The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-05-13
FASHIONABLE LIFE VERSUS
MOTHERHOOD.

} 1t Is surprising TO hear that there
seems TO be prevailing idea that par
| tlcipation in the social functions of a
large city units a woman for the
apotheosis Of her career, motherhood.
1t is strange, indeed, that women
should need defence against the charge
| of being neglectful and Indifferent
mothers, and a pity tbs, tbs true.
1t is an indisputable fact that there
are endless examples of the mothers
of large families who are as lacking in
the maternal instinct as the seed pods
of the vegetable kingdom, but that
these women are recruited almost ex-
clusively from the ranks of fashionable
women is a SANDER that cannot be too
strongly refuted
There is absolutely no reason why
sharing in the pleasures of social life is
Incompatible with devotion in the do
| mestic circle.
Mothers, like poets, are born, not
made. The divine instinct which is the
crown Of womanhood may be stronger
and is certainly as frequent in the
woman whose life is passed in a whirl
of social duties, as in her humber sister
to whom a child comes so sadly often,
as an added burden. unwelcomed and
unloved in the sordid rush for bare ex-
istence. 1t is impossible to generalize,
nor SHOULD the one class be held up as
monsters of iniquity because they en-
joy the privileges of their station in
life, any more than the poor soul who
turns her babies over to the day nurs-
cry TO be cared for while she works TO
provide their daily bread. be branded
as heartleSs and neglected clod.
1t is mental, not physical. this lovely,
transcendent and absorbing passion.
and it is a gift granted to some women
like the gift of musical talent or the
power TO express noble thoughts in
beautiful words. or the grace of physi-
cal beauty. something wholly and en-
tirely beyond the control of its posses
sor and quite as often bestowed on the
woman in the palace as the one in the
humble cottage, Notwithstanding the
great misrepresentation so widely eX-
listing on this subject.
While her babies are little and the
nursery candidates are arriving as fast
as God sends them, no woman, be she
queen or peasant, has much time to
spare from the duties and pleasures of
attendance on her children, but as they
grow older and require less of her per-
Sonal attention, new duties to her
children present themselves as insistent
in their demands as We're those of the
earlier days. when they consisted
merely of seeing that they We're We'll
fed. we'll warmed, well groomed little
animals.
II is as her children grow older that
woman's growth, mentally. must
keep pace with that of the active young
minds about her; she must broaden her
social horizon, keep in touch with the
world and abreast of events in the
everyday turmoil about her.
Her boys must be trained TO the
responsibilities for which they are
destined; she must enter heart and soul
into their sports and games as we'll. as
into their studies and perplexities. and
TO her daughters she must be always
the chosen confidante
About fashionable woman's social
functions there shines as fierce light
as beats about a throne and il is too
generally believed that in order to have
time for her toilets. her amusements.
her bridge, she considers a perfunctory
goodnight kiss, or a flying weekly visit
TO her nursery the sum total of her
duty to her God-given charges. This
is the impression given by the scandal
mongering public prints that penetrate
into quiet homes and distant cities,
where any wild tale. however improb-
able, of the iniquitous society woman
is believed.
1t is sadly to be deplored for its effect
on large class of weaklings who
would follow over hot ploughshares if
lead by some titled or smart woman,
and they do not remember that there
is no+ichiel amang them takin' notes."
during the hours spent exclusively in
her children's society; of long nights in
stricken rooms, of the anxi-
Gus moments of fear and dread when
she sees her boys attaining perfection
in manly sports at the risk of their
precious necks, or when with maternal
precedence she peers into the dark
vista of the future and wonders what it
holds for her blessed girls.
Motherhood is, in all instances,
Synonymous with responsibility. but
who among us would exchange our
dear cares for a childless freedom ,
Mrs. George Jay Gould in Club Woman.