Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-04

ers."
We all know that. And we are
all sufficiently worshippers of the
beautiful maternal principle to ad
mire these women profoundly and
to recognize that their children are
blessed.
This, of course, in case they
marry. But women who have By
nature the wonderful gift of moth
ering don't always marry, by any
means. And in that case we pay
great deal less attention to them
and sometimes disregard their gift
altogether.
Now inasmuch as so many born
mothers remain single, and as those
who marry are unfortunately rather
a small percentage of all mothers,
it comes about thai d multitude of
babies who deserve better of life
fall into pretty ineXpert hands.
1t happens all the time that
really high grade babies, babies who
look and act as if they Knew the
difference become the charge of
.hopelessly amateur mothers-moth-
ers who didn't learn anything about
mothering in advance, and who
probably never will learn very much
through experience.
That is to say, true motherhood
isn't a physical thing. You can be
the parent of a child without Deing
its mother in the sense | mean.
You have to make an effort and
learn how.
And this is. l think, because we
women have had a totally wrong
attitude about motherhood all these
years. Mothers, even the best ones,
haven't fet any obligation to teach
mother-wisdom to their daughters.
Even when they have patiently
taught them housekeeping, even
when they have nsinuated a good
deal of age-old instruction as to the
deft secret management of hus-
bands, they have never breathed a
word as to the science ana the art
of motherhood.
The idea has been that women
become mothers by sort of mir
acle, without the slightest prelim-
mary training. The sight of their
first baby, the sound of his earliest
cry, has been supposed not only to
fill their hearts with a big, sufficing
mother-lo y, which perhaps 1t does,
but to fill their brains with an en-
cyclopedic amount Vi very special
knowledge in regard to childhood,
child-clothing, child-hygiene, child
training and all the rest of it. But
bova vOt, oVar IypOup n pnca Whpra
this happened?
Women are ignorant about the
proper care of children before their
babies come are unfortunately
just as much so afterward. And
these are the cases in which the
babies and nature together have to
get along as best they can.
What we need is an ever so much
more general education of girls for
motherhood Not a sentimental,
but a practical, education.
The Risk of Birth.
Babies oughtn't to have to take
the terrible risk they do in being
born. 1t isn't fair to them. Where
there is one chance that baby
will happily drop into the lap of a
parent with a natural gift for
mothering, there must be at least
nine chances that he will make
connection with the mother whose
talents run to housekeeping or to
office work and who won't know
any more about milk bottles and
infant psychology than its father
does.
\Kro I,nou, ,nuy tbot tba oId uyov
of leaving these most important
matters to chance was very Sc
rious mistake and that it has cost
the lives of nobody knows how
many babies. | wish every young
mother were so convinced of this
that she would see that her first
baby didn't find her unprepared.
Not that she isn't sure to make
some sort of preparation. She will
embroider its dresses and hemstitch
its pillow slips and crochet lace for
its bonnet. But / mean sensible
preparations, preparations that are
really in the interest of the baby's
health and all-round well-being.
1t is true that as conditions now
are, a young woman must bestir
herself more or less to acquire this
special education. 1t isn't any
body's business in particular to see
that she gets it. There aren't any
official channels through which she
can get it-that is, all of it, though
the Children's Bureau at Washing
ton does a great deal and in the
larger cities highly useful matern-
ity centers are developing.
Community Babies.
But far-seeing people say that
day is coming when all this will be
changed, when States and COM
munities will stand ready to help
mothers with their motherhood.
For, after all, the community ought
to be just as much interested in
having healthy babies born and
we'll brought up, as the mother is.
Perhaps even more so. So why
shouldn't it smooth the way? /.