The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-02
MOTHERS WAY, AND THE BEST
WAY.

Mark the emphasis upon the connect
ing word, because in this lies the key
note of the truth offered to housekeep-
ers. In many homes it has been
Mothers way the best way" Some
times it is the wife who has SO regarded
it, and again it is the husband who has
placed the meaning of what he supposed
to be fact as standard which his wife
must reach before she can at all satisfy
the needs of his home.
Mothers way' What fun it has
made through the years; it has been
turned, twisted, hashed and rehashed so
often that it hardly seems to have sug-
gestion of seriousness about it, when
really many of the tragedies of domestic
experience have sprung from the ex-
preston of one or more of its meanings;
and the deepest significance of sacrifcial
love and purpose are related to it.
The man or the woman who does not
recall with loving reverence the moth.
er ways in the early home, must have
missed the ministrations and the power
of the one being who makes or mars the
happiness of the spot that should remain
sacred and blessed in memory, no matter
what the years may bring of growth and
a change in any direction. But for the
man to set the standard of home service
by the methods or practice of his mother,
is to hold his wife from the privilege of
elasticity and to preclude the possibility
of progress in the housekeeper's duties
and arts.
Sometimes the wife is the one who
bars the way to advance and to variety
in the home. She began at the first to
copy with precision the kind of service,
the order of service, and all the little
vagaries of the home from which she
came. Some young wives aim at an ex-
act reproduction of the interior of the
home where they were born and re-
manned until their marriage. One
bride insisted upon having an old pat
termed range, also a pump, both having
been left by new inventions far in the
background, put into her new house.
Protests of the builder and of the hus-
band, and the later complaints of the
servants, could not change her opinion
as to their perfection. Another wife
planned her new dwelling exactly like
her fathers. The high ceilings, the
severe styles of decoration, even the fur
nishings, stately and formal. The pretty,
cheerful, modern effects had no attrac-
tions for her, nor the idea of economy of
fuel. nor the strength of those who were
to keep the rooms in order. The one
idea that the old home was complete in
its architecture and belongings COMM
ated all things, and so at the outset true
progress and choice of the best were
barred out.
To beginner in housekeeping the ex-
perience of the mother may be of great
value, provided she knows how to use it,
The training under the eye of the one
who is competent to teach the mysteries
of the kitchen, and also of the bed rooms
and the parlor, and who also has the
best good of her pupil at heart, must
have about it an efficiency and lasting
influence that can never be equaled by
any school of domestic science in the
country; but to stop with the knowledge
thus gained would be folly. AS we'll
might one say. Il studied liteature when
l went to school, and that must last
through my life"
Mothers way may have been the best
for the stage Of experience, the theories
and general practice may remain unsur.
passed, but il the woman in the new
home would complete her picture. she
must put in the last touches. adding
recipes, trying new ways, studying
methods. and keeping step with the ad..
vance movements that will not antago-
ize the essential meaning Of mothers
way" but will broaden and renew, and
so make it the best way.-Mrs. Bald,oin.
in Christian Work.