Stepping Heavenward

From Stepping Heavenward by E. Prentiss:

"I may as well finish this as it is begun," I said to myself.  Arid stitches flew from my needle like sparks of fire.  Little Ernest came and begged for a story, but I put him off.  Then Una wanted to sit in my lap, but I told her I was too busy.  In the course of an hour the influence of the fresh air and Ernest's talk had nearly lost their power over me; my thread kept breaking, the children leaned on and tired me, the baby woke up and cried, and I got all out of patience."

"...I have had to go back sewing as furiously as ever.  And with the sewing the old pain in the side has come back, and the sharp, quick speech that I hate, and that Earnest hates, and that everybody hates.  I groan, being burdened, and am almost weary of my life.  And my prayers are all mixed up with worldy thoughts and cares.  I am appalled at all the things that have got to be done before winter, and am tempted to cut short my devotions in order to have more time to accomplish what I must accomplish."

"When {the kid's} noise became intolerable, I proposed to read to them; of course they made ten times as much clamor of pleasure and of course they leaned on me, ground their elbows into my lap, and tired me all out.  As I sat with this precious little group about me, Ernest opened the door, looked in, gravely and without a word, and instantly disappeared.  I felt uneasy and asked him, this evening, why he looked so.  Was I indulging the children too much, or what was it?  He took me into his arms and said: 'My precious wife, why will you torment yourself with such fancies?  My very heart was yearning over you at that moment...and I was asking myself why God had given me such a wife, and my children such a mother.' "

"Home again, and full of the thousand cares that follow the summer and precede the winter.  But let mothers and wives fret as they will, they enjoy these labors of love, and would feel lost without them.  For what amount of leisure, ease and comfort would I exchange husband and children and this busy home?"