St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-21
WHAT AUNT POLLY SAYS.

1t is the duty of every mother to so
rear her son that he will be not only
good citizen, but good husband. To
the first proposition all mothers agree,
but to the latter they give not thought.
Their sons may be never so bad hus-
bands, and yet they are satisfied.
Now. my dears, your daughters will
marry, and your SONS will marry. In
deed. Won would not have it otherwise
if you be wise. You prepare your
daughter for marriage. You teach her
housekeeping, you open your heart to
her and tell her the things wife ought
to know. All her life long she has been
carefully guarded and tenderly cared
for, and when somebody's son asks for
her hand you give him woman to be
proud of.
But that boy Jack of yours grows up
quite as if marriage were the last thing
you thought of for him. You let him
have his playthings wherever he pleases.
You let HIM drop books and papers on
the floor and pull out drawers he never
thinks of pushing in. You let him come
late to his meals; you let him play the
tyEant in every imaginable way.
BY and by, Jack is a man, and then
Jack may do as he pleases. You resign
all control over him. You let him drift
with every changing wind, with folly at
the helm, where mothers love should
be. He grows selfish, and worldly wise
and blase. He is never conSiderate-O
Jack IS a dear fellow. but you have
never taught him consideration. that is
all He commits a thousand OtfenSeS
that would mean social damnation in
his sister, and when life pals on him
bit. be marries. The somebody's daugh-
ter he chooses in a sweet girl, pure, IN
nocent and loving. Jack i'll her eyes IS
ademi-gOd.
But he's only gilded demigod, and
when the gliding wears off bit, as it
will with use-well, the wonder is the
divorce courts are not more crowded.
Jack is rude, Jack is careless, Jack is
thoughtless. Mother did not expect him
to find his own slippers, or pick up the
papers he threw down or fetch her her
shawl or give her the easiest chaif he
means well, but it never occurs to him
that his wife ought not to be the slave
his mother was. He scolded if things
were not right at home, and he does it
now. He INDUCED every whim of old,
and he doesn't deny himself now. Why,
what do you suppose would happen II
that little wife dared spend on fruit and
bon bons what her lord and master
spends on tobacco? Jack scolds if dim
ner is not ready when he comes, but it
never occurs to him that the little
woman might put on that thunder cloud
look if he came half an hour late to din
ner.
He hasn't had the habit of unsellish-
ness cultivated. UnseiiShness is not
natural. 1t is acquired, and some men
never acquire. NY dear mother, you
rear your daughters, but your sons rear
themselves. See to it that this be so
no more. Stop discussing whether the
modern girl makes q good wife, and dis
cuss whether the mOdern man makes a
good husband. Demand from your boys
what you demand from your girls.
Rear them as carefully as you do your
girls. The burden of sustaining the
morality of society rest wholly upon the
women. See if you can't shift little
of the burden upon Jacks broad Shout
derS, and make him feel the burden.
Train him to be manly man, a reason
able man, thoughtful, unselfish man.
Above all. make him honest and brave,
and loyal American. Depend upon it.,
the good son makes the good husband.
Your son is only link in a chain of
men. The strength of the chain is only
that of its weakest link, and see to it
that the link you forge be strong one.
Give somebody's daughter a good hus
band. AUNT POLLY.