South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-09-30
A NEW THOUGHT ON
AN OLD QUESTION
The Story of Five Helpless Men
On a Desert Isle on Appeal
to Womanhood.
BY LAURA KINGSTON.

/ was idly turning the pages of a
magazine yesterday. Willing away a
half hour of waiting with a glance
at a page here and a picture there.
Suddenly. from out the confusion of
ideas which l was carelessly turning
over and over. as one does in mo-
ments Of abstraction, one struck me
| full and square, reached my doing
| consciousness by the sheer force of it's
| appeal, and lit up my mind with the
| illumination OF It's elemental truth.
IL was with me, as IL so often is
with all OF us was dallying with an
| idea which often must have ruffed
| the surface OF consciousness, but
| never before had the mysterious
forces whose combination makes that
| mystery, the mind, been in exactly
| the most favorable condition for its
| reception and termination.
II was the picture of a girls head
which first caught my eye, a face
which spoke of thought, of idealism,
and OF virile, effectual strength.
And the picture having detained
my eye for a brief moment, | went
on to read the words beneath 1.-THE
| advertisement, IL seemed of a new
book, and there L came upon my illu-
| minating idea
The fore-notice OF the book told
| how five men were wrecked on a
desert island, how in their isolation,
the world was painted in fresh, primi-
! tive colors for them. and how they
| came to realize what the extent of
women's inufience had been in their
lives, now that they were withdrawn
| from IL and viewed il in perspective
An Old Idea.
There is my idea, and / dare say
you will thing it very old. very
stale one. And / agree with you TO
some extent, but disagree in a vital
sense.
L have spoken, 1 have written, as
you know, times without number, of
the wonderful power which we women
hold in our hands to be exercised al
most at will over our men-folk. But
never before had | viewed this truth
in the great blaze of illumination
which came TO me when Imagination
set TO work on that picture and that
paragraph combined.
Let me tell you of a little of the
mind-picture which came to me in
that time.
Imagine those five men who once
had been helpless. little babies, learn
ing their first little lessons of self
control, forbearance, love, and pity at
their mothers knees Imagine in
each of those FIVE homes the mother.
gracious, lovely in her children's eyes
whatever the outside world might
think, telling her boys the world-old
stories of honor and bravery, with
glad hope for their future manhood
shining in her eyes.
/ am speaking now of good mothers,
the real makers and mOulderS of the
world-but just give a feeting
thought TO what those five homes
might have been had the mothers
used their position of power wrong
fully or CareleSSlV
Honor and bravery might then
| have had no place in those boyish
minds, which would perhaps be oc-
cupied with personal gain, with the
| dominion of brute force over weak
ness, with the grabbing greed which
wants all il sees for its own.
As They Should Have Been.
But we are supposing that those
five homes were made lovely by the
motherhood which permeated life
there, and which guided skilfully and
tenderly the tiny threads of existence
which were gathered up in her hands.
Then there would be the boys Sis
tiers, their very good comrades, no
| doubt. to be played with. petted, and
eased on occasion, but always to be
treated with the careful respect which
in the man would become chivalry
towards womanhood.
And as a good mother was at the
realize their responsibility towards
the boys. and never make the respect
with which they were treated an eX-
| cuse for petty tyrannies.
So the boys would tread the path to
young manhood. until love came to
them. a dazzling, bewildering vision,
bearing amazing gifts in her hand
and as the influence of the mothers
and sisters had affected them so would
| be their attitude towards this won
derful new thing which had come in
| TO their lives. Think, also of the
| guidance. unnoticed, almost imper-
ceptible, which only a mothers hand
| is delicate enough to make tolerable
at this time. The approval and love
of the mother who has Influenced all
| his life must be set, the cornerstone
in his new edifce of love, or he will
feel something lacking, something
amiss.
The Guiding Influence.
And so / have sketched for you.
necessarily in shadow, inadequate
tones only, the power which the moth
| ers and sisters had over the destinies
! of those five men, until they came to
the dividing line between youth and
maturity, when the influence was
| handed over. a sacred trust, TO the
chosen women, who might or who
might not become their wives, but
who were, at the time, the shining
stars in the sky of their existence.
And then, suddenly. by a capricious
| turn of fate's wheel. they found them
selves severed from all but lingering
memory.
And would not the value of the in
fuence which had helped 10 shape
their lives. be measured by the
strength, the potency OF the memories
when the direct contact was with
drawn? And is ii not here that the
value of so much of our influence
ljes2
must leave my FIVE men here, for
il is no part of my purpose to tell
YOU how the power Of womanhood
re-entered their lives with its trans
forming touch.
have only sketched in their his
tory for YOU that IL may help you TO
realize. as il helped me, the enormous
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