Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-11-04
Mvssaheze
Iona Newspapers


A few days ago we saw q couple OF
young girls, neither of whom was over
IA years of age parading the streets.
They were dressed In red from heal
to feet. They wore red hats, red coats,
red dresses and red shoes. They were
chewing gum. and talking loudly ano
attracting attention In every possible
way. They had been on the streets
all afternoon. A man who knew them
said their mother took in washings,
and that the clothes the girls were
wearing were paid for out OF mother
hard earned wages. Do you think that
mother was kind to them? Not by any
means. She was their worst enemy
but she did not think SO. She may
have not had happy childhood, an
foolishly imagined she was doing her
duty as a mother by allowing her
daughters to do as they pleased, while
she shaved over the washtub to provide
for them. Some day she will realize
her mistake, perhaps, after she has
reaped a harvest of tears.
There is one thing, Mary, we would
have you remember, and that is that
you can never pay your mother
the debt you owe her. If you were
to begin when only years Of age and
work for the rest Of your natural life
in an effort to wipe out the debt, you
could not do so. And after. she has
raised you to womanhood, and provided
for all your wants, and educated you,
and given you a good start in life, were
you to live thousand years, and de-
vote all your time and lavish all your
love upon her, the balance would still
be on her side of the ledger. How i'm
portant it is, then, that you should be
kind, to her now, and do all you can
to liglrten her burdens. Your little
feet can save her many steps, and your
little hands can help her to carry many
load. You need not fear that she
will place too much upon your should
ers Too often she will try to bear
the greater part of the load that YOU
should carry. That is a mothers way.
If you will think Of these things, Mary,
and follow our advice, you will never
have cause for regret. Some day your
mother will leave you. Some day they
will fold her weary hands over her
pulseless breast and you will place
the last kiss upon lips that loved to
speak your name-lips that crooned
sweet songs above your cradle-lips
that whispered word of cheer and COM
fort in hours OF gloom and sorrow
lips that pressed your baby brow in
the first drawn of life's morning. And
when you begin to realize your loss
and when the days seem so long and
dreary because mother is no longe,
with you, there will be much to cheer
you in the thought that while living
you did nothing to deeply wound her,
and that you helped her to bear the
burdens which rest on the shoulders
Of every mother.
You have often heard it said. Mary.
that girls best friend is her mother.
And nothing truer was ever spoken.
II a girls mother Is not her friend,
she is to be pitied. A girl who has a
mother to whom she cannot go in abb
solute confidence, and tell all her Sc
crets and her troubles, is In danger.
There is no one else who will listen
to her with such deep attention and
sympathy as a mother There is no
one else who can so perfectly under
stand her nature and her needs But
there are girls who are denied the
blessed gift Of mother, and who are
compelled to grope along the danger
Gus path of life, falling and stumbling,
struggling to reach higher ground,
looking in vain for a helping hand and
listening for word Of cheer and en-
enlargement. It is little wonder that
such girls fall into the abyss of hell
even before they have reached matur-
ity. But a girl who has q kind and
devoted mother-w1lose young life is
guarded by love and home and SYM
pathy-has much to be thankful for.
And such girl will never know how
much a good mother is worth to her,
until she looks for the last time upon
her sweet face.