The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-01-26
Points
for
Mothers
The Mother Heart Myth.

I'VE hear a great deal OF the mother
heart OF women" says Dolly Madison
in her chat on Mother Hearts" "of
the instinct which makes them tender.
kind, radiating Eentleness. But some
times wonder II there is not. after all
a certain narrowness about the high
estate Of motherhood. Does 1t Cramp
woman's sympathies. contract the
boundaries Of her tenderness. until II
includes only her own little folk-the
members of her own household?
81 am forced to ask this question
when l see the many mothers who
cherish their own children. forgetting
the other poor babies who with their
forlorn mothers make the sacred rels
ton such tragic Circumstance.
Perhaps there is no more self sum
eient creature than the really happy
wife and mother. She is perfectly ABB
sorbed in her own children, her own
home. her own husband. And the
whole world might go down In dark
ness and despair without her knowl-
edge unless her loved ones were nf-
fected. Then she would cry unto the
gods to save her children though all
the rest should suffer annihilation.
II was struck by this manifestation
Of selfshness during a recent residence
In an outlying suburb of big city.
Most of the women who lived there
were mothers. By the divine right OF
that relation they should have felt
brooding tenderness for all helpless
ness, but did theyi l could see no evi-
dence Of It. In their perfectly appoint
ed. well cared for homes they lived
strictly unto themselves. Few Of them
reached out for any broader interests
than those Of their immediate circle.
I'VE hear a great deal about the su-
periority OF mothers over the single
women in matters OF heart interest
and Of home interest. Yet | fancy that
the world would be much poorer II
the great mother hearts Of certain
women had not been troubled about
the little people Of the underworld.
Yet many a mother sells her birth
right Of sympathy more from thought
lessnesS than from actual intent. She
has had it preached TO her for so many
wears that all the virtues have been
bestowed upon her by the mere fact or
motherhood that she does not realize
that there is any need for effort on her
part.
"There will be great dynamic force
for good started when the happy wives
and mothers shake of their seltishnesS
and combine to bring happiness to
those less fortunate than themselves.
Bridge and books and pictures and
music may be perfectly legitimate eI-
pressions of ones individuality, but
the real mothers heart will express it
self in other directions.
"In one of our big cities a rather curl
Gus experiment has been tried by a
worthy woman who has four little
girls She has adopted four little boys
because she felt that her own happi-
ness and good fortune so Overhowed
that they must be used to fill the lives
Of others.
"While this may be the extreme point
Of view. it illustrates TO a certain ex-
tent what | mean. The overtiowing
love Of happy mother will not be
content TO know Of the unhappiness Of
any child. 1t is not only her own child
that she must love. but world full Of
little children.
perhaps in the winter there is more
need for the sympathetic expression Of
motherliness than at any other time,
there are so many little ones who are
cold and hungry and who need some
one to think OF them. 1t is for the
hearts Of the real mothers to respond
to this need and to seek out these shiv-
ering little lambs and to shelter them
In some fold where they may be cared
for and protected"