Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-09


to be SO far away from their
mother, without whose encouragement
and comment they regard their work
as an exile. Mrs. Rice has given up to
them her sitting room and has taken a
little den next to It for herself. In the
improvised studio the children draw
and model, although only three have a
marked talent for sculpture. Marjorie,
the youngest girl is an artist too.
"If my children are gifted and won
derful," said Mrs. Rice, seated in her
! library with It's thousands Of splendid
| books, at Is because they have been
| surrounded by everything to develop
their inherited talents.
my Ideas on bringing up children
may not agree with those childless
I club women who advance most inter-
esting theories about what others
should do. l am pleased with the re-
suits my boys and girls have shown
so far. First Of all, the greatest In
fuence in their lives has been love.
They have done everything l wish, just
as 1 have been at their command night
and day, II mothers want to bring
up brilliant children they must asso-
ciate with them constantly. The fact
that a mother Is a woman Of wealth
should not separate her from her chill
dren.
"Of course, am not a society woman
or a club woman. I have regarded my
life mission-that of mother-the great
est joy and happiness 1 could find.
MY children have never been coerced
in study; have given their incinations
free sway. My oldest daughter, Muriel,
wrote her first rhyme when she was
only 20 months old. / recognized in the
child when she was young a love for
poetry and literature. | surrounded her
with the best literature in the world.
Before she was years old she had
gone carefully through twenty-nine of
Shakespeares plays. Doll never read
a child's book in her life. l think this
stuff written for children is absurd.
When my girl began to read she simply
devoured mythology, and then came
poetry. Bryant's translations of the
Odyssey and Had were her literary
companions.
my H-year-old 'Moll' is an omnivor-
GUS reader. 1t seems to me that can
not remember the time she had not a
book in her hands. When she was 4
years old found her bent over a book
and discovered, to my utter amazement,
that 1t was King Lear
II have never told my children to
read line, yet L have always tried to
encourage them and interest them in
their taste for the best in literature.
Though Moll' may be found at one
minute deep in treatise on psychol-
ogy, 1 am not surprised to find her an
hour later poring over a magazine. 1
would not think of stopping her from
reading one any more than another.
My boys and girls do not know the
meaning of the word money so far as
its influence is concerned. | have al
ways taught them that what they have
they owe to their father. They deserve
no credit because their father has
worked hard and has been able to give
them advantages"
The sun was casting it's last rays
through the big library windows.
Across the street, with her wavy hair
blowing about her face, a beautiful girl
was lowering the flag at the soldiers
and sailors monument. 1t was Muriel,
or "Dolr Rice, the young girl, whose
only masculine acquaintance beside
her father and brothers and the twelve
instructors who visit the house daily,
is the veteran in charge of the monu-
ment.
my children have always been per-
fectly satisfied with each others So
ciety." continued Mrs. Rice. IT once
tried sending them to a private school,
but gave 1t up as a failure. The teacher
said she had never seen a case in
which family affection was so strong
ly marked. After each class she would
look for the Rice children and would
find them all together in a corner of
the room.
"I believe that love has done more
in my children's development than
anything else. 1t has never been nec-
essary for me to correct them, for they
have never desired a single thing that
could not be gratified. They are nor
NAL, healthy children, and 1 would
deny them only such things as would
injure them morally or physically. I
believe in refusing children nothing.
1t makes them less exacting in their
demands. 1t has been my method to
let my children have all the happi-
ness they can find. A child who knows