" 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 easily broken down by trouble than
those whose household duties still have 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.
Again, circumstances sometimes arise in school life which make light
household duties an untold boon for particular children. Accidental
causes, troubles of eyesight, or too rapid growth, etc., may make
regular study for a time impossible to them. These children become
_exempt_ persons, and even if they are able to take some part in the
class work the time of preparation is heavy on their hands. Exempt
persons easily develop undesirable qualities, and their apparent
privileges are liable to unsettle others. As a matter of fact those who
are able to keep the common life have the best of it, but they are apt
to look upon the exemption of others as enviable, as they long for gipsy
life when a caravan passes by.
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