“Do It Now.”

Jane is a charming person—usually. She is sweet-tempered most of the time and optimistic nearly always. It is her special brand of optimism which leads her into trouble and into those fits of pessimism when everything seems permanently dark and herself not fit to live with. “I should live in a separate cave on a separate mountain,” says Jane fiercely.

Her optimism is in regard to her own abilities, though no one could accuse Jane of self-conceit. She knows she can do certain things, but fails to realize that she cannot complete them within the time set by herself or circumstances. That, incidentally, is why she is late for appointments. Perhaps one should accuse her of a lack of time sense, rather than of optimism.

Jane is always full of plans. “I'm going to enamel the spare room furniture before Minna and Bill come to stay,” says Jane. “Of course I should really get new curtains, too; I must hunt the town for just what I have in mind. And I've seen such a charming new curtain style I want to copy. Of course they're coming at the end of next week, but I'm sure I'll find time.”

So Jane goes on planning this, that and the other, as her busy mind and vivid imagination prompt her—schemes for the garden, knitting to be done, a play to be produced, leading the study circle, new dishes to be tried, a party for people who simply must be introduced, singing lessons, brushing up her accompanying.

No wonder Jane never catches up on herself, and that at times things get in a muddle and Jane loses her usual brightness. Even the little things pile up to defeat her. There is just not time to ice the special cake before the visitors arrive; the stockings she was mending are still on the window-seat where she left them when she dashed out for the cooking almonds; the meat for the cottage pie is still unminced because of the collar she had to sew on a frock; her best stockings are still unwashed, though she always plans to launder her personal things daily. No wonder Jane crashes at times with big things, when the little things worry her so.

I wish Jane could have met an old friend of my childhood, whose motto was “Do it now!” “Don't leave your sewing about in hopes that you'll have time to pick it up later. Put it away now,” my old friend used to say; “and take those slippers with you now. It'll save time, and steps. Don't make mental notes of little jobs to be done later. It clutters up your mind and your immediate future. Do each little job as it arrives. Then you'll be quite free to tackle the next one.”

As the years pass I realize more and more the value of her homely wisdom. Especially for the housewife, “Do it now!” is a labour-saver, a time-saver and a worry-saver. Perhaps Jane, who is, after all, a sensible girl, will work out her own salvation, and adopt the “Do it now!” principle, in order to save herself the stresses she at present undergoes.