The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-10-18
THE MEET OF GOOD MOTH
ERS.

$500 4N&8&AO
ERS.
Nine-tenths of the girls who
"go wrong in the second decade
Of life have been trained wrong
in their first, says the Ave
Maria, and the veritable Grim
inals in more than half the cases
brought before our juvenile
courts are, not the bad boys i'm
mediately involved, but the
fathers and mothers whose indul-
gence or neglect has resulted in
their becoming bad boys instead
of good. Lack of parental control
is one of the outstanding evils in
American family life today; and
unless the evil be checked, unless
the children are subjected to a
healthy discipline, are taught to
obey and punished for disobey-
ing, r made to see that pleasure
must yield to duty, and forced to
recognize that respect for laws
divine, civil and family laws-is
essential to a happy and worthy
life, then the number Of peniten-
tiaries and haunts of shame will
inevitably go on increasing rather
than diminishing.
"Who shall find a valiant wo-
mani" asks the author Of Pro-
verbs; "far and from the utter
most coasts is the price Of her."
Who shall find the really good
mother, the Christian woman who
because she CLOCKS well to the
paths of her house" now, shall
hereafter behold cher children rise
up and call her blessed" AS the
root of the whole matter, what is
needed is a sense of responsibility
in mothers, a thorough realization
of the truth that their children,
even in babyhood, are not dolls
and p~laythings, to be petted and
scolded according to the whim of
the moment but genuine gifts, or
rather loans, from the Lord-gifts
which they must make fructify,
loans for which they will one day
be held responsible.
Mother-love is a beautiful thing,
and at times a sublime thing as
well, but the doting affection Of
the foolishly fond parent is pathe-
tic in it's actual manifestations,
and nothing less than tragic in its
probable consequences. "There
is no person Of mature expert
ence," says a writer in the Lon
don Telegraph, "who is not ac-
quainted with the tragedy of the
spoiled child, ultimately compelled
to confront the world with a fee
bly, based and falsely formed char
acter. We are all acquainted with
the weak mother-a creature filled
with the foolish idolatry of her
own offspring, devoid of clear
sightedness in their regard, taking
their worst tendencies for anna
BILE eccentricities or for a sign Of
original talent. This lady, wher-
ever we behold her, is overcome
with a natural fondness for her
children; and yet, for their own
sakes, almost any harshness COM
patible with their physical health
and mental progress would be bet
ter than an ignoble and helpless
inability to control their conduct,
and to compel them-by gentle
ness if possible, by strictness if
necessary-to adopt right habits.
For it is true that we are crea-
lures of habit, and the tenacious
instincts, the second nature form
ed by the wholesome routine Of a
sound training, will often stand to
us when physical strength fails
and active will is worn out"
The sentimentality with which
innumerable people at the present
day regard the question of child
training is quite as disastrous in
its tendencies as is the culpable
indulgence OF the weak mother
characterized in the foregoing
paragraph. "Let the poor little
things, " it is said, "haye a good
time while they are young; their
troubles will come quite soon
enough.o Bv all means. let child
hood be happy; but unlimited in
diligence of childish whims,
caprices and mischievous tenden-
cies is not the recipe for ~effecting
that result. On the contrary, over
indulgence mars the happiness of
children even iii their early wears.