Dear Friends,

In this month's lovely edition of the Tea Cozy Club by Remembrance Press, (the publisher of the Beautiful Girlhood Companion,) is a beautiful poem by one of my favorite poets, Mr. Edgar A. Guest! I can scarcely read his poetry without tears filling my eyes, and I think you will agree that his delightful writings paint a perfect portrait of the beauty of life and extol its many enchantments in a most auspicious fashion!

~Constant Beauty~
It’s good to have the trees again, the singing of the breeze again,
It’s good to see the lilacs bloom as lovely as of old.
It’s good that we can feel again the touch of beauties real again,
For hearts and minds, of sorrow now, have all that they can hold.
The roses haven’t changed a bit, nor have the lilacs strayed a bit,
They bud and bloom the way they did before the war began.
The world is upside down to‐day, there’s much to make us frown today,
And gloom and sadness everywhere beset the path of man.
But now the lilacs bloom again and give us their perfume again,
And now the roses smile at us and nod along the way;
And it is good to see again the blossoms on each tree again,
And feel that nature hasn’t changed the way we have to‐day.
Oh, we have changed from what we were; we’re not the carefree lot we were;
Our hearts are filled with sorrow now and grave concern and pain,
But it is good to see once more, the blooming lilac tree once more,
And find the constant roses here to comfort us again.
~Edger A. Guest

~Habits of Thrift and Economy~

Thrift or private economy began...when men found it necessary to provide for to-morrow as well as for to-day. It began long before money was invented. Wealth is obtained by labor; it is preserved by savings and accumulations; and itis increased by diligence and perseverance. On the other hand, it is the wastefulness of individuals which occasions the impoverishment of states. So that every thrify person may be regarded as a public benefactor and every thriftless person as a public enemy.

Society at present suffers far more from waste of money than from want of money. It is easier to make money than to know how to spend it. It is not what a man gets that constitutes his wealth, but his manner of spending and economizing. And when a man obtains by his labor more than enough for his personal and family wants, and can lay by a little store of savings besides, he unquestionablly possess the elements of person and social well being. The savings may amount to little, but they may be sufficient to make him independent. There is no reason why the highly paid wormman of today may not save a store of capital. It is merely a matter of self-denial and private economy.

The question may be asked: Is it possible for a man working for small wages to save anything, and lay it by in a savings bank, when he requires every penny for the maintenance of his family? But the fact remains, that it is done by many industrious and sober men; that they do deny themselves, and put their spare earnings into savings banks, and the other receptacles provided for poor men's savings. And if some can do this, all may do it under similar circumstances, without depriving themselves of any genuine pleasure or any real enjoyment.

--Passage from Happy Homes and The Hearts That Make Them

The Value of Time Well Spent

With perseverance, the very odds and ends of time may be worked up into results of the greatest value. An hour in every day withdrawn from frivolous pursuits would, if profitably employed, enable a person of ordinary capacity to go far towards mastering a science. It would make an ignorant man a well-informed one in only a few years. Time should not be allowed to pass without yielding fruits,in the form of something learned worthy of being known, some good priciple cultivated, or some good habit strengthened.

Daguesseau, one of the great chancellors of France, by carefully working up his odd bits of time, wrote a bulky and able volume in the successive intervals of waiting for dinner, and Madame de Genlis composed several of her charming volumes while waiting for the pricess to whom she gave her daily lessons. Eluhu Burritt attributed his first success in self-imporovement, not to genius, which he disclaimed, but simply to the careful employment of those invaluable fragments of time called "odd moments." While working and earning his living as a blacksmith, he mastered some eighteen ancient and modern languages, and twenty two European dialects.

The practice of writing down thoughts and facts for the prupose of holding them fast and preventing their escape into the dim region of forgetfulness, has been much resorted to by thoughtful and studious men. Lord Bacon left behind him many manuscripts entitled "Sudden thoughts set down for use." Erskine made great extracts from Burke; and Eldon copied Cok upon Littleton twice over with his own hand, so that the book became,s as it were, part of his own mind. The late Dr. Pye Smith, when apprenticed to make copious memoranda of all the books he read, with extracts and criticicms. This indomitable industry is collecting materials disinguished him as "always at work, always in advance, always accumulating." These note-books afterwards proved like Richter's "quarries" the great storehouse from which he drew his illustrations.

--Passage from Happy Homes and The Hearts That Make Them