The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-03-23

Mothers, ask yourself in an honest,
way the question, cam my
daughters keeper?' Do not ask it in a
petulant, fault-fnding way, trying to
shift the responsibility upon some one
else. Then, after asking the question
and deciding, as you are compelled to do,
il you decide at all, ask yourself everal
other questions and honestly answer
them, among them being, "What are the
opportunities and possibilities of the
young woman of today?" "What can she
do and what must she do?" And are you
in your home training, fitting her for
those duties, or are her teachings and
environments fitting or uniting for the
responsibilities that she-willingly or
unwillingly-will be compelled to as
sumo? Are you doing that which will
lead to hor happiness, or are you allow
ing yourself and your daughter to drift
any way the current and eddies of the
stream Of life may toss you, leaving luck
OF chance to guide her to her fate as if
she we're bit of decayed driftwood and
deserving nothing better than blind fate
has to give her? Lay your pref JUDGES,
your Indifference, your pride and every
other thing aside that is calculated to
warp your judgment, or blind your un-
derstanding, and alone with your inner
self and mothers love take counsel with
the things that lead to your daughters
welfare and to the welfare perhaps, Of
granddaughters for many generations,
and that which will make you honored
among women, honored, too, in such a
way as no other means on earth can
equal.
1t is we'll to be honored by doing
things that lead to fame and glory and
to teach others daughters to follow the
pathway Of rectitude and right, but no
duty and no glory equals that Of mother
hood, if the bearing Of sons and
daughters leads to honored and useful
lives upon the part of those so born and
reared, if the honor is due to the results
of the mothers example and teachings,
and no curse is so bitter as the curse of
the ruined lives of those who should
have been saved by different mother
teaching.
But knowing there is a duty to per-
form, and yet not knowing how to per-
form that duty is not sufficient. It is
not enough to know that the feet of the
wee baby will have long journeys to
travel. 1t is necessary to know the ma.
ture of that journey and as far as pos.
sible to know the delights and sorrows
that may be found in the way, to know
when to expect the darkness Of midnight
or the brightness of MONDAY; to know
how to keep the tender feet from being
pierced by thorns, or cut by sharp
stones that are in the way; to guard
against pitfalls and snares of delusion
as well as to seek for the smooth roads
and firm bridges over which our loved
ones must travel.
In order to intelligently-and the
mothers of America are thoughtfess, bu1
not SO often ignorant solve this grea,
problem, we must know what the posi-
bilities, and especially what the proba
Utilities, are. The five great avocation.
open for women today are domestic life
factory work, Office work in all it's differ
emit ramifcations, professional callingl
and teaching. There are many othe
avocations of minor nature not herein
enumerated, not that they are unimport
ant, but because they do not employ thu
vast army Of women.
Domestic life is the life that will b,
followed by the majority Of womel
land, is the kind of life above al
Others that leads to the worlds happi
mess or contributes to life's creates
sorrows. Domestic life should be un
lderstood and sought after in an intel