
of the way life moulds and changes any 
group of people, no matter what the great 
dreams and aspirations of their youth, says, 
“ but some, perchance, have caught the Gleam 
and held it.” I like to think that many of 
those who, through song or story or 
uplifting thought, have brought th: 
gleam to us more practically-minded 
mortals, caught it for themselves some 
idle, “wasted” afternoon, lying deep in 
the soft grass on a lonely hill-top, half¬ 
thinking, half just being, and wholly at 
peace with the world and themselves. 
“Just doing nothing!” A little of it, 
properly applied, is 
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Swift Currents 
(Continued from page 59) 
course he could try to swim, one-armed 
and one-legged. 
He looked about in the small circle 
where the smoke let him see, and hoped 
for a log, but there was none. He lowered 
his head to breathe, he looked up again. 
Any minute the stream might bring a 
log or something. But it didn’t, that 
fire! Hear it! Feel it! Hotter; hotter! 
“Some fire!” Tony said to himself. 
“Some fire, Felicia!” 
It was his way, when talking to him¬ 
self, to put her name like that. He had 
learned that trick when away at war. 
Hello! Something was coming down 
the river! By God, a boat! His boat, 
and some one in it! Felix! 
“Felix!” he yelled. He tried to stand 
up, forgetting all about that “dud leg. 
“Felix! Oh, Felix!” 
Was she dead? Drowned? Oh, Felix! 
No; she had life in her; but she’d fainted. 
His boat brought her through, righting 
in calm water as he had built it to do. 
“Felix,” he saw her jerk and straighten 
up; she saw him; she called. She tried 
to paddle the boat with her hands; the 
current swept her by; but twenty yards 
below, at a bend, she leaped out and 
found footing and dragged the boat 
aground. 
Then she had her arms about him; 
displaying marvelous strength while she 
helped drag him, but crying hysterically 
all the while till she got him in his boat 
and crowded in by him, and they let the 
smooth, swift current carry them down— 
down to safety. 
“Do you care,” said Tony, when they 
had passed far enough from the fumes to 
speak, “to know what I said in those seven 
letters? Seven ways of saying one thing, 
Felix. I love you; I always loved you!” 
“Oh, Tony!” 
“If I didn’t come back, I wanted you 
to know.” 
“Why not, Tony, if you did?” 
“If I did,” said Tony, “I meant to 
make the run first and then ask you to 
marry me. Of course, now I don’t care. 
Yet—” he looked in her eyes and smiled 
in his old way—“Wasn’t I right? You 
came down the run.” 
“Yes, you were right, Tony.” 
“But if I’d been there, I’d never have 
let you.” 
“If you’d been there, I’d not have 
tried.” 
“Anyway, why did you do it? Oh, 
Felix, my Felix, I love you!” 
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