Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-23
REPAY MOTHERS CARE.
Should Treat Her With Difference and
Help Her in Many Ways.

from the ihlladelpnla inquirer.
In most families which have attained to
middle age without greatly having passed it
there is likely to be found at least one
daughter whose school days are over, who
has grown to womanhood, but who, without
being required to contribute to the family
support, continues to live with her parents
until she leaves them in the ordinary course
of events to be a wife. The daughter thus
situated has an opportunity to promote the
comfort and happiness of those about her.
and especially of her mother, to whom she
is nearest. such as in all her lifetime will
not probably recur
Up to that time she has in the nature of
things been receiving everything and been
returning very little. Her mother has cared
for her during the needs and hazards Of in
fancy and childhood; suffering many anx-
ieties of which none was made aware; max
ing many sacrifices which few noted and
least of all the beneficiary; watching work.
ing, praying for her welfare. A little later
the child is sent to school, and then through
all the years which her education may &C.
cupy she is the constant object of her
mothers thoughts. If she is sick 1t is the
mother who cares for her and suffers more
than she, and always there are clothes to
be made and mended and a score of little
things to be done of no great Importance
singly but amounting in the aggregate to a
good deal.
have in view her parents have been able.
though not, perhaps, without some self
deprivation, to give her all the advantages
which the public school curriculum affords
She has gone through the high and normal
schools and, armed with her teachers GER
tificate, she is equipped as well as may be
for that battle of life into which her pa
rents trust she may not be required to en-
ter. Now she is at home and unemployed.
The cessation of her studies has left her
with plenty Of leisure, for the intentions
which are formed for continually to study
this or that are only exceptionally executed,
and now what use shall she make of the
time at her disposal and what are her duties
toward the mother who thus far has brought
her safely on life's journey?
That duty may be summed up in single
word: 1t Is to be helpful. But she cannot
be helpful in all that the word implies un-
less her attitude in many other respects is
right. AffectiOnate she must be, of course
but that is not enough. for 1t strangely hap
pens that an entirely sincere affection is
compatible with conduct which is pang 10
the motherly heart and a stumbling block
In the maternal path. This grown-up daugh-
ter, who wishes to do her full duty and to
goes away, needs to be thoughtful and con-
siderate and respectful, and above all
things. unselfsh. Too many young people
when they have reached the adult age
imagine that there Is no more for them to
learn. and that they have attained to heights
of superiority from which they can look
down upon their elders.
There are some girls like that. They are
inclined TO patronaze their mothers or even
to blush for what they regard as their
mothers deficiencies. They may be sure
that there's some kind of rod In pickle for
them. The right-mirided girl treats her
mother with the deference which is her due,
both on the ground OF seniority and rela-
tionship, and tries to think Of ways in which
she can be of assistance. She does
not meet each request for service with an
r at a n Hf bo ,rof IN
her own inclination. She finds real pleas
ure In being useful and in making some re-
turn for the devotion of which all her life
she has been the object. And she does this
not as duty. but out of the fullness of a
loving heart
But 1t 10 duty all the same.