or week's or month's chapter? If, when we know that a man is a blatant
vaporer, we simply let him vapor, and mind our own business; if,
having gauged the measure of a woman's mind, and found it only an inch
deep, we do not fret our souls by vain dredgings in a channel to-day
that will fill up by to-morrow; if we give the fool the benefit of his
license; and expend thought and care upon that which is hopeful and
profitable--do we not prove ourselves prudent economists of time and
labor?

The subject is practical, and merits consideration. In this
working-day world of ours there is so much unavoidable pain, and so
much annoyance which we cannot overlook, that sensible people cushion
corners and shrink aside from brier-pricks. We do ourselves actual
physical harm when we lose temper; the tart speech takes virtue out of
us. A woman would better fatigue herself by righting an untidy chamber
than scold a servant for neglecting it. Foreigners comment surprisedly
upon the "anxious faces" of American women even of the better class.
The inchoate condition of our domestic service has undoubtedly much
to do with the premature seams that mar what would else be fair and
sweet, but I incline to the belief that more is due to a certain
irritableness which is a national characteristic,--a restless desire
to set everything right. The zeal for reform is commendable, but not
always according to knowledge. Certain forms of folly cure themselves,
if not flattered by grave rebuke, and others do not come within the
province of her who has her hands full already. It is easier for us
all to find fault than to overlook. It "just drives our woman-reformer
wild to hear some people talk!" The least aggressive of us knows for
herself the impotent vexation of attempting to convince one who is too
dull, or too dogged, to see reason. Why, then, yield to the
disposition to attempt the impracticable? If we would live worthily