cing with her--"she is all the time
tumbling to pieces."

Since something must be crowded out, the first and great point is to
determine what this something must be. Certain duties are of prime
importance, others only secondary. One writer says of a woman who had
cultivated the sense of proportion with regard to her work: "We felt
all the while the cheer and gladness and brightness of her presence,
just because she had learned to make this great distinction,--to put
some things first and others second. She had mastered the great secret
of life."

This talk of mine reminds me of a prosy preacher who chose one Sunday
as the text of his sermon, "It is good to be here," and began his
discourse with the announcement, "I shall employ all the time this
morning in telling of the places in which it is _not_ good to be. If
you come to hear me to-night I will tell you where it is good to be."

So we will consider the things which must not be put aside. Some
duties are plain, self-evident, and heaven-appointed. Such is the care
of children. To the young mother this is, or should be, the first and
great object in life. Her baby must have enough clothes, and these
clothes must be kept clean, fresh and dainty, for his pure, sweet
babyship. His many little wants must be attended to, even if calls are
not returned and correspondence is neglected. But it is not absolutely
necessary to load down the tiny frocks with laces and embroidery that
are time consumers from the moment they are stitched on till the
article they serve to adorn is ready for the rag-bag. The starching,
the fluting, the ironing, all take precious hours that might be
employed upon some of the must-haves.

Home duties take the precedence of social engagements. A busy mother
cannot serve John, babies and society with all her heart, soul and
strength. Either she will neglect the one and cleave unto the other,
or neither will receive proper attention. Even a wealthy woman who can
make work easy (?) by having a nurse for each child in the household,
cannot afford to leave the tender oversight of the clothes, food, and
general health of one of her babies to those hired to do the
"nursing." There is no genuine nurse but the mother; and although
others may do well under her eye and directed by her, she can never
shift the mother-responsibility to other shoulders; and if she be
worthy of the dignity of motherhood, she will never wish to have it
otherwise.

A few days ago