MRS. VINA SHERWOOD-ADAMS by MRS. VINA SHERWOOD-ADAMS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 15, 1915

MRS. VINA SHERWOOD-ADAMS

By MRS. VINA SHERWOOD-ADAMS

Our Little Table, and How It Solves Some Home Problems—No. 8

MRS. VINA SHERWOOD-ADAMS

WE have been working on our sewing course now for nearly a year, and plan to complete it by spring. The dollies are not the only means used to foster interest. When the hemming stitches were mastered, we hemmed sheets for doll beds. Later we made the pillow cases. Quilts, which gave much practice in the running stitch, have just been pieced for each bed, and “tying-off day,” when we used pretty pink yarn, was quite a happy feature of our work. The two little beds standing side by side, waiting for the promised dolls, are quite a stimulant to faithful endeavor. (Our beds are homemade, in mission style, but doll beds of all sizes may be purchased.)

About Christmas time a set of new dishes appeared. This called for a neatly hemmed tablecloth and napkins for our little table, and what a grand dinner party is planned when the dollies really arrive! After the dishes grandma’s birthday soon followed, and some kitchen holders, reviewing some stitches and giving added practice in the buttonhole stitch, were made and sent to her with loving thoughts. Handkerchiefs have been hemmed, not mentioning the numerous rips that have been repaired in clothes that will tear, and buttons sewed on that will persist in coming off so frequently.

During the summer vacation we sew two hours a week, but during the school year, to avoid eyestrain, only one hour a week, on the day there is no school. I often try to do some sewing during this same period. The spirit of the work is catching. Even baby has his strip of cloth and sews industriously with a thread fastened to a pinhead.

“Well,” you say, “it must have taken a great deal of your time and attention to teach them.” True, it has; but the satisfaction of knowing that they will not be handicapped as I sometimes have been for lack of experience in sewing, is worth the effort. But more than this, they are already beginning to relieve my sewing basket of some of its contents; and from making doll clothes it will be an easy step for them to cut and fit garments for themselves.

On each birthday the girls learn how to perform some new housekeeping task. One year it was a cake that was made; another year a rice pudding. They already know how to do much of the common cooking. But next year one will make an apron, and the other a simple dress. Lest you gain the impression that all the children look forward to on their birthdays is an extra piece of “work” (though this to them is an anticipated feature, and you know anticipation is a

great stimulus), I will state that they have their little birthday surprises. Sometimes it is a marsh mallow roast in company with little friends, or a trolley ride, gifts, etc. We all have to meet enough bitterness along life’s way, and we need one of these toothsome treats occasionally to help brighten the road.

By alternating lessons on the various subjects, having some come but twice a week, others but twice a month,—“here a little, there a little,”—there is time for common outdoor romping and play, without which no child may have robust health. Let some of the time which children spend aimlessly wandering about the streets or in playing some indoor game in which winning is the chief aim, be profitably employed in learning some of these practical lessons.

Small boys of eight years and under usually enjoy sewing as well as girls. A little boy cousin joined our class, learning such first principles as would be needed by a boy. But of course a boy would not be interested in getting ready for a new doll; so he took a “short-cut,” learning how to sew up a rip in his coat, how to repair a buttonhole, sew on a coat button, patch his trousers. He was interested in learning how to sew a new cover on his ball, and would not object to making some kitchen holders for grandma, or a boy’s work apron, such as carpenters wear, for himself.

I suspect there are many little girls and boys whose mothers are teaching them to sew, but I also fear there are others who feel that their hours are too fully occupied, or for some other reason are allowing their girls to reach womanhood without this necessary training. Each in her lot must do the best she can, ever keeping on the lookout for wiser use of her time, often reviewing her tasks to see if her interests are too deeply “absorbed in the things that perish with the using.” Indeed, the responsibility of child training combined with household duties does sometimes look like a titanic task. Sometimes we become a little blue, and riotous thoughts chase through our minds, and we are tempted to believe that no one appreciates our efforts. A copy of the sweet, comforting words which hang on our kitchen wall may bring sunny skies again:—

“The mother’s work often seems to her an unimportant service. It is a work that is rarely appreciated. Others know little of her many cares and burdens. Her days are occupied with a round of little duties, all calling for patient effort, for self-control, for tact, wisdom, and self-sacrificing love; yet she cannot boast of what she has done as any great achievement. She has only kept things in the home running smoothly; often weary and perplexed, she has tried to speak kindly to the children, to keep them busy and happy, and to guide the little feet in the right path. She feels that she has accomplished nothing. But it is not so. Heavenly angels watch the care-worn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb’s book of life.

“There is a God above, and the light and glory from his throne rest upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in importance. She has not, like the artist, to paint a form of beauty upon canvas, nor, like the sculptor, to chisel it from marble. She has not, like the author, to embody a noble thought in words of power, nor, like the musician, to express a beautiful sentiment in melody. It is hers, with the help of God, to develop in a human soul the likeness of the divine.”—“Ministry of Healing,” pages 377, 378.

Battle Creek, Mich.