The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-08-20
Father and Mother.

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There appears to be curious tendency
on the part of many men to lavish upon the
little ones the affection once exclusively the
wife's A division of demonstration would
be both natural and gratifying to woman,
but too often she is ignored in this respect
entirely. The boys and girls are jOyfully
greeted by the homecoming father, while
the wife is carelessly nodded at over their
sunny heads A wise observer once said :
''Trouble comes with the first baby if it is
coming at all. Different ideas of govern
ment are often the entering wedge Of dis
sension The little one sometimes sepa-
rates the father and mother, and at its
cradle the husband goes away from the wife
in thought aud deed just when she needs
him most. While she rocks the cradle she
thinks deeply, and in the readjustment of
her ideas wifehoOd is merged in the strong
er force of motherhood She demands
more of her husband mentally and morally
than ever before, because he is baby
father, and is sometimes disappointed.
In the matter Of expenses paterfamilias
is apt to be more generous in his allowances
for the needs of the children than for the
less tangible wants of their mother. He
admits that clothes can be outgrown, but
is skeptical about their going out OF fashion.
We are told that mother becomes unself-
ish. For herself, yes; but is she not tempt
ed to overlook the claims of others in seek
ing all good things for her children
aoHbt II The mother, hqgdeAed with
the care of her child's living and the fear
of its dying, can half enjoy the beauty per
Sc of childhood The outsider can rejoice
in all the loveliness, oftener with more ap-
preciate eyes, because they are not blinded
BY dread Heredity, to conscientious
woman, is simply appalling. How can she
punish child for faults inherited from
herself? Can she be happy as she notes
the growth of "a disposition which should,
for the good Of the race, end with her hus-
bands life? Can she help being afraid
when she looks at the little son, who is
pocket edition of the father-in law in a
drunkard's grave2 Is it possible, too, for
her to discover that her children, though
gazing at her with her mothers eyes and
speaking to her In the tones Of voice that
has made the music of her life, are aliens
it thought and deed
But, some one says, know all that
there are years of patient care and toll,
years, perhaps, when the husband and wife
60 theiF seParte ways, one Fearing the chill
dren, the other going on alpne, absorbed in
business interests, forgetful of the woman
left behind but when the cons and daugh-
ters are grown matters adjust themselves.
Not always. The fair girl graduate be-
comes the faded little mothers rival and
daughter, the wife is still left out. 1t is
generally the rough boy, with that warm,
loving heart which makes boys so dear the
world over, who dimly diyines the situa-
tioa, and with hearish hugs and mommoth
pats cheers and sustains the lonely heart.
While it lasts it is the sweetest thing, this
romance between the mother and her son;
but, alas, it is brief Some dainty little
maiden takes the lad captive, and then the
jealousy, the acute suffering of that moth
ers's heart. who can fatbom?