Prescott-Russell en Numérique

Russell Leader, 8 May 1930, page 7

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All in a Saturday Morning Margaret E. Creswick, Howland Ave., Toronto. "Ho, hum! Saturday mornirg." So muttered young Mancy, as she Toused herself from a happy stat2 of being nearly asleep, yet enough awake to know that people were moving about her home, and that there was no real hurry for her to get up. The world outdoors was flooded with ! sunshine. Some of it poured in at | her window. Stretching her slender arm over the edge of the bed, she could feel its warmth, like a gentle caress. Through her sleepy eyes she fancied she could see the Fairy Queen dancing on the sunbeams and reach- ing out to touch, with a magic wand, the little outstretched hand. She laughed and sat upright in bed. | "Fairies, indeed!" she said. "Miss Nancy, you're far too old to believe in fairies. You're thirteen, now!" She liked to hear that teen, so she repeated the word. = Then with a lit- tle less elation, "Yes, old encugh to help with the dishes and dusting." She sat there, hugging her knees, and contemplating the important age ghe had reached, yes, a very import- ant age! But oh! it meant ever so many more responsibilities! "Bother the work," she declared. "Who wants to get up to dust and sweep, a morning like this? What a horrid - world it is. = Mighty unfair, too!" At that moment she heard, ther eleven-year-old brother, come be- neath her window, and talk to his companion, young - Tommy Jones, about going to "the cut" to swim. Nancy jumped to the floor quickly, dragging the bed clothes half way to the window. . "Hey, you!" "What do you mean running off like this? How about helping with some of the work, for a change?" Nancy wasn't the least embarrassed that Tommy could see her leaning over the window sill in her 'nightie'. In fact, in her sudden anger at the unfairness of things, she had forgot- ten that she was hardly presentable. Bob was shocked and displeased. "Oh, go get dressed!" he answered, #and mind your own business. When vou start getting up before noon may- be you can talk to me then. Come on, Tom," tone. Tom agreed promptly, and the two boys were soon out of sight, leaving an angry girl looking out at a world of sunshine and joy. She felt none of either, now. Who could after such injustices? Naturally her temper was not very sweet when -she descended to the kitchen, 5 few minutes later. And she certainly found nothing there to improve it. Well, you lazy little good-for-no- thing," said her sister, Janet, offering the first irritation. ' "It's about time you got up. Hurry and have your breakfast. It's half past nine. I'm not going to wait all day to get the dishes done." "Qh, shut up!" replied Nancy, "I'll eat when I please." Then her mother's sweet voice broke in. "Nancy, dear," she said, *yvouw'll have to get up earlier; Sat- trday morning. Yuu can't waste tic whole dav indoors. Furry, clean the breakfast things an, and then you can g) out." "Well, I like that!" protested Janet. "if I do the sweeping surely Nancy can dust. I'm not going to do everything and let that youngster get spoiled. ; Janet was interrupted by Frances, still another sister, who had just come in from the summer kitchen. "Mother, how much baking powder do 1 put in this cake?' she asked. "Phen, noticing her young sister, "Oh, good morning, 'Merry Sunshine'," she remarked. "Well, up so early? Why, it's not ten o'clock yet." "What difference does it make to vou when I get up?' retorted Nany. "A lot of difference, Miss 'Snapping Turtle'," Frances replied hotly. "You upset the whole household, coming down long after everybody else." Nancy started to fight back angry tears. "Oh, that's too bad!" she cried. She hated being called 'Snap- ping Turtle. Mother soon squelched the quarrel. "That's enough of this wrangling," she ordered. "Frances get on with your baking. Janet, you go upstairs and do the sweeping... Nancy can' help me with the dishes and when you are through, she can go up and dust and make the beds." By the time Nancy had eaten break- fast she was feeling much more amia- ble. She chatted gaily with her mother while they worked together. Janet was soon down again to say that she had finished her part of the cleaning. So Nancy, finding a duster, went reluctantly upstairs. There was the bookcase in the hall, It was dusty. She would start there. Besides, it was more interesting than anything else in sight. So the dust- or moved slowly over the fop, then i book in her lap. she called to Bob | he concluded in an injured |, it ran along the edge of the first shelf. Nancy may have had her faults, but she was thorough. Out came every book. She dusted the shelf well, and each volume, too. It was slow work. Presently he eyes rested on a favorite book. She took the volume from its place and dusted it care- fully, then she started turning over the leaves. Twice she had read fit before, but now she couldn't resist the temptation to run over a few pages once more. She became absorbed and sat down on the floor, legs crossed and the Soon she