IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
By E. A. H.
“My daughters are young and in poor health; what employment can I give them that will strengthen them physically?” Mothers should take their daughters with them into the kitchen, and patiently educate them. Their constitution will be better for such labor; their muscles will gain tone and strength.—Testimonies. “I have taken two children into my home who grow tired as soon as they begin work. Can you give me any counsel in regard to giving them employment?” Industry does not weary and exhaust one-fifth part as much as pernicious habits. If simple, well-regulated labor exhausts your children, be assured, parents, there is something, aside from their labor, which is enervating their systems, and producing a sense of constant weariness. Give your children physical labor, which will call into exercise the nerves and muscles. The weariness attending such labor will lessen their inclination to indulge in vicious habits.—Id., Vol. II, page 349. The devil always finds work for idle hands to do. “In my youth I had to work very hard; and when daughters were given to me, I resolved that they should not have to work. My neighbors say I am spoiling my daughters. What do you think about it?” I can not do better than to give you the light God has given in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. II, page 371:— Mothers, there is nothing that leads to such evils as to lift the burdens from your daughters, and give them nothing special to do, and let them choose their own employment, perhaps a little crochet or some other fancy work to busy themselves. Let them have exercise of the limbs and muscles. If it wearies them, what then? Are you not wearied in your work? Will weariness hurt your children, unless overworked, more than it hurts you?—No, indeed. They can recover from their weariness in a good night’s rest, and be prepared to engage in labor the next day. It is a sin to let them grow up in idleness. The sin and ruin of Sodom was abundance of bread and idleness. God gave employment to the first pair in Eden, because he knew they would be happier when employed. From what has been shown me, this do-nothing system is a curse to soul and body.—Id., Vol. I, page 568. Also read from Vol. I, page 700. “Since my attention has been called to the Woman’s Ministry, especially the home work, I have been greatly exercised lest I fail to accomplish the work God would have me do with the four young, active minds he has intrusted to my care. I feel I should do more than keep them at work. How can I fill their minds with the best instruction?” It is a sin for parents to allow their children to grow up in ignorance. They should supply them with useful and interesting books, and should teach them to work, to have hours for physical labor, and hours to devote to study and reading.—Id., page 599. My mind reverts to my own childhood. The wise woman God gave me in place of the mother whom he laid to rest in my infancy, always took time to read useful and interesting books with me. The household work was always done promptly, so as not to interfere with the time for reading. She would sit down with me, and part of the hour have me read to her, while she sewed; and when I grew weary, she would take the book and read to me. She would talk of Luther, Jerome, and Huss as familiarly as if they were our neighbors, and their lives of noble faith and sacrifice were as real to me as the lives of my associates. I never had any nursery books nor fairy tales. My reading in childhood and youth was histories, and biographies of good men and women. She who guided my steps always read with me; and as we worked, we talked of the characters in the books, instead of spending time talking of the faults of those around us. She has been sleeping many years, but those reading hours, faithfully improved during the first ten or twelve years of my life, have molded my whole course in life. Seek God for help to teach your children systematic and industrious habits, and store their minds with jewels of truth instead of the dross of fiction. “My daughters are fond of helping their father in light farm work. I sometimes fear it is not best for them to engage in this kind of work. Can you give me any advice?” There is nothing that degrades except sin. Honest work is always honorable. Teach your daughters to be ashamed of nothing but sin, and always to strive for excellence in whatever they do. If they follow this course, they will have a natural dignity of soul that will make them true ladies at heart. Teach them to be ladylike wherever they are; they can be just as true ladies hoeing in the garden as playing the piano in the parlor. Never allow them to drop down to uncouth, ungainly manners at any time. Useful labor, and an acquaintance with the mysteries of housework will be beneficial to your girls, and some outdoor employment is positively necessary to their constitution and health.—Id., Vol. IV, page 97.