14 The Acorn will let us use one of our large front rooms for it." So the work for humanity commenced. Mr. Taylor and his two sons entered into the plan with as much vigor as the girls, and one month showed wonderful progress. The large front room was cleared and the boys built shelves and made two long tables which the girls, themselves, stained. The benches from the lawn were brought in and stained to match the other furniture, and the girls made dainty muslin curtains for the windows. The ablest people of the town were asked to donate books or subscriptions to good magazines; the girls transferred their own library and what pictures they could spare from their own rooms, and the result was surprising. The plan was explained by letter to men and women who had once lived in the village and they willingly sent sets of standard authors, encyclopedia, dictonaries or other valuable books, and so the good work grew. At last, the opening day was set, and the afternoon and evening hours were announced everywhere. Only a few came at first and the girls were a little discouraged, but they persevered, making the room as attractive as possible and lend- ing any suggestions or advice to young people in their reading. One corner of the room was kept for the "loan collection" and valuable books were lent for two or three weeks or a month by those interested in the project. No books were allowed taken away for two reasons: there was a limited number, and it was hoped that by insisting that all reading be done in the room, regular habits would be formed that could not be in any other way. After awhile it became the popular place of the town and boys and girls who had never read before became regular attendants. One evening, as the girls were going for a walk before the evening hours for duty, they met an aged lady coming in at the gate. She grasped their hands and said falteringly, "My boy has never been to the saloon since he spent his first evening here," and her tears spoke the gratitude the mother would have expressed; and she was only one of many. As the two sisters walked on, Helen broke the silence. "It didn't cost a million, but we've had a million's worth of satisfaction." Mabel replied quietly, "I had no idea it was so easy to do something for Humanity," E. E. The Acorn 15 Idleness Leisure is pain; take off our chariot wheels, How heavily we drag the load of life! Blest leisure is our curse; like that of Cain, It makes us wander, wander earth around To fly that tyrant thought. I know of nothing that would be a greater misfortune to man than for him to have nothing to do. Life would be almost unbearable if with it, God had not given labor. No man is born in the world whose work is not born with him. If he tries to shirk his work and is negligent in the performance of duty for the sake of some supposed pleasure, his conscience, even tho' he does not acknowledge it, is sure to smite him. There is no pleasure in any class for the man who is idle: he is an out cast from both good and evil society. If a person has no aim or ambition in life and, is always spending his time in idleness, it is much easier for evil to creep into his heart. We often hear the remark, "Oh! I wish I didn't have anything to do' "Wouldn't it be delightful if we didn't have to work?" And yet nothing would punish these people more, than to place them where they could find no work to do. A person would soon become insane if he had nothing to do. This can be proved in many ways. For example, a condemned prisoner was once placed in a dark cell to await sentence. The cell was just large enough for one person. It contained nothing but a bunk. The prisoner sat on the bunk thinking until he became so restless that he was in danger of losing his mind; in order to have something to break the monotony, he amused himself by dropping a pin on the floor and and then feeling around in the darkness until he found it. How very grateful we should be that God in his wisdom created work in order that man should not be forced to spend his time in idleness for we know "Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do." Nettie Wade '08.