forgot all about her work. What an odd ricture she made, with her duster ly- ing idle beside her! She would Lave gone on reading for ever so long, nrehably, but someone called up ask- ing her to throw down the broom. Quickly she was again brought back to the world of cleaning. "Golly, I must get on with my work!" she ex- claimed. Shortly she went into her own room and noticed her sister had turned back the bed covers and had put the pillows in the window to air. Nancy's first impulse was 'o throw her lithe young body across the mattress for another rest. The sunny window and soft pillows, however, proved ¢ great- er attraction. She tossed the duster over to a chair and turned towards the window, addressing a sleepy look- ing cat. "Well, Miss Kitty," she said, "if mamma saw you curled up on those clean pillows she wouldn't be very pleased." Kitty paid no at- tention. She just blinked, closed her eyes and started to purr again. Nancy sighed as she looked out of doors at the beautiful view beyond the fluttering white curtains. She longed to be out there ,this beautiful warm, sunshiny June day, wandering through the woods and looking for violets. Oh, how glorious it would be! Before her now the whole universe was drowsy and peaceful. A faint breeze was rustling the leaves; the chickens in the yard were clucking lazily; a robin in the orchard chirped blithely; in (Le garden - were men working, but their voices were mellow, as though they were far away. Nancy took another long, long breath. "What a lazy world," she remarked to herself. "Lazy chickens, lazy robin, lazy white clouds, lazy little village sleeping down there-- lazy--lazy--Ilazy! Everything is lazy. Why can't I be, too?" Well, she would be; that was all. So she sat down on the floor, and pushing the kitten to one side, rested her arms on the downy pillows. She smiled dreamily. The view, looking out from here, was grand. She never tired of it. Often before she had come to gaze and dream, and it had always offered some rapture. Nancy's home was at the top of a hill, one of those that. formed the valley in which the little village of Astervale nestled, but which she could hardly see for trees. At a distance the place looked like a small forest. She loved Astervale because it seemed so happy and contented, sleeping there in its cradle She wondered if it would ever wake up and climb up the hills, as a town, or city. She hoped not. It was. so much nicer just as it was, for it left the lovely fields, all laid out so neatly on the hillsides; Oh, how she did love the open country, the hills, the valleys, and the woodlands! All the fields were green now, with many different shades. The woods, too, away to the south, had still other tones of green. Nancy smiled joyously. "Green everywhere," she said aloud. "Every kind there is. And green is the fairy color. Why, the view is just like a fairy world." A train had just come into the sta- tion at Astervale. The sound of its whistle interrupted her reflections. Then ,as it started again, she heard the chug-chug of the engine ,and the ding-dong of the bell. "White smoke rose above the trees, and soon the train, like a huge dark worm, was whirling out through .the fields. Short- ly it came to 5 grade and began to climb, puffing, roaring. "The ugly black monster," she protested to Kkit- ty, "tearing - through my green Fairyland!" For a few raoments it was lost to sight as it went through the cut in the hill. Nancy laughed to herself as she thought of the boys swimming in the pool, there. They would have to duck when the coaches went by. When she could see the train again it was smaller, its whistle fainter. She watched it for some time. Now i would disappear behind an eleva- tion or grove, then re-appear, still smaller again than before. Finally it was only a heavy dark line, leaving behind a stream of smoke. "Ah, now it is a tiny fairy train," she ex- claimed in glee, Away to the southwest stretched many miles of picturesque, undulat- ing country. Some days the hills were covered by haze, which gave them a bluish tint. That was why they were called the Bluse Mountains. Nancy liked them best when the hazy veil was gone--like it was to-day--for then she could see the outline of the forests against the horizom, beautiful ; One Day Old, But Lively Provinces. inland. Taken when they are but one kept at just the right temperature for without food or water. Above packag and is being examined prior to train shipment. Canadian Pacific Express Company which annually handles millions of these fluffy balls, the traffic is growing steadily from year to year. Every spring millions of baby chicks go out from the British Columbia coast and Vancouver Island to the interior of the province and the Prairie Hatched earlier on the milder Pacific slopes than elsewhere In Canada, they are rushed by Express across the country to poultry breeders day old, they are placed in cardboard boxes with breathing holes punched in them, and loaded into express cars their benefit. They can go 72 hours e has just been landed at Vancouver According to officials