1988 July/August issue Part 3

The Saving Power of Housework

"Manual employments, especially if varied [and household occupations afford a great variety], give to children a sense of power in knowing what to do in a number of circumstances; they take pleasure in this, for it is a thing which they admire in others. Domestic occupations also form in them a habit of decision, from the necessity of getting through things which will not wait. For domestic duties do not allow of waiting for a moment of inspiration or delay until a mood of depression or indifference has passed. They have a quiet, imperious way of commanding, and an automatic system of punishing when they are neglected, which are more convincing than exhortations. Perhaps in this particular point lies their saving influence against nerves and moodiness and the demoralization of 'giving way.' Those who have no obligations, whose work will wait for their convenience, and who can if they please let everything go for a time, are more easliy broken down by trouble than those whose household duties have still to be done, in the midst of sorrow and trial. There is something in homely material duties which heals and calms the mind  and gives it power to come back to itself. And in sudden calamities those who know how to make use of their hands do not helplessly wring them, or make trouble worse by clinging to others for support." (Janet Erksine Stuart:  The Education of Catholic Girls, p.85- now out of print.)