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ees THE GIRLS’
COMPANION,
OcroBer 19, 1907.
2
how the partnership came about, yet it
was successful from the very first. Miss
Kimball’s old-fashioned embroidery and
beadwork were quite as popular among the
hotel. people as. Addie’s hats. And when
the junior partner retired two years later
to accept a position in the city, the little
shop was firmly established.
—
A GOOD-MORNING,
BY RUTH MARTIN.
“Good-morning, Miss!”
“ Good-morning,” said the young woman in
white, and. she halted. She had been less
than a week in that region, but she already
realized many of its charms, not the least
being its unlikeness to anything she had ever
known before. The people delighted her even
more than the scenery and the delicious moun-
tain air. . She was trying. to identify the
young person in the sunbonnet who had
greeted her .so-cordially. Could she be the
girl who brought the berries, or was she the
one who had driven her to the post office one
day when the men on the place were busy?
She resolved to make sure.
your pardon,” she said pleasantly,
“but Iam wnot quite certain where-I met y
I am not very good at remembering faces,”
she added, apologetically.
The other girl had pushed her sunbonnet
back, and her. bright, sunburned face smiled
into the puzzled one of the inquirer. “There
ain't no call for you to be rememberin’ my
face, Miss, sence you never set eyes on it. be-
“fore, leastways not to my knowledge.”
“Oh, indeed! I thought, since you spoke,
you must be someone I had met befor
“Why, just a good- mornin’.
’Twouldn’t be good manners in these parts to
pass a stranger without so much
If you passed. by your own neighbors it
wouldn’t*be so bad, for you could fix things
up later, but it might be your only chance to
say a pleasant word to a stranger. Isn’t that
the way it is where you come from?” she
added, evidently suspecting to -the. contrary
from the expression of the other’s face.
5
The visitor thought of her home in a
Northern city, and almost laughed. | “Oh,
no!’ she said. “Often I. meet hundreds of
strangers in a day, and one think of speak-
ing to them nor they t
“ Just to- think !” gasped ‘the girl. - “ Then
I’m glad I don’t live in-such parts. It ain't
much, is it now, just to give a_pleasant .word
and a kind wish’to one you’re never, likely
to see again? Why; it makes you ’most’sick
at heart to think of passing. by your own
kind without a look, as if you didn’t care
what became of them. There’s bigger places
than this, but there ain’t any’ better to live
in, I'll be bound. Good-morning, ‘Miss !’”"
. She went down the zigzag path,. and. the
other girl absently let fall the autumn flowers
. She had been gathering. She was thinking
she had learned a new lesson in hospitality
from the mountain girl and her good-morn-
ing. +
THE MASTER’S APPROVAL.
: BY. FLORENCE M’GREGOR,
The girl violinist stood in the music. room,
playing little snatches of popular airs. The
pedestrians passing caught up the melodies
and whistled them. Some of the windows
in a neighboring house were thrown up that
the occupants might hear better, and, as the
player. paused between selections, the sound
of hand-clapping reached her ears. The girl
violinist smiled. She loved applause, and she
played on.
Some blocks further down the street an-
other girl was practicing the violin. But. she
was not entertaining the neighborhood with
sprightly selections. Instead, she was playing
over and over some monotonous exercises.
“How stupid!” said the next-door neigh-
bor, and her window came down with a slam.
Later in the week the two girls took their
lesson. The gray-haired music-master listened
to the one who had won her neighbors’. ap-
plause and a shadow crossed his face. Ile
shook his head as she finished. ‘You have
wasted your time,” he said. But on the other
girl he smiled. “Good!” he cried, when the
lesson .was over, ‘I have hopes of ‘making a
musician of you.”
Sometimes a girl overestimates the worth
of praise. It is pleasant, to be sure, to hear
the appreciative words of our acquaintances,
God's “well done” is worth infinitely
re Do not sacrifice, for the sake of popu-
larity and applause, the Master’s approval.
- ee
“Never pass final
from first impressions.
creatures limitation.
and the elements of character which elude
us often more than compensate for the faults
Lo again, look deeper. You will
be surprised at the number of stars in- the
night sky if you look long enough. .Most
people have more virtues than are seen by
snap vision, De charitable and patient. Do
not spoil! your world by peopling it. with
imaginary beings. Welcome the good-in hu-
mankind, ne the good in others will reward
your que:
judgment on - anyone
rr
ad RESTING THE MIND
EXERCISE —
By JOHN CARVER
wis ae the day of exercise, both of the
mind, for young people, especially
those aithone lives are lived where pleasant
walks are few. In consequence, the minds of
persons having the interest of young folks
at heart are constantly busy finding new ways
to eve the oesee aid to development.
or girl reaches the age “where
ordinary athietics are possible, it is not
difficult matter to give them as thorough an
experience of that sort as is necessary.
