Evening star., 1905-11-05

lately CndI a SnOe conscience mas DeoIl
awakened among women 80 that uneasinesS
under scrutiny Of their feet has become a
feminine as we'll as a masculine weakness.
Now. Of men or women, the few who Will
sit serenely and allow the interested OBJ
servance of their feet are those who show
indisputable evidence of shoe trees, as well
as unlimited backing tickets.
Science
Is backed up by the rosy-cheeked English
woman in saying that it is not the actual
coming of the baby even though the ar
rival Of the little ones be frequent, that
robs the mother of her beauty and health.
The English mother OF large families and
the not infrequent1y rich young mother of
many little ones, who Is after all, not a
myth, both bear this out.
The. English mother of any means what
soever, and naturally, too, the rich mother,
always has a nurse to take care of her chill
dren, to do the endless trotting after them
day and night, and to lose the rest that is
so dearly needed. The Englishwoman. as a
rule. takes her serene way from day to day,
having the pleasures that come in her way
with her babies and leaving the drudgery
of their care to somebody else. She does
not provide them overabundantly with fam
ciful clothes, II they have to be sewed with
her own fingers, and she Is never anxious
about other household matters 1t is her
golden time to be happy, and with them IN
their pleasures, and she knows It. and she
has the sense not to allow herself to be
overburdened If she can possibly help 1t.
The different idea about this in the home
of the American mother Is all a mistake.
She will sit up at night that her children
may have every possible furbelow on their
devoted heads.
She is also too often the victim of the old
fashioned American prejudice that all the
q t,sav aI,o oh hn
formed by the mother Let women get over
this and train their men to get over it as
quickly as possible, and where nursemaid
cannot be managed let the mother have
every help possible In her other work
1T is the hard work that women do while
having their children that drags them down
and not the children themselves said an
old-fashioned physician, who not only
voiced a well-known scientific fact. but in
his own day saw to it that his wife was
well provided with servants during the
time that she was bringing up her little
family, when the possession of them gave
her the reputation of extravaganza that
later years of health and good looks have
more than justified.
Although
The older part of the household may elect
to give up spending Sunday in the older
American fashion, it is a habit that calls
for delicate adjustment where there are
children.
Unless the mother devotes her whole time
to planning some way to interest and
amuse them she finds that do as you
please Sunday. has a startling effect upon
the manners If not on the morals of her
offspring
While l was keeping open house, said
one mother. 'the children were in the back
yard with their fathers razor scalping and
trying to carve each other up. I believe
cutting each others hair was what was at
tempted, but scalping was what resulted.
After that dressed them up in the aft
ernoon and let them play out in front and
they went over to a fat building and joined
in with a dozen other children who come
out every Sunday looking like cherubs and
yelling like little savages. They spoiled
everything that they had on. and between
what they did do and what l was afraid
they might do they pretty nearly drove me
to nervous prostration. Now I dress them
every Sunday morning and pack them OF
to Sunday school and follow thereafter my
self in time for church They bring home
something to read, and by afternoon the
whole family is ready to settle down in
peace and quiet. If you have to bring up
your children in one of the city neighbor-
hoods where there isn't any danger of race
suicide, l, for one, declare for the conven-
tional Sunday"
After all. perhaps. the American Sunday
school is the best thing that has yet been
invented for the assistance of the ordinary
mother who hasn't yet learned the working
principles of guiding children Alright and at
the same time letting them do as they
please.
When an automobile can quickly and hap
PLY transport the whole family to far-away
scenes of change and brightness the uues-
tlon becomes different one but in the
case OF the family which is tied to the spot
the little incursion into church Is apt to be
the strongest and sweetest breath of that
contrasting atmosphere which is needed for
the next weeks good
Children learn from It Difference to the
difference and the opportunities In Sunday
without being touched or bothered nv wha}
there may be IN It of the artificial And IL
they can also catch from the mother tina:
art OF being alone in the midst of many
winch can be found best, perhaps. In the
packed pews of the great city churches she
and they are surely doubly blessed
GRACE RILEY CLARKE.