The Little Slate | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 24, 1871

The Little Slate.

“There, I did mean to sew these buttons on Fred’s jacket before night. I have thought of it just in time, for he must have it early in the morning. I do forget so many things I have to do,” said Lucia Warren to good Aunt Patience, who was visiting her for a day or two. “You can wait a few moments for me, can’t you, aunty? I will not be long;” and Lucia went to get her work, taking off her gloves, and throwing back her veil. It was troublesome, to stop just as she was going out, but the work must be done. Indeed, it was nothing so very unusual, as Lucia seemed always forgetting things, as she said.

“I will tell you an excellent plan I have followed for years,” said Aunt Patience. “It is that of keeping a little slate with pencil attached, hung up in a convenient place, and noting down on it all the things I wish to do. If you like, we will buy such a slate while we are out, and I will get you started in the same system.”

Lucia entered into the scheme with great enthusiasm, and that night saw one side of her little slate well covered with items she wished to remember. She did not attempt to classify them, but noted them down in just the order she happened to think of them. Aunt Patience did not wish her to undertake too much at once. The classification would come afterward. The other side of the slate had been reserved for tomorrow’s duties. A regular plan was not laid down for the whole day, with the hours set to them; for aunty knew that no house-mother could bring all the rest of her household to time in such matters, even if she could herself. By undertaking too much, young housekeepers are often discouraged, and give up all efforts at systematizing. It was the ground plan only of her work which was laid down, but it helped her wonderfully all through the day. It was such a satisfaction to draw a line through anything which had been completed; and then, by glancing her eye down the list, she was sure not to forget just the thing she ought most to remember.

In time, the little slate came to be regarded as one of the most useful articles of furniture about the house. It saved hours of time and dollars of waste, besides adding fully a third to the family comfort and convenience. If you are skeptical, hang up one in your own house, and consult it as Lucia did, and I do not doubt but you will arrive at a similar conclusion.