Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1875 — Careless Nora. [ARTICLE]

Careless Nora.

The long summer vacation was over, and the children were beginning to get their books and slates together again. Neat, orderly Fanny brought heis out bf the closet in good order, just where she had put them at the close of school. But Nora and George couldn’t find all their books, and when at last they were discovered some had covers torn off and leaves lost. They were sorrya Fanny’s things looked so neatly andr theirs so badly. * ' “ Mother, won’t you buy me a new asked* Nora; “the map of Asia is lost out of mine. I mean to take real good care of my things this year.” Mrs. Layton shook her head. “ I have heard that so often, Nora; you meant to take * real good care’ of your bonnet if I would get you a new Shaker last summer, and Rover brought it out of the garden this morning all stained and tom.” Nora looked ashamed. “ But I mean it this time, truly." Still her mother refused. “If you find I am always ready to replace the things you ruin you will not try to be careful/’ said she.,

Mrs. Layton was right, although Nora and George thought her harah and unjust. That fall when Nora’s geography class studied about Asia she had to borrow George’s book, and he had to take her arithmetic when his class reached Federal Money, because all that part was torn out of his own. It'was mortifying to be obliged to use a reader, dog-eared and without any cover, in the same class as Fanny with hers still as fresh as when just out of the book-store. Yet Nora and George with all these humiliations did not try to correct their fault. When school was over, home the three children rushed. Then while Fanny hung her hat and cloak upon its own peg, and laid her books neatly on a shelf, the other two pitched theirs down on the first chair or table. Nora’s hat went one way, her cloak the other, and her gloves—but no, she never had any, for as soon as Mrs. Layton bought her a pair they were lost. . One afternoon Nora’s speller was missing. Many were her inquiries. “ I laid it right here, mother, on the hat-stand,” said she, “ and now I want to learn my lesson and it’s gone. I declare it’s hateful.” “ Is the hat-stand the right place for your speller.” asked her mother, reprovingly.’ “ No, ma’am. Oh! dear, now I can’t learn my lesson, and I’m most head in tlie class.” Two great tears chased down Nora’s cheeks. George looked sympathizingly at her “I’m sorry, Nora. I’d lend you my book if it was the same. Won’t Fanny let you have hers?” J “ No—she—says—lose— spoil—likes to keep—things nice!” sobbed Nora, incoherently. “ Fanny’s a shabby, selfish girl. Neatness isn’t the only virtue,” shouted George, loud enough for Fanny to hear up-stairs. But although Nora hunted all over-for her book it could not be found. Late that evening it was returned by a collector, to whom the servant had given it jn mistake with his own. . “ Sure, Mrs. Layton, the two books laid side by side on the stand, and hadn’t you told me yourself the man’s books were there when he called?” said Ann, in excuse. A very good excuse it was, too. The hat-stand was not the place for Nora’s book. She had no time to learn the lesson in the morning, and was obliged to go to the foot of the class. For a few days after this she remembered to put her books away on their own shelf then fell back into the old habits. Because of her untidy marks in school she missed the good-conduct prize; the failure in spelling caused her to lose the head of her class; the loss of her gloves and the ill-usage her clothes receive from not being properly taken care of make her always look untidy and careless. There is every reason to fear that Nora will grow up to be a slatternly woman, with a comfortless, disorderly household. Children, do you know anyone at all like Nora? Are your books always put away, your clothes in their proper place ? Have you a “ place for everything and everything in its place?” These are a few questions to which you would do well to pay attention. Order is Heaven’s first law.— American Young Folks.