Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-01-04
WHAT Constitutes GOOD MOTH
80 ERHOOD.

(Papef read by MRS Eu' brany atthe M".h-
rss Meeting of the Gem of the Mountain Club
1ecemoer s. 1869
WHO is the artist SO fortunate as to
ave termed our ideal motherhood;
where the canva from which the ideal
ooks forthf
True, there are features delineated, |
and traits sometimes presented that
arouse the conceptions Of maternal af
lection and duty that attaches to mater
nifty. Where can one find more pa
ghetto representation of motherhood
than that given by Dore' in his delinea
ZION of the Deluge. Michael Angelo
gives rs his conception Of Blessed Wary
the mother of our Saviour. All grea,
artists have left us their ideals! Ar.
they the ideals of the twentieth cen
tury3
Literature abounds with ideal con
ceptions of motherhood. The readers
of "up-to-date fiction" have such
mental portrait of various types
motherhood. as presented by the 70
mancer Of the day. Which one of al
the numbers would you cite to you
daughter as pattern by which sh
should be guided3 Some goodf Yes
but which shall be enshrined as tn
modelf
Shall it be Hannah, the Israelite
who said Of Samuel the Judge, "fo
this child prayed, and | will lend hin
to the Lord ne long as he liveth.' O.
Cornelia, who went with her children
to death rather than give them over to
slavery.
What constitutes good. motherhood
Does not the son exist who has an ideal
motherf Most truly is this so if that
son has been reared by b just mother
II DIR. Holmes is right in saying thai
self made man is imperfectly' made.
then the unschooled mother can not be
ideal.
Is maternity, motherhood Has
every child we know in our little worlt.
q motheri For answer go to the
foundlings home, the industrial home,
the prison-they each speak with ton
CUES Of reproach and carry records o.
neglected duty, violated obligations
and imperfectly trained motherhood
Yet mothers are the standard of race
from whom there can be no departure
for any length of time. or as nation
q family, name it will become extinct
American women must remember thai
the nation that ceases to produce moth
erhood hastens TO decay
In ancient Greece its women Dor,
heavy duties. The mothers of Greece
like the mothers of Israel, washed tn,
household linen, brought the waite
from the well, manufactured their owl
clothing and performed the highest SC
cial duties as priestess and prophecies
In all these duties kings wives O
princes daughters were no exception
For such mothers Greece was give
heroes. thinkers and artists that lai,
the foundation for her greatness.
Roman mothers labored with thei
daughters into the night-upright, dig
nified and resolute. The Roman moth
ers built up Roman greatness.
American mothers of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries provided tn
distaff and to whom God sent the fax
made the warp filling from which tn
Declaration of independence wen
forth to the world and q constitution
resulted that gives us free and indt
pendent nation. A mothers one ain
should be to draw out and strengthen
every good tendency, nourish the Divin
atom that loves good and is pleased i
doing good
A good physician of the old schoe
said once, I'VE are never so near heave
on earth as when holding little babe
To keep them good is mothers diviu
mission.
Holy Writ tells us, God create
man and made woman" As strane
as it may seem, women have made til
men Of the nations from that day to thi
One can readily see why the on
sided estimate goes forth that if chi
turns out well the mother gets the ere
it; If it proves failure she receives tt
blame. This Is not strictly true til
there Is much truth in it.
The blessed influence of home trai
ing, especially of mothers instructio
as she is the child's first instructor, h
lessons are deep and lasting. The in
mate knowledge she has acquired
her child's character by constant int
course, the tender love subsisting /
tween them and the unboundsd con
dence placed in her by her child, impa
to her instructions force and conyi
ton which no other teacher can no
t. win. Mothers should teach the
children that selishness is the me
.,nivaraal Of all ain and tho most hot