CHAPTER 29. — AUSTIN’S NEW HOME
“How is life serving you these days, Austin?” asked his companion quietly, for the expression of the young man’s face showed that he was facing some perplexity. He had sought opportunity for a confidential talk with an older friend whom he knew was interested in all his affairs.
“It seems my life is a long series of crises, and I face one now that is exceedingly perplexing. I should like to lay the matter before you and obtain your opinion as to what I should do. I have come to where my path seems to break and I do not know which way to go, yet God knows my heart, that I want only his will done in me. You have heard, possibly, that Nell has deserted me? I do not blame her, poor girl, for her part has not been an easy one. Then, too, the way I allowed her to be overburdened when we had Uncle’s children has been against her. Though she was as willing as I was to help him out, the overwork was too much for her nerves, and she has suffered from it. Besides that, she seems to be filled with the same restlessness that attacked Amy. I shall just have to let her face her own problems her own way, I suppose,” and a sigh slipped from his lips. Where is the parent of grown children who has not sighed the same way?
“I think, Austin, that you have expected both Amy and Nell to be like your self in steadiness and singleness of purpose, when you have not really had any youth. Possibly the very fact that you had to fight off every youthful inclination and be a mature man before your time, for the sake of your family, has placed you where you can not sympathize with their fickleness. Really, Austin, they are girls, just girls. You can not judge their actions by the standard with which you judge your own, for your view-points are vastly different,” reasoned his friend.
“I think I have expected them to fill the places of full-grown women. I am certain much of our trouble has been right there. Another thing I am thoroughly convinced of is that girls need the guidance of an older woman. Both Amy and Nell have worked out problems in their own way and come to conclusions that would never have been reached had they been guided by an older and wiser person,” said Austin.
“Yes, you are right. A child can be cared for by nurses and teachers, but when a girl reaches her teen age she needs a mother, or some one who can take the place of a mother,” agreed his friend.
“Now you come to my point of perplexity. I think that in failing to recognize this fact I have failed to quite an extent with Amy and Nell. I can excuse myself because they were so little younger than I, and were spoiled for lack of control when I took them. But with Lila it is different. I have had her a great portion of her life, and I feel a responsibility that I never did with the others. But she is just now where she needs mother-care the most. Already I begin to see signs of the same restlessness and wilfulness that has spoiled the other girls. She is such a sweet child, and I want her to make good. But what am I to do? Can you give me any counsel?”
“Do you and Lila expect to keep house the same as ever?”
“Ought we? She wants us to, and is distressed if I mention any other arrangement. So far as the work is concerned, with my help she could get along very well. But she would be alone too much for one so young; and besides, she is not developing along the lines I wish to see her develop. She is very enthusiastic just now over the idea of being my housekeeper, and thinks it would be the best of fun. But she will in time become tired of the responsibility, and I shall have the same old trial over again.”