of the As she pondered she began to wish herself on the train. Then she won- dered where it was going. It \must be to some very enchanting place, for everything in the whole world was so beautiful an dluring! Soon in- deed she was, im imagination, far away, speeding on with the magic thing to a happy land of enchant- ment, Suddenly she was so startled as to almost jump from the floor. "Nancy!" came an authoritative Fight For Your Happiness! By C. STANFORD READ, M.D. There is no doubt but that we were meant to be happy, and the mative underlying all we do is, in some way, connected with the pursuit of happi- ness. If, therefore, we become the call from downstairs. "Yes," she answered, rising quickly. It was the voice of her mother. "Whatever are you doing?" asked Mrs, Luke. "Haven't you finished your work yet?" "No. oh--not quite, mamma." "My goodness, you are slow!" ge-. clared Mrs. Luke, rather cross now. She was coming upstairs. "You'll have to hurry." She added. "Why it's nearly noon. Come, you must finish before lurch." Nancy picked up her duster started working for dear life. Mrs. Luke paused when she reach- ed" Nancy's doorway, "Good gracious, my' child," she exzizfued, "why, you haven't even made the beds yet! What have you been doing, all this time? You should have been through in twenty minutes, and here you've been an hour and twenty minutes!" She walked over to the window, and kitty, startled by the angry voice, jumped down to the floor and scurried away. "Nancy! didn't you see that cat on the pillows? I wish you would pay some attention to your work. I can't count on you to do anything, properly." Out of patience, she be- ban making the beds. "You ought to be ashamed of your- self!" she chastised as she worked. "It shouldn't take you all this time to do a simple little task. Bless me if I couldn't do everything myself on Saturdays with less trouble than in trying to make yon girls help. But, oh dear, I guess it's all in the day." Nancy listened respectfully. She didn't like to be scolded. Now it made her so unhappy she wished she could run away --away from everything dis- agreeable. : She took one more yearning glance out of the window to the enticing countryside, then turned to help her mother, but with a lighter heart. After all one could imagine things; and it was worth while just to think how lovely it would be to be flying away on traing to all sorts of wonder- ful places! Besides ,there was a dreamland, a sweet, enchanting dream- land, away off there beyond those wonderful Blue Mountains! There must be. There would be, for her! and ee me B00 ~ i i victims of depression, we may be sure that there is something wrong with the working of our body or mind. It is natural to feel sad when some- one who is near and dear to us dies, { or some tragedy overtakes us, but, in the healthy, grief should be short- lived. Lives Wrecked by "Blues" effect. While under its influence our energy is sapped, all the bodily pro- cesses within us work poorly, there is no incentive to carry on our work, | and everything in life seems distort- ed. The suffered is ever liable to seek solitude. He becomes self-cen- tred and withdraws himself from his social surroundings, which only adds to his gloom. Lives can be so wrecked by these depressions that we would do well to recognize them as symptoms of ill- ness which should receive early and close medical attention. Taking the Gloomy View When we do seek for the supposea cause of the morbid melancholy we shall likely find that it is greatly ex- aggerated and disproportionate to the resulting dejection, and also that the anxious cares that are spoken of usually relate to possible events | which are highly improbable. Thus ,the despondency may be caus- ed by fear of financial ruin which never comes ,the dread of some dis- sease that really never threatens, or apprehension over a task' which ac- tually is not difficult of accomplish- ment, All this teuds to show that unhealthy depressions arise more from something wrong within ourselves than in the world without. Some people take a gloomy view of everything. There are those whose nature it is to be gloomy, and who cannot in any circumstances enjoy life. This lack of capacity to be happy is inborn, and science can do but little to alter its victims in this respect. Poisons in the Blood There are others who, through their constitution, are ever apt to have their ups and downs, to have waves of down-heartedness succeeded by peri- ods of extreme cheerfulness. Such types are specially subject to morbid depression in circumstances which would not unduly affect the ordinary person. "What are the factors in everyday life that tend to be responsible for our despondency? They are bodily and mental. The ancients associated with disorder of the liver ,and the word "melancholy" is derived from two Greek words which mean "black bile." All of us know that a "fit of the blues" often has an intimate re- lationship with over-indulgence in eat- ing or drinking, but matters are eas- ily put right by appropriate medici- nal measures. Poisons circulating in the blood may act similarly, and many know to .their cost how influenza affects them. Though undue fatigue may contribute to depression, it is more usual that in that condition we can control our worries less and so be- come harassed by them. = _Overwork alone is never responsi- ble" for 'depression, though frequently " 'The Girl Who Came Back' was probably titled after one of those! plek-up motor rides." it is presumed to be. There are physical diseases which are apt to be accompanied by lowness of spirits; .