What does bother is to find a way for small
girls to gain the exercise in such a way that
they are benefited by relief from the dullness
bare routine always brings to little folks’
minds.
It was an ingenious teacher, therefore,
who thought out a plan whereby the children
could. exercise at’ times when the daily
tasks seemed to bear most heavily. This con-
sisted in a series of movements which some
of the older people are inclined to call Del-
sartean, after method ot artistic posing
studied by grown-u
We are all familiar with ‘calisthentes, mean-
ing. various exercises consisting of throwing
out the chest and moving the-arms and legs
in different ways. There is rigidity and rou-
tine a (tls method, however, and small girls
are to weary of it, besides getting too
tired y gain the benefit intende
Many persons do not stop to remember
that, while it is always expected that exer-
cise will tire to a certain degree, to get over-
tired through too great exertion of this sort
is to court illness. For this reason, in think-
ing out a form of exercise for young children,
it is absolutely necessary, if the part of wis-
dom. is observed, to plan a series of move-
ments that will not result in too much fatigue.
The particular form to which I have refer-
ence is not unlike the gestures and movement
of a person. reciting a poem of action. A
»
are well enough in their way, but the arrange-
ment of the classrooms is not always such as
to make that form of exercise convenient,
even if possible. Not only that, but they are
too much like work to answer the purpose of
the new method.
The central idea of this method is to give
the. children relief from. sitting too long,
without stirring the blood to action by vio-
lent movements., Many persons find them-
selves getting sleepy if they remain long in
one position, or bend too steadily over a rou-
tine task. This is exactly the situation with
little girls in school. The untrained minds,
unaccustomed to steady application, grow
tired when too much is asked of them. One
result of too great effort by children of ten-
der years in the matter of study is that, while
‘the lessons.may be learned. parrot. fashion,
they make no impression. - If, on the com
trary, care is taken to lighten the men
burden, the percentage of material penaile
from study is considerably increased.
If one outs the wisdom of this state-
ment, let him take a book and read for a
time. Do not take a novel or other book of
absorbing interest, one that holds the mind
through force of narrative. : Rather select a
volume whose contents are of a’ nature tha
calls for study, for constant application. of
the mind to cold fact. If, after reading
steadily for a time, he does not find his
senses of appreciation are’ becoming dulled,
he will be a most ynusual person. It is just
this sense of dullness that comes to the chil-
dren.
When this dull feeling comes, let the per-
son who has been reading rise, stretch out
his arms, lean against the wall, put both
hands to his face, bend his body from one side
to the other, then bow low and smile. In a
moment he will find the.sense of dullness dis-
appearing, and in its place comes a feeling of
THE NEWEST FORM OF SCHOOL EXERCISE.
poem of this sort, if properly given, requires
the elocutionist to gesture and move his body
in a fashion that will give the persons listen-
ing to him an idea of the real meaning of the
words he repeats. To watch an elocutionist
reciting a° poem of the sort named is to note
that nearly every muscle of his body comes
into play. For this reason, this particular
form of exercise is exceedingly helpful.
I wonder any of the readers of this
article ever saw a little girl put both hands
to her face and say “Oh-h-h”? If they
have, they know one form-of exercise, the
sort shown in the accompanying: illustration.
Then another is for the child to lean forward
as if eager to hear.or see something a play-
mate says or has. Still another feature re-
quires the pupil to clasp both hands above the
head and to smile broadly. This is sometimes
ealled the laughing exercise, and I am afraid
that sometimes the little girls laugh more
than. the lesson requires. There seems to be
marked sympathy, however, with the general
idea, which is undoubtedly the chief reason
for its success.
There is no marching figure in this variety
of exercise. In fact, the main thought is to
get as far as possible from what are ordi-
narily classed ag school: gymnastics. These
invigoration. The reason is simple. A n
process, made up partly of mental and par rtly y
of physical effort, has changed the currents
of thought and action to entirely new chan-
nels. The result is that the tired brain has
been given relief and has had an opportunity
to rest a moment.
Any boy or girl knows that, after one’ arm
becomes tired. carrying a package, the way
to gain ease is to utilize the other arm for a
time, changes the package
back to the arm which originally carried it,
after a while, the strain seems nowhere near
so great. That is exactly the situation perth.
the mind of the child. If we could,- by
stretch of imagination, say that the change
rested an arm of the brain, we would come
very near the truth,
fancy some boy or girl may ask, How in
the world does it help to smile? A smile is
a physical as well as a mental effort. Not
only that, but, with a child, a smile always
turns the mind in a lighter direction. While
with grown-up persons a smile does not al-
ways mean that pleasure is felt, a child has
not sufficient. power. of self-control to enable
it to stimulate that which it does not feel.
