South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-09-08
LET MOTHER WAY
PREVAIL IN HOME
Miss Bonner Tells Daughters to
Respect Her Old Fashioned
Customs and Methods.
BY EVA BONNER.

have often spoken 10 you about
youth and age. ABOUT the young and
old generations and their duties and
responsibilities, the one TO the other,
that 1 am afraid you will have but
small patience TO offer me for a re-
turn of the subject.
But I ask a little of your patience
for the consideration Of the same sub
ject, viewed from a different angle.
and brought under my notice by
little life-incident which 1 witnessed
recently.
had been paying a brief visit to
the mother of a large family of boys
and girls. and all her talk during the
preliminary half hour we had TO our
selves. had been of Elsie-Elsie the
adventurous, who had Just returned
from q long holiday of travel spent
with a generous aunt; Elsie, the
worldly wise, who had done things
which had previously only been
dreamed of in her little home circle:
Slsie, the much admired. who had
come back with the halo of a roman
tic engagement circling her pretty
head
Shared Mothers Pride.
shared in the mothers pride and
delight in ner daughter, sympathised
with her in her joy of the travellers
return, and said how glad Elsie must
feel to be back with her mother once
again, in the dear old house which
had always been her home until her
aunt's kindness had opened up a new
world for her
a shadow passed across the moth
er's happy eyes as / spoke, and seem
ed 10 hear the echo of a sigh from
her lips, but all she said was that
Elsie must find thirSs very quiet, and
the old home very shabby after all
the splendid things she had seen and
done in her wanderings.
You look at the shadow and listen
to the sigh and say il is the same old
tale. youth dazzled with the new and
discOunting and solid worth of the
old and well trusted.
This girl was far from being cruel.
far from neglecting the older inter-
ests for the new. Her mind was alb
sorbed in her home, her brothers and
sisters, and her dearly-belOVed moth
er. and it was only one expression of
love and interest which led her to
compare and crticise, and to speak in
favor Of renovation and change. She
wanted to help her home people in
spite of themselves, you see and did
not put sufficient value on the force
Of old associations in making a COM
parative reckoning.
Daughter Needs Tact
If it had been my duty or my privi-
lege to speak to that girl of what was
in my thoughts, l should not have
asked her to polish up her love for
her mother and her home until it ir-
radiated a still more brilliant glow. 1
should rather have asked her TO show
more tact and thought in the express
sion Of her love.
Looking at the matter impartially,
as an unbiased outsider may. l can
lnn INV
things in that home-material things.
i mean. not matters OF spirit or feel
ing--which hight have been altered
to advantage, which might justitiably
be called old-feshioned and out-of-
date.
But trying to view the position from
that girls standpoint, l should have
said that one criticism which hurt.
one condemnation of a dearly-lOved
article or custom should have been
unhesitatingly set aside when weighed
in the scales of love against the triv-
ial little irritation which it called
forth.
DO Not CritiCise.
This. then, is my message 70 my
younger readers, many of whom Will
be returning to the home-nest after
these few summer months. to tell all
about their flights into the great
world
Never let your criticism leave be
hind a scar;in fact it is doubtful II
criticism is a justinable weapon in
your hands at all.
Mould your own life. if YOU will.
but when you look back at the ira
vail. the work, and the achievement
which lie behind the ever present to-
day Of the. people at home you viii
be chary of forcing their fresh bril-
lance on the experience which has
suffered and been strong.