Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-10-07

even decent clothes. rs ~ sEEM
rhey have had mas 90
ters In music, and M ~
language, and dan
sing. 1 have cooked. and washed. and
yewed 20 pay for It. Neither one Of my
zirls has ever cooked a meal or washed
a dish, OF done without anything she
really wanted. Now my children are
grown. They are ungrateful, unappre-
ciative: they arc impertinent TO ME; they
soorn me, and are always threatening
% leave home.
Have 1 done my duty as mother to
ny daughters or have been fool?"
A fool dear lady. A double and twisted,
Iyed-in-the-wool fool So Ia any mother
who makes a slave of herself to her chill
dren. and sacrifices herself absolutely
20 them.
She has put her children up on a
pedestal and Frustrated herself before
them, and they naturally look down upon
her She has made Of herself a door
mat and she meets the common fate OF
doormats. which is to be walked upon.
A great deal of slushy sentiment has
been expended upon the beauty of mother
sacrifice. but nobody yet has ever seen
it appreciated by the recipients of It.
OF course, every mother thinks she's
She deludes herself with the fond fancy
that her children arc going to be differ
ent from everybody else's children, and
that the time viii come when they will
take her work-knutted old hands in
theirs and kiss and bless them for the
toll they have undergone, and when they
will crown her gray old head with the
halo of their worshipful devotion.
But the dream never materializes In
stead OF reverencing the mothers calIolis
palms the children are ashamed because
they are not pink and manicured like
their own hands. and in place OF crown
ing her with filiaI devotion. they bestow
upon her their year before last hat
A. for appreciation of mothers sacrl-
fees. the idea that there is anything
heroic in self-abnegation never even
enters their dense young skulls. They
think that mother eats the neck and
back Of the chicken because she's got
A queer taste in meat and that the
reason she never has any clothes that are
III to wear is because she's hopelessly
old-fashioned and out Of the style.
In the same manner they account for
mothers staying at home when every
one else goes a-pleasuring by the cheer
full assumption that mothers Just wed
!. 20 the kitchen and the washboard And
as for work. why. mother just dotes on
cookig all Of a long hot summer day,
and sitting up half the night to make
Johnnie a new suit to wear TO the base
hall game or finish off Mary's dress for
the party.
Haven't you heard a thousand times
boys and girls ridiculing mothers sub
time sacrifices for them, as just her pc
culiarities? Haven't you heard them tell
how you couldn't pry mother away from
home with a crowbsr, and laughing at
her shabby old clothes? II brought a
lump into your throat. because you knew
that mother was offering up her very life
itself on the altar of her children. and
they didn't have sense enough see II or
gratitude enough to give her one thank
for II.
The truth of the matter Island it's
one Of the most unlovely things about
human nature-that everybody, our own
children included. gives US exactly the
sort OF treatment that we demand OF
them. We write our own price tags, and
we are cheap or dear. as we assert our
l. selves 10 be- We get just exactly what
Is coming 20 US, no less and no more.
IL woman teaches her children by
precept. II not by word. that they are to
be preferred before her. that they are TO
have the best OF everything, that she is
. 10 be nothing but a servant to them, II
is her own fault II they are selfish and
arrogant and despise her as an Inferior
She could equally well have taught them
to be dutiful, respectful and appreciative
Of her.
II is the woman who demands the most
Of her children who gets the most. and IL
you want proof Of this just observe that
martyr OF herself for her children who
is the best loved or the most considered.
Invariably Il Is the mother who has
made her children think for her who Is
petted and coddled and adored by her
sons and daughters. Indeed, Il is an
axiom that trifling mothers make smart
children and selfish mothers good chill
dren, and It is q rule that seldom fails.
The mother who thinks that she is do
Ing a kindness to her children by saving
them every hardship makes a terrible
mistake. We grow stronger morally by
using our soul muscles just as We grow
stronger physically by exercising our
bodily muscles and the children who
have their part Of the family burden laid
upon their shoulders. instead OF mother
bearing II alone. make the men and
women who are champions In the battle
OF life.
OFTEN virtue leans TO vices side. and
the woman whose unselfishness makes
her daughters so selfish they are willing
, to sit about in idleness and see their poor
old mother work for them. has not done
her duty by her children She has com
mitted a crime against them.
Motherhood. at best. Is full enough OF
sacrifices without committing the folly
NJ urftrlnfr arfh ~
children.