If, therefore, the child has been feeling heavy-
hearted because of the dullness of the routine
lesson, the fact that it Is taught to smile
paves the way to more. pleasant thoughts,
and
routine,
Curious as it may seem, it is often hard
to find a teacher who understands this wise”
way of doing. One told me not so long ago
that she thought it was frivolous.
however, who has
ence in the schools and also possesses little
girls of her own, said that the idea was noth-
ing more than that put into practice by wise
mothers long ago.. They utilized it, however,
in teaching the little girls they aret vow
to perform light household © ta:
mother used to have her little irls work
for a time and then play in this fashion:
One small daughter would be the little old
woman who lived in a shoe, while her other
daughters would be the two children .she
liked the best. The little mother would talk
to her. children most. eloquently, and
children would be required to speak their ©
the .
thus turns ‘the mind away from dull».
“4
arts in as vigorous a fashion as necessary, |
With all the gestures that the little comedy
called for. There was no end of exercise and
any amount of joy. After it was all over, the
girls go back to another lesson of
housework as blithely as if ey had just
finished breakfast at the very. beginning of
day. .
Really the success of such exercise de-
pends almost wholly upon the teacher in
charge’ of the classroom. If she enters into
the spirit of it all, she will surely gain as
much benefit herself as comes to those whom
she has been selected to guide. It is a fine
mission that is hers, too, for she is. teaching .
little minds the best way to grow into bright <
and helpful ways in the midst of ‘tiresome
duties.
As children’ who have been trained in this
fashion grow older, they learn to look upon
the bright side of life- when, the clouds are
most in evidence, and to take up their tasks
with a will in the face of discouragement, in-
stead of seeming to forget that the darkest
of all clouds has a silver lining.
The writer has an idea that it was some
mother who suggested the form: of: exercise
described. It certainly savors of such origin.
One of the evils in school life we are retreat-
ing from every year is the old-fashioned way
of making work out of everything done during-
school hours, School days are, in a measure,
like the days of real experience that come fn
later life. They are good or bad, grave or
gay, as we make' them. .
no ~ ee
STOLEN ‘TIME.
You do not get ahead by stealing for your
work time that rightfully belongs to other
things. Ther ded woman in a New
England village who looks twenty years older
than she is. Iler neighbors are thrifty house-*
wives, but the most energetic of them knows,
when she rises on Monday, that, if she looks
out, she .will see Mrs. Moffat’s washing on
the line. She fancies that she saves time.
by rising at two or three in the morning to
do this wor! As a matter of fact she bas
made herself a prematurely old wo:
a nd
probably cut veers from her life by stealing S
this time from s.
Schoolgirls sometimes sit up late over their -,
books, forcing their reluctant brains ° to
unseasonable work, and congratulate them-
selves next morning that their lessons’ are
learned for the day. The girl who has .
number of friends to remember, at Christmas:
sometimes gives up-to embrofdery and paint-
ing the time she should spend out of doors.
She thinks she is to be congratulated be-
do!
oP ER ae a goecys ae
cause she has several gifts finished, but she, we
does not realize how dearly she has paid for.
them,
When the time that belongs to recreation
or sleep is. appropriated for another pur-
pose, there is no real gain. Stolen property
is never profitable, even though we. steal
from ourselves. i
JUST AS ONE LOOKS AT IT,
It is told of two buckets in an old well-
sweep, that one found cause for complaint,
because no matter how it came up, it always
went down empty. The other found cause
‘for rejoicing, because no matter how empty
it went down, | it always came up full of clear,™. L.
sparkling wai .
“Oh, it’s teoming spring!
soon be here!” exclaimed a young girl,
warm, thawy day in March,
“Yes, but after all it will be fall and
winter again!” wailed another.
“I. do so hate the sight of those rickety-
old fences!” said one on a drive. Said an--
other, “Just see the roses clambering. over
them, and filling the air with their spicy per-.,
fume, and the ivy that will glow with. crim-
son’ later.”
One Who is determined to do so can always —
find something to complain about. One who
Summer will)
is determined to be cheerful can always find
We may have a life ©
something to delight in,
glittering with gems of.cheering thoughts.
and beautiful sights if we will.
the taking.
—_——
Wish for, and work for, the best things.
ona’
It is ours for: .
