Your ShelfYour Projects

HELPFULNESS IN THE HOME

4%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 8, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 23.

Read the full edition

HELPFULNESS IN THE HOME.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Where gentleness and love exist in the home, there will undoubtedly be the spirit of loving helpfulness. Willie will not allow mother to bring that pail of water, or father to carry that armful of wood. “Aren’t your arms tired, Willie?” “Yes’m, a little; but they will get rested ever so much quicker than older ones; what are my arms good for, if not to bring wood and water for mother?”
We have perhaps all heard of the young girl who had a habit of seating herself at the piano on washing days and playing that beautiful old song, “What Is Home without a Mother?” while her mother kept time to the music with the rub-a-dub-dub of the washtub.
I said it was a beautiful song, and it is; the sentiment is sweet and true,—but it could not have sounded sweet under those circumstances. I dare say the young woman’s voice was not soft or beautiful; because, you know, selfishness will mar the most perfect face, and spoil the sweetest voice in the world.
How shall we cultivate real helpfulness in the home circle?—Simply by cultivating love and usefulness. There can be no rule laid down which will be appropriate for all households upon all occasions, except the rule of love.
Jennie came home from school one night almost ready to cry over her sums. “O, I never can do them, mama, I most know I can’t,” wailed the little student. To poor Jennie the study of numbers was the one trial of her life.
“Well, why don’t you cry, crybaby?” called Brother Harry, mockingly. Harry was older than she, and arithmetic was his delight.
“O, please do help me, Harry, just this once; I’ve tried so hard, and Miss Warren says I must bring them all done to-morrow.” But Master Harry was in a selfish mood to-night, and would listen to nothing.
“What’s the matter, sissy? maybe I can help you; I’m not so very good in figures myself, but I’ll help you if I can.”
“O Willie! I never thought of you,—thank you, little brother.”
“I’m so bad in figures, I’ve been studying pretty hard lately, and so maybe—”
“But you’re not bad in disposition, my son,” interrupted their mother, “if you are slow in figures.”
In half an hour the puzzle was solved, and two very happy children sat down to dinner. Harry looked rather uncomfortable when mama asked Jennie if Willie had been any help to her, but he said nothing.
“Willie always helps me,” declared Jennie, “even if he don’t do any more than to say, ‘It’s too bad!’”
“I don’t see how that can help you any!” interrupted Harry gruffly.
“My son,” replied Mrs. Black gravely, “sympathy always helps. Suppose when you came in the other evening, Harry, with your fingers badly cut, I had not given you a word of sympathy, and suppose Willie and Jennie had refused to do your evening chores. There is a verse of scripture which I wish you would not only learn, but put in practise;” and Mrs. Black placed her hand on Harry’s curly head, and slowly repeated: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Ah! the law of Christ is a law of love, and love is the fulfilling of that law.
Not only should we bear one another’s physical burdens, but we should not be indifferent to each other’s grief, or sorrow, or spiritual anxieties. The law of love requires us to bear the infirmities of them that are weak.
“My girls were all boys,” declared a frail little woman, “and so I determined that they should learn to do the work of girls.”
“That is right,” say I; and when I meet these same boys in the kitchen, with sleeves rolled up, and a clean apron on, helping mother with the dishes, or mixing the bread, or stirring up cake, there is not the slightest embarrassment on their part or mine. I am so glad—and I am not backward in telling them so—glad that they are so willing and so strong. I tell them that the knowledge they are acquiring will come very handy in after-life. I am glad to see them so willing to be helpful, even if they would a thousand times rather be doing work that requires an outlay of more of that manly muscle of which they are so proud.
But if it is a good thing for the boys to learn to do the work of the house, and not to scorn doing it, neither should the girls be above learning how to do the work ordinarily allotted to their brothers.
As I write, I am thinking of a sweet girl acquaintance. Her life since childhood has been spent on the farm,—the home of the kindly old couple who adopted the motherless waif; but well have they been repaid. Are their horses to be harnessed, and vegetables drawn to market? Kitty is on hand,—and a trustworthy market-man she is. Are there cows to be milked, and chores to be done at the barn? Kitty’s nimble fingers and willing hands are called into service. Are these hands brown and hard with the daily toil?—Yes, a little,—but I call them beautiful; and if ever the time comes when Kitty gives her heart, and these same brown little hands into the keeping of any, I sincerely trust he may be a good man; for, believe me, he will have won a treasure.
Girls and boys, young men and young women, do not make the foolish mistake of thinking that hard work of any kind is incompatible with true refinement and education. Scorn not the hands that are brown with the toil of helpfulness—those calloused hands are as beautiful in the sight of heaven as those which are decked with gold and diamonds—yea, more so, I believe.
Then, be helpful. “Lend a hand” is the old motto,—and a good one it is. Don’t begrudge the outlay of a little muscle; it will do you good. Watch for opportunities to help lift the load of some poor fellow creature, and, believe me, your own burdens will grow lighter in proportion as you lighten those of your brother.