Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-11-30
WOMEN WHO OVERDO.
Dorothy Dix Reads a Sermon on
the Virtues of Mod
GRAFTON.

GRAFTON.
Il is, of course platitule to say that
the medium course is always the path of
wisdom. One extreme is just as far
from the right as the other, and the OPP
posite poles Of opinion are equally wrong.
Between Il Mrs. Nation smashing other
peoples property with Ratchet, because
they do not agree with her on the temper
lnce question, and drunkard spending
for liquor the money that belongs TO his
family there is NOT much to choose. The
man who lives only for pleasure j not
more foolish than the one who shuts aim-
self off from all the sunshine and Joy Of
life.
Unfortuna tely-I say it with bitter re-
gret-the virtue OF moderation is one not
often possessed by my sex. We are eX-
rremists in everything, and when We do
thing we are almost sure to OVGrdo it.
We are fanatics in religion, partisan in
politics. and fools in love, and one of the
reasons we get hurt so often is because
we have not YET found out the saving
grace of taking everybody and every
thing with a pinch of allowance. We
have still to learn the wisdom of discount
ing ourfaith and our affections.
Aou don have TO look far to see how
this tendency TO run everything into the
ground affects women Let woman be
noted as q good housekeeper, and she be-
comes such a monomanic ON order and
cleanliness she makes her home as I'M
comfortable rs a rtformatory. Let her
be interested III the public movements of
the day. and nine times out of ten she
will club" herself to death, or bring on
nervous proStration running around after
meetings. Let her be a working woman,
and she isn't satisfied with doing a hard
days work, she adds a society or house
keeping annex that breaks her down in
her prime Let her be Il churchWoman. and
Shn N.1 a
fly to the company Of eaSy-golng sinners.
Half of wOmen's failures and most of
their unhappiness comes from OVERRIDING
things, for there is a time to quit. as
we'll as Il time to do. Many wife loses
her point from her determination to have
the last word in the argument Much of
wOman'S influence is wasted because she
doesn't know when to stop rubbing IN |
good advice. There is a certain psyche |
logical moment up to which we are tend |
erly receptive of the counsel of the wonl- |
an who loves us, but if she passes thar |
her entreaties, her prayers, her very
anxiety about us becomes an offensive I
persecution that makes as mulish.
Nowhere else. however, is woman IN
ability to strike the happy medium so APP
parent as in the way she raises her chill |
dren. There are two distinct schools Of
child culture. In one the children rule
the house. They m0nopolize the floor,
and dominate the conversation, and are
bttiSliN ilillt dtttpGIAtS W NJ INV NV '"'
but their own sweet will. Nobody At
tempts to guide or control them, and the
mother is merely an adOrlng slave that
they trampe upon at pleasure.
The other school is the direct antithe-
sis Of this The parents are tyrants who
arbitrarily enforce their will upon their
children. The home is a gloomy prison
from which the boys and girls escape /
at the earliest possible moment. No
childish visitors are allowed because they
L. = =.
things in the house are shut away from
admirng little eyes and destroying little
hands On the glum table. where the
children eat in silence. are only the
wholesome, taSteless mcsses that are 50
GOOD for our digestion and 50 bad 10 our
palate. The children grow up with no
conhdences between themselves and !
their parents and what should be the /
tenderest and most precious tie in life /
becomes nothing but a chatting fetter.
Now, between the n0-rule family and |
the too-much RUE family there is surely /
golden mean. and the most important !
thing on earth TO every father and .
mother is to find ii. 1t is not an easy
thing to do. Indeed nothing could be /
more difficult than to find just the point /
At which indulgence should cease. aud !
hrmness begin-just how far to let the (
spirited young steed have its head. and /
where to draw the reins. and make it
feel il has a master The iron hand in
the velvet glove Is the ideal of family /
government. as well as state.
A year or two ago 1 attended a big
mothers congress in Northern city, !
where they spent hours discussing wheth- /
CT parent should say must" to child. /
1t seemed to me TO be the very quintes- |
sence Of idiocy, when life is one long |
must TO every one of us. Neither do |
1 believe in hiring children TO do the /
things they ought to do, or deceiving /
them by telling them that a bitter /
draught is sweet. The child that is |
taught to do thing simply because it is !
ms duty, and ii is right to do it. are /
10 stand up bravely and take his bitter |
dose in life, has been given the kind Of |
backbone of which success is made in !
this world. He IS no weakling who vii, !
give in at the first hardship He is the |
vertebrate man, VIII, fights the good light /
and wins the victory
Net-and here comes n The necessity /
Tor an appreciation Of the golden medium !
IN family government is worse than !
I9ty, It Is 4 crime. for the parent TO con- /