Charity and Learning Begin around the Kitchen Table

Excepts taken from "Just Thoughts of a Plain Country Woman" by Lucile Ellingwood Morrow originally published in "The Collinsville News"  January 25, 1951. 

". . . . It is well that all people have take these long winter evenings to teach and show children the warm, pleasant ways of life that out-face not only the cold of the out-of-doors, but the foes of safe-dwellings and peace of' the outside world. 
Beginning in the Autumn, good harvests have created in our work-a-day minds a sense of  appreciation that reaches its peak in a Thanksgiving Day. Christmas follows quickly, lending its sacred ideal of giving to Thanksgiving. The New Year crowds in much too soon giving backward glances at the old with eagerness for the new.
Among the many lessons, parents can and should teach children are the simple ones of gratitude, honor, family democracy, peace and studiousness.
Along with planning for the next year's crops or business and studying the seed catalogues for the new garden, we find that one of the most productive seed flats we will ever prepare is the foundation of our children's, and our own,  future. Along with good livestock, business and productive gardens, our best and most valuable. product is the kind of children we grow, and that the best defense of the home is the old rocking chair and arm chair. 
Being "too busy" all the time is a poor excuse for letting children get out of hand.
The kitchen or dining table is the center about which the family gathers for meals, to discuss the day's
doings: later, for study, reading, or sewing. The mail is opened here, word from friends' and relatives is heard here and the family tie is strengthened.
Here at the table, everyday news is passed around-work on the farm and the latest report of our boys in far-away Korea, fighting that we may keep our family circles and warm firesides instead of being driven in bitter cold, ragged, unwanted, between two armies fighting bitterly for possession of the land and its people.
Here character is welded and ideals are formed-for good or for bad ...
Here one learns to say, "Thank You" and "Please" and "Excuse me." Here husband and wife do not quarrel nor permit the children to quarrel, for peace, like charity, begins at home. Here a place or a way is provided for those who want to study, without the disturbance of radio, television, or visiting.
And here in the home, around the fire and table, children can. be shown how to be pleasant to Mother and Dad, Sister and Brother, how to share, be honest, be proud of self and family and home."