The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-02
nv PHOEBE FORREST

fforts OF home and her loving care Whereas
really, down in the bottom of his heart, he is
longing for some of the conyeniences of a mod
ern hotel and the services OF an obsequious bell.
boy.
She may proudly cite as proof of her belief
that he is unable to live without her the fact
that, when he was sick, he insisted upon having
the trained nurse discharged, and upon having
nobody hut his wife to look, after him. If he
should be sick away from home her pride would
have severe fall when she saw how much mora
quickly he would recover under professional care
Her estimate of her own importance is clearly
erroneous, but it prompts her to such actions
that IT is really the sweetest pnrt of her nature
and she would not be half so lovabe without il.
1t has its root in the maternal instinct, and
is therefore just sacred as that instinct. II
inspires her with desire to take care of those
she loves and to watch over them and protect
them. While her children are young, this sense
of her own Importance, together with her mater
nal instinct, impel her to watch over them ieal-
ously night and day. AS long as they are Young
they need her care, and her sense of her own
Importance is in this case we'll founded When
they grow older they outgrow her care, and
come to depend more and more upon them
selves,
She never seems to be able to realize this
however, but continues to watch over them lust
as carefully when they grown up as she did
when they were babies, She cannot grasp the
fact that the time has come when they no
longer need her care, and that they are really
much better off without it.
You would hurt her feelings beyond hope of
pardon If you were to tell her this, and, be-
sides, she wouldn't believe you. Her sons and
her daughters never grow up; they are always
her Children" and one at least, is ALWAYS ne
ferred to as "My baby" She cannot under
stand that they have to acquire their own ex-
pericnce of life, and that they have to decide
the big questions of their lives for themselves
Rather, she attempts to decide for them, saving
Nov, / know more about the world than you
do. so | would advise you TO do so and So"
The mother forgets, however, that she had to
learn everything by her own personal experience,
that nothing came to her second hand; OF if she
does remember it, her recollection has the sole
effect OF making her resolve to shield her child
from the suffering that came TO her.
Often and often, however, her arguments and
expostulations are of no avail. lie resolves that
he will taste OF the forbidden fruit; his mother
doubtless means WELL but then he says she is
an old fogy, and times have changed since she
was young So he goes ahead as it was intend
ed that he should and finds out for himself.
Even after he is married she cannot believe
that he has reached the stage where he can do
without her. She managed his courtship for him,
and now she intends to engineer his married life |
for him,
She knows just what dangers await the little
blind god in the first fateful year of married life
and she intends to steer her boy clear of them
He shall not be obliged to undergo all that she