The Washington herald., 1917-03-27
Folk We Touch in Passing
BY JULIA CHANDLER.
The Greater Service.

The Mother-of-Fiv sat very still while
the lecturer talked.
The speaker was a brilliant woman and
she waxed enthusiastic in her recital OF
some OF the big things that her sex is
accomplishing in the world
The trouble with US is that too often
our powers lie dormant because We are
either too lazy or too lacking in courage
TO awaken them" she said.
Because a woman has the ability TO he
a mother. and II is quite obvious that the
race must live, some fool in a dim and
distant past concluded that motherhood is
every woman's mission in life and We
have blindly followed his lead through
the ages, being slaves TO a lot OF wad-
ding brats; drudg1ng our lives away IN
hI-smelling kitchens; accepting the place
OF menials when God intended US 10 he
queens. and thus have great minds gone
to seed and the world lost many q val
liable gift.
'of course" went on The Lecturer
women must perpetuate the race but
there Is no necessity that they be the
women Of great mental endowment
Leave domesticity to the sister who
sinks to 1t by instinct and has no intel
lectuality to raise her higher"
There was q lot more. But Il wss all
IN the same strain, and conveyed to the
mind Of the silent listener that her ,ig,
q N
peril OF her own life, wasn't much ~
thing to have done after all when one
considered the brilliant achievement. heI6
up to her view by The Lecturer,
throughout the evening meal that va,
always in the home Of The-Nfother-Of
five Just an harmonious note in the tv-I-
ngnt symphony, The Father and The
rive were unusually quiet Whether it
was that new strange light in the ev.s
or their homemaker or her own unfa-
miliSr silence they could not have sais
But they knew well enough that some
thing had disturbed her beautiful poIse
and stolen away her peace
When the dinner dishes had been clear
ed away the children took I'D their yary-
Ing pastimes for a half hour before thev
went to their books, the two oldest bows
becoming absorbed in a game Of chess:
the youngest with his inevitable story.
the fair-haired girls, whose wide bIue
eyes were so like their mothers, engaged
In game OF dollhouse making, while
The Father settled down in solid comfort
to good cigar and his evening paper.
1t was a wonderful picture as The
Mother-Of-Five viewed Il from the door
way where she stood with her hands fT-
ed with the first OF the spring flowers.
AS she watched the little group the
years since the coming OF the first Cfor
whom she had gone deep into the VAL
ley OF the Shadow unrolled before her
mental vision. Five times she had all
but given life for the coming OF them.
and through sixteen years she had work
ed for them. loved them. shielded them,
nursed them through sickness, attended
to their proper equipment that they in
turn might duplicate a race worthy OF
her and worthy OF themselves And as
the years Of her complete self-enscement
glided like a Kaleidoscope picture
through her mind The Lecturer shrank
smaller and smaller until she remained
but a pinhesd in the consciousness Of
The-Mother-of-Five who suddenly real
iEed that no woman can more beautifully
fulfill herself, or offer the world a greater
service than she had in her gift Of The
Five. ~
tCoTgnght. Ier5l