The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-12
THE CAUSE OF
FAILURE IN LIFE.

,o,, Of every failure in life almost, This
d hard saying, but, says Dorothy Dix
- the New Orleans Picayune, look
oropnd among your acquaintance, and
80 If II is not true. Who are the wom-
~ who are bad wives and shiftless
r,anagers? Every time the girl whose
a mother did the housework while she
,o,d in bed and read novels. Who are
+be Incompetent clerks always out of a
4ob2 The men who as boys were never
-eouired to do anything hard, who We're
,,ermitted to play baseball for exercise
instead of split the kindling, and who
never had any responsibility thrust
a upon them.
# only rich people spoiled their chill
dren. and kept every wind from blow
ine harshly upon them, there might be
come excuse made for it, for the rich
man might at least justify himself by
+hinking that he could leave his chill
dren a fortune, but the matter becomes
tragical when the poor, who cannot
safeguard their young with even mon
ev. indulge in this weakness. Yet it is
the poor, even more than the rich, who
are guilty of this crime. Indeed, there
eeerns TO be a kind of undercurrent of
sentiment that makes the poor mother
and father feel they will somehow
make up by overindulgence to their
children for lack of the things that
wealth gives.
I know dozens of mothers who slave
themselves to death over the cooking
stove and the sewing machine, while
their daughters live as idly as if they
were milionaires. The mothers idea
is to protect her girls as long as posi-
BILE from the hal'dships of life, and she
fails to realize that she is warping their
characters by it, and making them sell
fish and lazy. More than that, she is
thwarting the very ends she has in
view. for instead of rendering them at
tractiVe as she thinks, she is making
people have a contempt and abhOr-
renee of them. Malignity itself could
not devise a more unattractive figure
Of a girl than one who lets her old
mother work for her. No man wants
such a wife.
once upon a time 1 knew precisely
such a case as this, in which the moth
er was a vertable slave, and so proud
of her daughters hands, which were
white and soft as a lily and beautiful
enough for an artists model, that she
would not even let the girl peel bit
Of sugar cane for her own eating. FL
nally. there came a sutton, rich, intelli-
gent thoughtful, every inch a man,
but after a few visits his passion sud
denly cooled and he came no more. L
asked him why. Because he said,
zone day l saw her mothers hands
hard, work. Rnotted, scanned with scars
from the cookinlg stove and pricked
with the needle, and then l looked at
Mabels-and that was enough for me.
don't want a girl with no more heart
and conscience than to manicure her
nails while her mother washes the
dishes
In other families 1 have known heroic
efforts made to keep from the growing
boys and girls the fact that there was
little money in the eXchequer the
father and mother would make the
most pinching economies in their own
clothes and food in order to give the
children foolish luXuries like other chill
dren had. I'VE don't want to burden
them with the trials of life. They viii
come soon enough" said the paren
This is a terrible mistake to ma
Nothing develops character like haFll
responsibility thrown on one, and the
boy and girl who are admitted into the
family council, who have the need OF
economy explained to them, and the
necessity of all working and pulling TO-
gether grow up into being the men and
women whose shoulders are broad ana
strong enough to bear not only their
own loads, but the burdens of others.
Some of the greatest financiers in the
world got their training in such homes,
Where around a deal table ways ana
means for meeting the rent or getting
money to pay the butchers bills were
discussed They learned to be fertile
in expedient. to be prompt and loyal
and to take that look ahead that is the
basis of all success.
There comes a crucial moment in the
life of every boy and girl when they get
discouraged and disheartened and
ready to throw up whatever they are
doing, simply because it is hard and
dlsagreeable. In that moment one S
late trembles in the balance, and al
most without exception it is determ1n-
ed by the kind of parents the children
have. If they are strong, wise and
1orceful, they hold the youngsters
steady-as a commander holds his
troops who are on the verge of panic
they instill fresh courage and new gr1t
INTO the faltering little hearts, and the
BOY and girl go on to success in lire
BUT If the parent is one of the overly
pHuer KIND, she says: come nome
DON'T do anything that is so hard. Per
maps you can get something easy after
awhile and the young ones doom is
fixed
Half Of the divorces would be nipped
IN the bud if the spoiled and discon-
tented wife, who has found out that be-
ing married means something more
man perpetual love-making, knew that
Wnen she threatened to go home to
mother that mother, instead of saying:
come to my arms, you poor persecut-
eu angel" would say: eco back home
ana do your duty and behave yourself.
Only woman with that kind OF a
!uother would never come trotting back
70 her people. She would have back
zone enough to manage her own af-
edit
nan Of the worthless young men VINO
are always going from situation to sit
gapon would brace up and work If they
pIuht have their mothers boarding
mouse to fall back upon. 1t is sate
suess that every dirty, disgusting
lamp YOU see was somebody's darling