Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-17
To the Mother Of the Perjod.

. VI ~ a SAkUWo 1
There is no word around which 40
many hallowed associations cluster az
mother. There is no social relation on
which so much responsibility rests. The
mother is the model which the child
copies. Alas, that the model is SO often
unworthy OF being reproduced.
Mother OF the Period, let me hold q
truthful glass before you and see what
you find reflected. You see a woman
dressed Sccording to the dictates of
fashion, You see a pinched up BODY
and a countea lance, which would tell Of
bad physical habits, improper diet, IT.
r1tatlon and worry, were it not for the
1act that their traces are covered up by
rouge and powder.
But look beyond that artistic exterior
and see'the dwarfed and stunted moral
nature that is reflected there. You see
the worst attributes of human nature
brought out and cultivated. You see
good impulses stifled. You see no good
and noble motives, but all superficiality
and sham. This is the real creature
your little ones are watching, and this is
the nature they are regularly absorbing.
Let me be a little more explicit. You
show by your every day life that the
great end and aim of existence is to take
money that honest labor has earned and
eNpend 1T In the best way to court the
admiration Of fools. That toggery you
have on cost enough to build some poor
mar a comfortable house. You bought
a fine dress at the beginning of the sea-
son st a cost of $3.50. You have worn
it five times at an average of $50 for
each dress parade. Now the fashion has
changed, and it must be thrown aside or
"made over" Your husband is a con-
tractor and has a great many hands en-
ployed. Last week they importuned him
for an advance of twenty-five
cents per day., claiming that
$1.25 was not sufficient to feed and
clothe their families. Your husband
looked at his family expense account
and found he could not possibly afford
to raise the wages of his men. Now
some poor man had to work and sweat
one hundred and twenty days to give
you a chance to make a show of your
folly five different times.
Look into the glass more closely yet,
and see what material you can find
worthy of perpetuation in the sons and
daughters who will follow in tae path
you are marking out for them. If you,
alone, had to reap the fruits of your own
folly, the o you run your course
the sooner would the world be rid of an
incubus; but, unfortunately, the little
unwelcome beings you brought into the
world will take you for their guide, and
where are you guiding them? How are
you fitting them to discharge like men
and women the stern duties of life they
must encounter? If your life is a hollow
sham, sfYou have no noble impulses or
aims, ifyour whole mission in life is to
spend in frivolous ways the earnings Of
hard labor, the little streams that flow
from the fountain-head will certainly
carry the poison of its impurities. Your
children imbibed their physical strength
from your bosom, and now as they grow
into maturity they are trying to build
up and develop their moral natures'by
nursing from a tainted fount-your pre-
cepts and examples.
Mother ofithe Period, you do not be-
long to any n class. You are found
among the rich and you are represented
among the poor. You are not vet the
rule, but the pitiful exception. The
typical mother still lives, and furnishes
in her dailyllife examples which her chill
dren a profitably follow. By leading
the life of q true. noble woman, she
unconsciously makes the noble man and
women who, while they live, contribute
their mites towards making the world
brighter, better and happier.-Western
R0WNs0n.