| Some, however, Depression has such a debilitating but, in the malin, depression is due to mental causes, Worry and anxiety of some sort and in some degree are the lot of most people from the cradle to the grave. Too smooth a life is not good for us. through ignorance, through bad habits of mind, through being self-centred, or through some other defect® within themselves, can- not face life's problems as they should and are overcome with depression. Any barrier to the fulfilment of our instincfive needs is apt to act thus. Want of progress to a better position in life and lack of satisfac- tion in the love life are commonly found to exist. If we have insuffici- ent interests in the world, depression is invited. A gentleman who was getting on in years consulted a doctor because of a severe melancholy. Hitherto he had always been happy and had pros- pered in his business, to which he had been so devoted that it had absorbed his whole life. He had lately retir- ed, but, instead of being able to en- joy life, he found he had nothing to do, no outlet for his energies. Buried Memories _His one and only interest had been his work, and now lack of any other interest left him stranded. There was only interest in self to fall back upon, and depression naturally fol- lowed. The taking up of new hob- bies and the development of useful activities made a new man of him. This is a frequent story, With sensitive minds, morbid feel- ings of remorse over supposed Wrong conduct breed depressions in many I recollect a young man who for long had been so much in the depths of despair that he contemplated ending hig life. A frank talk soon revealed the source of his trouble. Some years previously he had done certain things which he regarded as morally wrong. When he was made to see that hig self-reproach was needless and found- upon the world. To many the source of their de- pression is unknown. Painful memories are liable to be buried in the mind, and though forgotten for the time, they may produe a sadness which seems to have no reason. Forget Yourself When we realize what havoc this sad emotion can play with our lives, and how it hampers all that makes life worth living, we can understand that it should not be neglected even {when slight. In the young especial- import. How can we obviate it? General bodily health should be built up so that the mind has the best chance of performing its functions normally. | Better education will prevent many a | mental conflict which only too often brings depression in its train. Knowl: edge is always power. The mind must be trained to face the stresses of life with a greater philosophic calm, and every night to shed the anxieties of the day. Wide interests, hebbies, and good society will prevent" self-centredness, the great breeder of gloom. Leave, self-examination severely alone, and if worries assail the mind, share them with a sympathetic and understand- ing friend. Should the problems of life be too intricate, expert advice should be sought. Happiness is worth fighting for. ER SER LONG LIFE Man is living longer now than in days gone by, and there seems no rea- son why he should not live much long- er still. Old age may not always be pleasant, but that depends largely on what we make it. Many of the finest achievements in statesmanship, litera- ture, medicine, and the arts have been made by men of 60 or over. The astronomer Galileo, the philosophers, Herbert Spencer and Lamarck, Brown ing and Goethe, the poets, Verdi the composer, produced - their master pieces between the ages of 70 aud 85. Titian painted at 98. Most of the suc cessful generals in the World War were far past the retiring age of 64. It is certain that productive mental activity is greatest after the age of 40, provided that the health of the indivi- dual is good and that cares and re- gponsibilities do not take away his ambitions. To live long and to live, usefully are two different things. We, may do both if we know how. ; Re SPEAK KINDLY If you know some feller's failin's, Just forget em, because you know That some feller's got some good! points-- Them's the one's you want to show. "Cast your loaves out on the waters, They come back," is a saying true. Maybe they will come back "buttered") When some feller boosts for you. mc ----) i GOOD WORK a He that good thinketh good will do, And God will help him thereunta, For was never good work wrought, Without beginning of good thought. " ~ ed on ignorance he once more smiled ly it should be regarded XSwwr evi ------------

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