appear to be blank intervals, or blurred, nebulous spaces, are, in
reality, filled in with innumerable little duties which, through the
glass of observation, may be discerned quite plainly. Let him also
bear in mind, that these household duties must be done over and over,
and over and over, and as well, each time, as if done to last forever;
and, above all, that they every one require mind.

Many a common saying proves this last point. "Put your mind on your
work." "Your mind must be where your work is." "She's a good hand to
take hold, but she hasn't any calculation." "She doesn't know how to
forecast her work." "She doesn't know how to forelay." "Nancy's
gittin' past carryin' her mind inter her work. Wal, I remember when I
begun to git past carryin' my mind inter my work," said an old woman
of ninety, speaking of her sixty-years-old daughter. The old couplet,

"Man works from rise till set of sun,
But woman's work is never done,"--

tells the truth. "Woman's work," as now arranged, is so varied, so
all-embracing, that it cannot be "done." For every odd moment some
duty lies in wait. And it is generally the case, that these multi-form
duties press for performance, crowds of them at once. "So many things
to be done right off, that I don't know which to take hold of first."
"'Tis just as much as I can do to keep my head above water." "Oh,
dear! I can't see through!" "My work drives me." "I never know what
'tis not to feel hurried." "The things I can't get done tire me more
than the things I do." Such remarks have a meaning.

And those who keep "a girl" have almost equal difficulty in always
presenting the smooth, agreeable surface just now spoken of. With the