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Front Porch Visits

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 24, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 42.

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Front Porch Visits

By MARTHA E. WARNER

MARTHA E. WARNER
“MOTHER says that in all the years your children were with you, you never had to hunt for your shears,” said Mrs. Bowen.
“And why did your mother make that remark?”
“Because, when I wanted to cut out my silk waist, the shears were missing, and it took considerable searching to find them. It was a bother, but I couldn’t be so selfish as to forbid the children’s using them. There! Now I have said it!”
“And how did you get along with the waist?”
“I had a miserable time; the shears were so dull.”
“Now, my dear, suppose you had given to each child a sewing basket, with pins, needles, thread, and scissors, would it have been necessary to spend so much time in hunting for your shears, and would they have been so dull?”
“Now I see why you always had your shears,” said Mrs. Bowen. “I never thought of such a thing; surely it would be better. But tell me why you followed this plan. You must have had some other reason than just not wanting to let the children use your shears?”
“My reason,” I replied, “was to teach them personal property rights, to start the machine of habit along grooves which it would probably follow. I carried out the same idea in other things,—the individual toilet articles, the care of the clean and soiled clothing, the responsibility of their share of the work in the home, regular hours for play and study, etc. All this was necessary in the formation of character; and character is destiny. My duty was to sow the seed; to train and mold the character of the children; to do the very best I could, day by day; and then to pass the work over to my divine Partner, knowing he would finish the work for me.”
“But,” said Mrs. Bowen, “now the children are scattered, don’t you feel sad, and sometimes worry as to their future?”
“Why, my dear, I should not consider my part of the work done until I had dropped it all, all the worry and anxiety, upon God. I know he has his hands on the work, and will see it through. Every mother may have this assurance.”
Clintonville, Conn.