The Building of a Home by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 11, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 11.

The Building of a Home

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Duties of the Daughter.

LET me tell you, girls, almost all that has been said to the boys applies equally well to you; and let me whisper this in your ear: People expect a little more, perhaps, from you than from your brothers. I do not say that it is just; but anyway, it will do you no harm to raise the standard a little—now, will it? And then, don't you see the young men will need to raise their standard of right a trifle in order to keep up with you?

Did it ever occur to you, girls, that you are in a great degree responsible for much of the intemperance and laxity in the morals of the young men of your acquaintance, and, indirectly, of young men everywhere?

"Come, now," you reply, "we think that is saying too much. Pray what can mere girls do toward influencing any one outside our own family to morality or temperance?"

Do?—Imitate the example of a young woman I heard of,—indeed, several of them,—who utterly refuses to countenance or encourage vice and intemperance by ever appearing in the company of any young man who indulges in profanity, or who uses tobacco or liquor in any form. If every young woman in America would rise in the strength of a pure womanhood and with determination declare that "The lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine!" how long do you think it would be before the dram-shops would go out of business? Come, girls; this is a kind of strike you can in all honor engage in.

Then, young woman, don't leave all the care of the family to your parents. Mother gets tired easier than she used to when she was your age. You ought to help in the care of the younger children. Let little Minnie and Frank know that when sister is at home, they have a kind and helpful companion on whom they can always depend. Help Jennie with her lessons, and show Jack how to fly his kite. Don't, don't assume a kind of superiority over them because you are older than they; bear tenderly with their childish follies.

Another thing; don't try to show off your superior attainments either at home or abroad. Perhaps you have just returned from a term or two at high school. At the dinner table, in the presence of company, mother mispronounced a word. Now, Miss Mary, I'm afraid you giggled! Of course, I suppose you did it before you thought, for you are naturally a sensible and kind-hearted girl. But your mother blushed painfully, when you were the one who should have blushed at your own folly. Perhaps the word was pronounced differently when your dear mother went to school, and anyway, if you had stopped to consider the many sacrifices that meek, loving little woman made in order that you might attend school and be well dressed, you could not have had the heart to put on airs before her.

Girls, be kind and loving toward your father. This ought to be an unnecessary admonition, but I know, to my sorrow, that it is needed. Your father is already growing gray. He feels so thankful that you belong to him, and is very glad to sacrifice that you may be well clad. He needed a new overcoat this year, and the old barn needed reshingling; but he asked mother to patch the overcoat and make it do, while he tinkered up the barn to last another year, so he might finish paying for your piano. Yet there are some girls who whine when their father asks them to play his favorite tune for him—of course you never do so.

Then, there are your older brothers. What are you going to do to save them? Do you realize that Frank is forming bad habits, and that William is nearly discouraged because he failed in his examinations? Girls, see here; what are you good for if you have not tact enough and genuine sisterly love enough to coax brother Frank to break those bad habits he is acquiring, and help him to make a man of himself? And there are a thousand ways in which you can cheer William's heart and make him forget his disappointment.

If you want to be real, true, live missionaries, I'll tell you one way in which you may be able to realize your praiseworthy ambition. Some girl who reads these lines has a brother who has left home to seek his fortune among strangers. Let me tell you this old world is full of temptations. Your brother will meet unaccustomed faces and new associations. He will face difficult situations. Oftentimes he will be so beset on every hand, that he will not know which way to turn.

"O, we pray for him, of course we pray for him every day!"

Yes; and he needs your prayers: but do you forget that faith and works go together?

"But what can we do? We girls have not enough money to keep our own wardrobes whole; we are so helpless!"

You need not send him money—that might be the worst thing you could do. But you can send him letters. If, in the midst of some bewildering temptation, he receives a good, loving, hopeful, trustful letter from the sister he loves so well, he may be saved from falling.

And so I say, girls, follow your absent brother with letters—sensible, loving letters. Do not send him a lot of silly gossip. It will do him no good to read an account of the latest street parade or neighborhood broil. But it will warm his heart wonderfully to know that sister is praying for him. Tell him all the little home happenings, of course, but don't forget to let him know that you are praying for his success and true happiness.

Ah, with such a letter as this in his hand, how can your brother raise to his lips the tempting wine-cup, or grasp by the hand those whom he would blush to introduce to the loved sister who is praying for him in the old home?