The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-14
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
WeRiAs Highest Paia Woman Wf1ts
Mothers Duty-l.


know q family in which there
are four splendid young daughters.
These girls are handsome. intelligent
and attractive-the kind Of girls who
would have hosts OF friends and ad-
mirers il they were not afflicted with
a selfish old dragon OF a mother. who.
figuratively speaking. stands In the
doorway Of their home and drives
away all who would approach.
The mother doesn't care to be both
cred with company. She dislikes the
trouble of getting up an extra little
dinner or supper for a guest. She is
annoyed by the laughter and noise of
the young folks, and she doesn't want
the rigid little routine of her days dis
turbed. So whenever the girls dare to
bring friends home with them, she
makes things SO unpleasant that the
intruders never come again, and when
her own daughters are invited out.
she makes them refuse the invitation
for fear they will have to return the
hospitality they have received.
And all of this, in spite of the fact
that her daughters are-in business,
| and that they all pay her board, and
| virtually support the house.
This woman is no mother. She is
| a man. self conferred egotist who puts
her own comfort above the welfare
| and happiness OF her children. She is
a grinding, domestic tyrant. She is a
| jailer who starves hes children spirit
ually, and it would serve her just right
| If the whole four of them would pack
up their trunks and go to live in some
place in which their board money
| would. at least, buy them decent
| treatment and q few social privileges.
Thank God there are very few
| mothers like this one. Most mothers
q "a mil trr6 n toi ftr1cy org ~
the bone to give their girls good
time when they are young, because
they know how short il the little play
| time of p weman's life. But when you
do find mother who is selfish
toward her children. the breadth.
| of her selfishness beats any other
selfishness in the world for quantity
| and quality.
Sometimes a woman fergets that to
make a happy home for her children
Is just as much q mothers duty as is
their education and training. Indeed.
1t Is abeut the most important thing
that she can do, foa 1t is the best anti
dote that has ever yet been devised
against the temptations that beSet both
boys and girls.
The children who can have their
\ fun in their homes, are not driven out
| on the street to hunt for amusement
The children who can confidently APP
peal to mother to help them in theiI
games, do not belong to gangs. The
children who are free to bring theii
friends home whenever they like, dc
not form iritirIiacies with hoodlums.
4 They don't know 1t, but mother il
guiding them skilfully and safely
along the innocent paths Of pleasure
instead of letting their little feet STUN
BILE into dark and devious ways thai
lead downward. for the young ar,
bound to have amusement, and il the
| right sort isn't given them at home
they will find the wrong sort ava,
from home Mark that.
!. The boy who is never permitted tt
have any company at home. and whose
friends are made to feel like pariahl
when they come to see him. ana WHIT
has to sit still instead of playing II
his own house for fear he will injur,
the furniture, will find some spo
where his pals will welcome him and
will have a little freedom. and tn,
chances are that it will be a place 6,
vile that it would turn his mother
hair white with horror, If she knew It