The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-10
WORLD

as she does her neighbours, and size
up their strength and their weakness?
She would at least then be able to
work out the problem of how to raise
them with some sort of a system for
her guide. But she won't do it. It
takes courage to look things in the
face, and she does not possess it. She
won't admit that this child is feeble
minded, or that one has a physical de-
fect, or the other has a moral warp.
and so she deprives them of all the
help that modern education, and surg
cry, and ethical training can give them.
She refuses to see that Mary is dull.
and Johnny bow-legged, and Tommy
has vicious temper and so these
poor little unfortunates are doomed to
go through life the victims of defects
that might have been remedied if
only their mother could have beheld
them without halo encircling their
faults. Even when a woman does try
to do the best for her children, her
most conscientious efforts are gener-
ally baked because she has never TAX
en- stock of them land doesn't know
what she has on hand to work with.
1t is like trying to finance a deal with
out aScertaining your resources
Every now and then some unhappy
and fearful wife comes to me with a
tale of her troubles. She is dissatis-
fed, disconnected, disgruntled. Some
times she is not appreciated, sometimes
her heart is hurt by cold treatment,
sometimes she feels that she made a
mistake in marrying, and yearns for
the freedom of the girl bachelor and
the latch key. 1 don't know any rem
edy that is so good for such state
of affairs as to sit down and take
stock of ones possessions. Perhaps
life hasn't given the woman all that
she wanted. The balance of us are
in the same fix. Very likely she
hasn't gotten all the happiness she ex-
pected out of her marriage. Not MANY
dreams come entirely true, but what
she needs is to believe her ledger.
She has spent too much time adding
up her losses and she needs to set
against them her gains and strike an
average. More than all, she needs to
put more work and heart into the
partnership and try to do a better bus
mess, and get more happiness out of it.
On the unconsidered credit side, she
has good home, plenty to eat and to
wear, freedom from care about money,
a respectable position in society, per-
haps little children, certainly liberty
to enjoy herself in many ways. No
woman who has that many goods on
her shelves, and that good credit in
the community, has any right to de-
clare herself a bankrupt in happiness.
If we took stock of ourselves oftener
we should blame ourselves more for
our failures, and other people less. Our
husbands no longer show us the at
tentions they did when they We're our
sweethearts, and we cry out that mar
riage is failure. Is not the reason
that most wives are not kissed, is be-
cause they do not keep themselves kiss
able, and in an attitude to receive the
blessing? Our children are ungrateful
and unfilial. Whose fault is it but
the mothers who reared them into be-
| ing selfish brutes? We complain that
we have no friends. How often do
! we go out of our way to win love. or
| to attach any human being to us? We,
who are working women, lament that
we are lily paid. Are we giving the
kind of work that is worth good
money? Let's take stock of what we
are giving others, before we try to col
! lect their debts to us, $751;
When merchants overhaul their
goods there are certain things that
they cast aside as worthless. This is
old stock-things out of date, out of
use, valueless. Wouldn't it be good
| idea to follow their example in this
also, and throw away our old preju-
dices, our Anticipated ideas, our mil
| dewed dislikes, and our moth-eaten
fads? They are old stock and we
should be better off without them.