Sunbonnet Soliloquy

By Jewell Ellen Smith

Keep a ‘Night Book’

Long ago, in Europe, there lived a man who kept for his young son what could be called a Night Book. Each night, just before he went to bed, the man trimmed the wick of his lamp, dipped his pen into his precious supply of dark purple ink, and wrote down what he had learned that day.

These notations, to be given to his son when became of age, went something to this effect:

“My son, never miss an opportunity to do kindness...

“My son, put away all pretense. ...

“My son, never believe that everyone else is happier than you. ...”

The man did not consider himself a second Solomon. He simply kept at his Night Book writing year after year, as a way of passing down to another generation, the wisdom that he gained first hand.

Each of us learns something every day. And we should write the best of it out -- for a son or daughter or somebody.

Who knows, such pearls of wisdom might be handed on to several generations and then they might be published for hundreds of people to enjoy. That is what happened to the wise sayings of a pioneer American woman called Grandma Dobbs, whose descendants settled in Oklahoma.

For last Mother’s day my daughter Nan, who lives in Tulsa, OK, sent a cookbook titled “Pioneer Cookery Around Oklahoma.” It’s a nice book -- full of recipes for such things as Indian Meal Pudding, Minnehaha Cake, Buttermilk Pie, Buckaroo Beans.

And in the back of the cookbook is a section given over to old fashioned remedies, household hints, and the wise sayings of early Oklahoma settlers and their forebears. Part of the philosophy of the Grandma Dobbs reads as follows:

“When you have lots of chores to do, peel the little potatoes first and the big ones won’t be so hard. ...

“When love is doing the work, expect a masterpiece. ...

“Speak a true word. ...”

Any HEDGEHOPPER reader can write true words, and tell how to do kindness, how to put love into work, how to leave off pretense.

So, please give serious thought to jotting down the bits and pieces of wisdom that you think would help your son or daughter. or anyone else fortunate enough to read your Night Book.

As an Army wife who is called on to live in many different places, you could organize your day by day observations into chapters or sections, according to where your family is stationed.

As a starter, your first division could be listed as something like “What is True, Right, and Lasting -- As I Learned It At Fort Rucker!”

Or, this first chapter could be simply titled “The Early Wisdom of An Army Wife.”

If you wanted to give your work a personal touch, you could use your name in the title and make it “The Sayings of Sarah.” (Or, of Sally, or Cathy, or whatever your name is.)

Try keeping such a Night Book. For, surely, what each person learns about how to live from day to day, would benefit another person trying to learn. And we all must learn, one way or another.

None of us comes into this world knowing how to peel life’s potatoes. Someone has to tell us.

Published June 1982. Click your browser’s ‘Back’ button to return.