MOTHERS WHO FAIL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 207, 26 May 1908, Page 5

MOTHERS WHO FAIL.

■ In .an able article on. " Why American* Mothers Fail," in the ""Atlantic Monthly", for March, : the writer, Anna';A. Rogers, ; finds , fault.with,the.whole training of the American child, ,'Sho complains that " our.much-, vaunted 'publicschool, system, -.whiph'rwe shake like "a" bandarole in the face of' Europe," fits neither girls nor'boys for the serious duties of life, motherhood, and good citizenship. . • , • But 'as the educational legislators are show; , to' rectify . shortcomings, it devolves upon the. mothers to '■ see .to' it that their ,boys and;, girls-' anj'.'trairied. ,up''ih-- the way thoy should .go. Mothers,''' says the .writer, i " are the..' gardeners of ..the human race," and she -goes on to show tho reasons * why ,so . many,; weeds -are found.,growing .in the youthful garden plots.' Ono reason is the ■ superabundance ofemotion ••in modern, life. . • The .wholo .-tendency of the present'.day is , the'; overdeveloping of., emotion, the desiro for ■ excitement, in some: form!, or <another.: The . old-fashioned 'sentiment jh'as died " out; ■ but>'its place is-.taken by a less healthy feeling, '.a craving for emotional excitement. It > - ■ pervades /everything, literature, art, music, mustr all thrill and play-on tho'feelings, or Uiey simply bore'tho.average,person.. ; Arid this same emotional 'fever is, carried JntoTmotherhood. A, youiig -American imothor,. declares>the writer, >orks herself, up Jntot lova madness over ; her young infant.It >is an hysterical frenzy 'which- is as bad for the _ child'as for: the- mother, and which is:positively, .cruel to; tho . young father.. V : ' "Tho violent 'hushrng' receives, at the , front''door, the complete ignoring' of all. , his rights', -' tho' needless neglect hour .after-hour, whilo his his babyjs mother —worships at her now shrine,: empha- , siso-the unbalanced emotionality ;of m'ost of : , our young women." \ - But/this absorbing, devotion does' not last; ■As tho child grows older;;and -more in. need of a I mothers love and: guidance tho ecstatic mother-passion dies down, and the littlo ones of five and six • aro entirely given oyer to tho carojof : nursegirls. v The physical needs, ,reI , main' largely ill the mother's,hands, but.inaTi- . nersy.:niprals,;,.and mental development . are - leitvto tlife ,nursegirl,' often a. mere ,child ■horsqlf.The;,writer;-; gives; several instances \ of tho neglected children of tho-foolish rich, children-who live in magnificent hotels, surrounded by, luxury, and yet, arc starved for companionship and-healthy amusement. And sho'?;inveighs . very-, bitterly against-. the .amusements -that -are {.providedl,for .such children—exciting kirietoscope pictures, cheap . vauderillo' shows, ' that is/sensational and emotional, . and' which' kills tho senso for true art'and music, and blights' all wholesom'eness;6f thought .and fePling. ' Sho protests thut if tho mothers are too incom-' potent aiid foolish to regulate such things, ' the.law should intervene and prohibit child-ren-underthe-age of 15-from entering any ■ and all theatres. ■ °• a .last resource; tho'mothor'is , the ''natural, gardener, and ( on Her devolvesthe responsibility: of weeding the beds. And the'writer ,pleads-'for mothers'to put'less heart and more mind into their task. '' "In ■' the first : place," .she; says,." it takes: som'ething besides -feminine hearts ■ to manage . men>nd the offspring of men ;'/it takes fem- • mine brains, every wisdom-tipped arrow in ... a woman's quiver: If tho mother would but look with wide-open eyes and say to herself;. • -. Iwill make, the' care .of my, children :an :• intellectual taski! I'll' put into' it" what brains I have, as I used once to do'into literary, : philanthropic, . arid .; social maltters. ! ,This is tho 'most; important, of . all, \ for. it embraces ■ . everything else;' It is safe ,to>ay .that 1 , 'if • 'a woman /finds .that her \ lifo makes no ,uso ... of her intellect, sHe'is a bad : housGkeeper 3 a ; poor, wife, a poorer mother, . a Useless citicen.>; • v, '-.. •: .