The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-03
MOTHERS AND HALF-GROWN DAUGHTERS.

pursuits and occupations even with the foolishness of youth.
 And it cannot be denied that sometimes the girls are silly.
 l look back to my own girlhood and recollect my admirations and devotions and see on what poor grounds they were founded, in many cases. Not that they did me any real harm, but if had been guided by my mother I would not have made some of the mistakes which to this day make hot jingle run over me. Per haps 1t was all part of my development. but am thankful, with all my heart. for the friendship between my mother and myself. which rendered impossible some of the serious blunders of which have known other girls to be guilty.
 Poor children! How can they know what to do and what to leave undone? What chance have they had to acquire experience which would give them dis cernment of character and warn them away from pitfalls? It Is the place of the mother to be close at hand to show them the dangers in their way and to lead them in the right paths.
 have quoted before the saying of some unknown writer: "God could not be yerywhere, and so He made mothers" ]" Sometimes one is forced to question the efficiency of His deputies when one sees how little influence they exert over their charges.
 am not referring now to the gross errors into which the unprotected girl slips. I am dealing with the mistakes perpetrated by your daughters and by those of your neighbor, who are allowed freedom accorded no other well brought up girls in the world. so far as I know.
 began by asking how much influence the majority of mothers possess with their half-grown daughters? I would like to amend that question a little and inquire when the mothers influence over the daughter begins to wane. When the little girl Is still in the home, before she has gone to school or to kindergarten she usually regards her mother as the stand ard of all that is right, true. and beauti- full. My mother says so." is the crown ing argument in any infantile discussion and beyond this there is seldom an ap- peal. At what stage does this change and what causes it?
 I grant that going to school makes difference. The child is placed among new surroundings; she Is associated with others of the same age and a flood of novel impressions is poured in upon her. Perhaps it may be the first time that il dawns upon her that there may be other standards in the world beyond those held In her own home, or that there are those who regard these as worthy of adherence. She Is puzzled, sometimes almost intoxi cated, by the unusualness of it all. Ie is not to be wondered at that she takes the impression of those about her.
 This Is just the period when the mother needs to exert every particle of influence she possesses. Is it not often the time when she lets it slip from her grasp? Does she not have the feeling that now the child is at school and in the care of teachers her own responsibility is tri1e lessened and she can turn her attention to other affairs? Does she frequently take the trouble to reflect that now, more than ever before, she should study how to keep close to her child. to share in her pursuits. talk over her interests. meet and know her friends?
 1T have had to break off the intimacy between my daughter and Mary" a uuOlner Sdlu 10 me the Otner udy. find that Mary's influence is distinctly bad and I have said that all relations must stop between them"
 That is hard on your daughter when they have been such close friends.' commented.
 Yes, and she takes 1t hard. She re breaches us and says that Mary Is the same girl she has always been and she can't see why they shouldn't keep on as they have done for the last three or four years. She is very unhappy about 1t.
 did not wonder. I knew both girls and I fully agreed with the mother as to the undesirableness of Mary's influence. But the other girl was right when she said that Mary had always been the same Every one who was familiar with condi- tions had wondered that the friendship had been permitted to continue so long. I could not marvel at the daughters sense of injustice at the sudden sever ance of the intimacy which had not been criticized earlier.
 Study your daughters friends. Learn