The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-03

side OF tho mother. and all three faces
were bsnming with love and happiness.
Dear old queen of their household she was
to that happy pair, very probably parents
themselves, bat still and always children to
their mother. The strong, astute, affec-
tionate face Of the mother WIS full Of char
notcr. She had played her part we'll, and
her children were then all uneonsoiously
''praising her in the gates" Unpretonding
and simple though she was, she was q type
Of the mother whose Children shall arise
and call her blessed" ri
The mother who herself puts a PROV of
domestic royalty upon her head establishes
q despotism. She ID then queen Of thu
household only As the shah Of Persia Is
lord of his unhappy kingdom, not because
she or he has done anything to deserve the
royal authority, but because circumstance
have enabled them to exercise it. MM" .
Many q man who carries . bricklnyer's
hod may be more kingly in spirit than il
tho shah, and many a woman who passes
her life without knowing the sweet JOYS of
wifehood and motherhood has = more wifely
and motherly heart than some to whom
that happy lot has fallen.
We have all seen the neglectful mother
who leaves her children to the care Of others
while she devotss herself to ''aooiety" or
shopping, or housekeeping cares, or what
ever else may happen to be of most interest
to her. Her children may love her, for
Glove is in the heart of the lover" and not
in the claims of loves object. just az truly
when love is from child to parent as in any
other relation, but that ia from their giving
and not from her deserving, and they will
all thair 1fu0z fAn1 tina nffnn{o ~ hor oer1p
neglect in health, mind and morals.
There is also the %obsequious mother, a
distressing creature who apparently thinks
that the only object of her own existence
is to bring her children into the world and
then to worship them humbly and duti-
fully. She is at once e1asperating and
piteous, but such is the power of any pure
and unselfish affection that her children
are not 80 often ruined as one would cx-
pect.
A third sort of mother is not at all I'M
common, though perhaps not 80 rscogni-
Fable at fl,st glance. This is the dom
inant mother, who loves hor chill
dren as the panther DOES its cubs,
because they are hers; hers to protest.
hers to be proud of; and above all hers to
rule. And rnle them she does, body and
soul, with a rod Of iron. This mother is
often indulgent, but seldom just. She is
willing to grant her children all material
benefits as long as she can prevent them
from having minds Of their own, from ex-
crossing tho duty of independent thought.
/ know a mother who was left a widow
with a large fortune and several young chill
dren. 1t was her pleasure that her chill
dren should ever remain infants. They
should study only the things she wished
them to study; they should have only
friends of her selection; they should obey
her in all things great and small ut 30 the
same as at three years Of hgs. They be-
came accomplished because they learned so
easily, and she took pleasure in seeing their
triumphs reflected upon herself. Hor only
son wished much to become a civil engi-
neer, q calling for which he was especially
adapted. but by his mothers influence en-
tered the ministry, a profession for which
he possessed not the slightest qualiica-
ton and at the very foot of which he has
pined for twenty years. He adores his
mother-her ohildron all debut neither
he nor his sisters have any independence of
kept the family finances in her w hands,
no one but herself even knowing the
amount of the family income, and when
the time comes for her to leave them they
will be as helpless as babies. Never having
learned to weigh contsnding claims and de-
eide things for themselves in childhood
and yc-th. they cannot learn to do 80 now.
They will be mere driftwood nt tho mercy
Of every wine OF doctrine and of cireum-
stance.
Another dominant mother is now engaged
in fitting the varying minds of her nino
bright girls and boys to the Procrustean
bed of her opinions. Because they ars her
opinions they must needs be light. Because
her children are hers they must have no
views. aims. friends, or pursuits but of her
choosing. No queen is she ruling by tho
divine right OF a mothers true, unselfsh
love, but a tyrant who shrinks at nothing
to compass the one aim of her lifa-to be
obeyed blindly, u~nreasonably, slavishly, by
every msmber of her household. So in
tcnac ia this passion for rule that she re-
sorts u~nscrupulously to any means to turn
the hearts of her children from every
one (even their own father who might
%perchance receive from them a small
portion of the affection or srespect which
she thinks should be hers alone. Ate her
children i'll, abe is all anxiety and tender
ness; but should she require any assistance
in their case. it must be from some hiroling
who can be discharged as soon as the service
is no longer needed, for she fears that some
other hand than hers will be gratefully re-
msmbered.
Large as her family is she would gladly
have had it larger-that she might own the
moro slaves. If she could have helped it
they should never have grown past child
hood even in body. Mentally she has
wrapped them in cocoons which nothing
short,of a miracle can open. She asserts
and maintains her right to all tho affections
uAS " ~ ' " y auA W
all the thouRhts which may enter their
minds. She il indeed u ruler. but u ruler
of mental dwarfs. she has reared plants,
that-though naturally intended to breast
the worlds stiff R%ales-have been 10 sur
rounded. so sheltered, SO ribbed and
cabined, that the first strong sunlight of
truth or the first vigorous brssza Of indie
pendent thought will wither them away.
As "A specimen OF the dread Of mental
freedom one incident mny be given. An
elderly friend of tho family who loved the
children and sincerely pitied the way in
which they were being educated or rathee
stunted, thought that the study OF tho
Bible unaided byn commentary would open
to them new fields OF thought and prove n
means OF growth. So he asked ono of the
sons to rsnd aloud to him n chapter or two
from tho Gospel OF st. John each night be-
fore retiring. tThey were travelling and
occupied the same ROOM. Tho boy, II years
old, knew nothing OF the Bible excepting
the disconnected portions which arc read
in church services aud soon became
intensely Interested. After two or three