The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-12-05

Mary Sidney in Farm Journal.

81 never want to be like my mother"
said young wife to me, in sort of
confidential conversation we were hav-
ing on the work and mission of woman.
"Not want to be like mother!" l ex-
claimed. The expression sent chill
through me. 1 thought of my own
mother, and how she always appeared
to me to be the model after which l
should like to have been fashioned my
self. What she did always seemed the
correct thing to have done. How we,
her children, adored her; how sacred
her name and memory. Who would
have dared to speak lightly of our
mother in our presence? l look back
ward through the long years since her
departure from this life, and I remem-
Der with undying accuracy her many
virtues How tenderly she nursed the
sick, not only of her own family, but
other sufferers as well-rich and poor
alike-and they loved her truly also. 1
remember how patiently she bore the
many trials and tribulations that fell to
her lot, losing sight of her sorrows in
anxiety to maintain sunny, cheerful
home for her family. remember her
simple piety, her devout reliance on
Him who doeth all things well, and
when l ask God to make of me the
woman that my mother was, feel that
l am soliciting a choice boon, and one
that shall never be worthy to attain.
Not want to be like mother? Has a
woman done her entire duty and been
a success as wife and mother, if her
children shrink from the thought of be-
coming like her7 And yet the mother
of my newly married friend seemed
worthy of the highest consideration.
She had far more worldly facilities for
making the members of her own and
other families happy than had my
mother, or scores of other women. Who
so devoted to her home? Whose home
so tidy? Whose food SO appetizing2
or who so neat and attractive in per-
sonal appearance as she2
Tell me my young friend, said 1, why
not want to be like so good motherl ?
and this in substance, was her reply:
"I know that my mother is one of the
best intentioned of women. She loves
her children with all her heart, and
works for them with an entire and slav-
ish devotion. She lives for US, antici-
pates our wants and supplies them be-
fore we awake to know them ourselves.
But l would rather she wouldn't. She
has done too much; she has helped us
when we ought to have helped ourselves.
We have been pampered and spoiled. |
feel that sel6shness has been bred into
the very marrow of my bones, and moth
ing but the grace of the Almighty can
root it out. feel totally incompetent
to wrestle with the burdens and respon-
sibilities that will, of course, devolve
upon me as housekeeper and homemaker.
l want servants and idleness, and lack
of care to the end. Can butterfly be
brought into harness, and so drilled
that it will not remain a butterfly still?
l don't see how George can love me
we'll enough to endure all my lack of
capacity. Neither the church, nor So
ciety, nor her own neighbor, will be
any the better for my mother having
lived. She has no time to think of any
but her own affairs, and if perchance
she comes in contact with other women
of broader views, and more activity in
works of humanity, she is shy and 81
lent, and seems to feel her own un-
worthiness to an embarrassing degree.
She cannot mingle with others and be
at ease. If all women were like my
mother, only few generations of them
would be required to Danish every
church, library, reading room, lecture,
social party, benevolent institution from
the face of the earth, for want of pa
tronage. These are some of the reasons
why don't want to be like her. But
don't think me lacking in filial affec-
ton. trust l am not, but simply think
there are other women who are filling
the measure of life's duties better, and
consequently are more worthy to be
initiated"
1t has been several years since this
conversation occurred, but 1 frequently
see incidents that bring it to my mind,
and the words 81 don't want to be like
mother" again sound in my ears.
leave it with you, good women, to
reflect upon. Is it worth while for US
to give up religion, society, intellectual
cultivation and all for our children, and
devote our whole energies to what we
shall eat and wear, and be perpetually
polishing, and peering and diving for
unseen dirt, with no thought for any
body but "me and my wife, my son and
his wife, us four and no more;" all to
end in our idols hoping that they will
not be like mother. Is this the rising
up to call us blessed, that we are hun
gering and thirsting for?
The valuable women of the world
who give character to society and to
their sex, are those who have been
trained into useful habits very early in
life. GAS the twig is bent" you know
but how many forget the school in
which they were educated themselves
and proceed to coddle their own brains
| into worthlessness.
There is but one we'll beaten reliable
road over which generation after gen
Grafton may pass into health and worth
and those who are to follow after, ano
not experiment with doubtful way
which may result in the cry, 81 don
want to be like mother"
Nicknames of States.