The Washington herald., 1913-05-13
The Children Who Lipe In
The ShadOw of Broken Homes
Duty to Them Is No Light Thing, and Should Be
Considered Epen When ConjueaI
Life Is Unhappy
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.


over-much publicity has been giver
to the unfortunate tangles that hav,
come into the brief life of 'the pool
little rich girl" whose sorrows have
been based upon the plant that she
has no home, nothing but money. Bu
one is bound to think, whether com
ment is made or not.
And a bit of thought inevitably make,
one dwell upon the extreme HARDSHIP
that falls upon children, when the wa,
of the two who hold within their hands
the magic of home happiness divides for
ever.
One never knows what is back of tn,
separations and the divorces with which
our courts are kept pretty busy today
Doubtless there are grievances ant
troubles a-plenty, and quite likely 1
would pull pretty hard on one or botf
to travel along together when every i'm
pulse prompts the other way.
But whatever men and women may bs
willing to. do when there is none bu
themselves to consider, their present anC
future, their wants and wishes, the,
ought to move pretty cautiously wher
there are children to live in the shadows
of broken home, for those shadows
are grievous enough. And when that Is
the price of freedom for the two whose
yoke seems too heavy to bear, ii comes
altogether too hard on the little folk
who have a right to a home and the
protecting love of father and mother.
Poor Little Rich Girls
II is not possible for anyone to sit on
the outskirts and pass judgment on
wrongs or rights involved, but there is
one little word i'm our language not easy
10 reckon with, yet impossible TO escape
if We take life and its obligations at all
seriously, just a four-lettered word
duty
And of all times when it matters how
that word is interpreted, there is none
quite so important as when little folk
and their home are involved.
Without any reference to a particular
case, ii does seem that in the multiple
fly of divorces and separations today
are many poor little rich girls sorely
in need of a real home, of warm father
mother love, and true, brooding care.
They have all the material advantages
that wealth can give, nurses, maids, gov
erneSses, carefully selected schools and
the like, but all those, royal as they are,
cannot possibly compensate for the har-
monious home-setting given to some little
folk who scarcely know there is such
thing in the world as riches.
For the child world is easily made, and
happiness abides almost unbrokenly when
there is someone, near and dear, always
on guard to share all the little joys and
the small SORROWS that overtake even
little folk. And the real fragrance OF
childhood must come through love and
exceeding tenderness, never. never
through gold and the advantages that
gold can give.
Helpless, silent Factors.
Doubtless plenty of other evils abide
i'm the easy divorces of which there is
much complaint but children are such
silent, helpless factors in the tragedies
that there ought to be an awakening
somewhere. for their sake, if for no
other
The years are not long when the great
est care is needed: and if il is a sacrifice
to keep the home going and TO give them
the rare gift Of father-love and mother
love, without the hard necessity of choos-
ing which shall it be,-well, there is gen.
orally a sacrifice somewhere in duty, and
duty to children is no light thing, even
when the settled desire for divorce has
crept into the one time-beautiful story
Of welded life.
Loving sympathy and companionship-i
the heart cries out for them sharply
enough all through life, and folk never
grow so old or so self-sufficing that there
their kindly balm. But il is the little
ones all the way on their road to ma
turity. who need them the most. They
need mother and father to climb down
from the heights of their greater years, |
to cultivate real kinship of interests, |
to give them the magic help of never
mind" when they stumble and bit Of
praise when they win.
They need some one-two some ones
close and true-to whom they can con- |
fide ~all their little pleasures and woes, |
need the father-comradship and the |
mother-Iove and guidance. And they need |
a home which may, perhaps be poor as |
wealth is measured, but rich in the things |
that make for inspiring memories.
Ii is true boys and girls can stumble |
to manhood and womanhood without |
real home and without the combined de-
voticn and care of father and mother. |
But when they do, they sadly miss the
divinest right of all-the right of home
glorified by paternal love.