The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1918-08-13
THE ONLY REAL SACRIFICE

A mothers relation toward her son is
hardly ever discussed. 1t is scarcely
commented upon. No literature has
grown up around it. 1t provokes no con-
troversies. beyond general statements
the psychologists have let it alone. AS
for mothers, they do not talk about a
feeling which even they themselves 90
not pretend to analyze or understand. A
mothers relation toward her son is in
fact q part of nature. 1t is great fact,
something apparently quite beyond anal
ysis. Mother, the strongest and tender
est word in the language, is beyond the
pale Of criticism, as fundamental as life
itself.
What is now going on in the war,
where countless sons are suddenly called
upon to leave their mothers and go out
into the unknown, is only an accentuated
process of what is going on all the time.
Sons are constantly leaving their moth
ers; mothers, are constantly grieving ov-
er the loss of sons. Sons are constantly
returning, richer in experience, stronger
men, to renew their allegiance to Her
who has nursed them into youth. The
light in the eyes Of countless mothers is
shining out over the dark waters Of life
to guide the hearts Of men. The great,
the sublime strength Of all mothers lies
Of the wise ones, the pity often Of those
conventional folk who see harm in the
breaking Of any rule no matter how alb
surd or Anticipated it may have become,
the mother is weak enough to believe
that her boy will come out all right in the
end. Father himself may have his SER
i0us doubts, but mother sweeps aside all
tradition and reason and logic, and while
the voice of the world is lamenting over
her boy she drags him once more from
the pit and put him on his feet.
The great difference between father
and mother, so far as their boy. ID. con,
cerned, is this:. Father is'the breadwin-
ner, and in the fierce struggle for exist
encG be. has been forcd inf6S acquiring q
fixed set 81 principles Of his own. he has
tried them over and over again, and eth
or adapted them to his, own use or has
gradually adapted himself to their use.
Now it is upon this firm ground that he
stands. He may be only a moderately
successful man, just able to hold his own,
or he may be very successful as the world
goes. No matter. 1t is all the same. He
stands upon this firm ground Of his, and
as he grows older he acquires an increas-
ing conservation which makes him reluct
ant in world largely of chance to take
on any new experiments. He is likely to
judge his sen from his own trained out
look. He wants the boy, Of course, to be
supremely successful. When. therefore,
he sees the boy breaking away from ira
ditions, careless Of conventions, often too
regardless Of consequences, it is quite
natural that the father should make the
effort to hold the boy down to his own
safe method.
The boys knows nothing of this Not
having acquired any of his fathers spe-
cial experience, and being full of the
courage and ignorance of youth, he
pluRges ahead, the creature Of his own
impulses. His father, with the deep love
and'the fear engendered by some of the
narrow escapes he himself has had tries
to pound into the boy some of the prin-
ciplks he has tried out for himself. The
boyllstens politely But being a boy. and
possessed OF masculine spirit of adven-
ture, he promptly ignores his fathers
admOniti0ns and insists upon finding out
for himself. The father inwardly grieves
because Of his own inability to help the