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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
at the price of earnest industry. Pharaoh showed his appreciation of
this trait of character when he said to Joseph: If thou knowest any men
of activity among them [Joseph’s brethren], then make them rulers
over my cattle.”
There is no excuse for Brother-----, unless love of ease and inability
to plan and set himself to work is an excuse. The best course for him
now to pursue is to go from home and work under someone who shall
plan for him. He has so long been a careless, indolent master over
himself that he accomplishes but little, and his example before his
children is bad. They have his stamp of character. They let mother
bear the burdens. When asked to do anything, they will do it; but
they do not cultivate, as all children should, the faculty of seeing what
needs to be done and doing it without being told.
A woman does herself and her family a serious wrong when she
does her work and theirs too—when she brings the wood and water,
and even takes the ax to prepare the wood, while her husband and
sons sit about the fire having a social, easy time. God never designed
that wives and mothers should be slaves to their families. Many a
mother is overburdened with care while her children are not educated
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to share the domestic burdens. As the result, she grows old and dies
prematurely, leaving her children just when a mother is most needed
to guide their inexperienced feet. Who is to blame?
Husbands should do all they can to save the wife care and keep
her spirit cheerful. Never should idleness be fostered or permitted in
children, for it soon becomes a habit. When not engaged in useful
employment, the faculties either depreciate or become active in an evil
work.
What you need, my brother, is active exercise. Every feature of
your countenance, every faculty of your mind, is indicative of this.
You do not love hard work nor to earn your bread by the sweat of your
brow. But this is God’s ordained plan in the economy of life.
You fail to carry through what you undertake. You have not disci-
plined yourself to regularity. System is everything. Do but one thing
at a time, and do that well, finishing it before you begin a second piece
of work. You should have regular hours for rising, for praying, and for
eating. Many waste hours of precious time in bed because it gratifies
the natural inclination and to do otherwise requires an exertion. One
hour wasted in the morning is lost never to be recovered. Says the wise