The Washington herald., 1919-02-14

Most mothers, thank God, are
marvels of self-abnegation. They
think only of the we'll being and
happiness of their children, and even
when their children are undutiun
and ungrateful, and tread upon their
hearts they only ask. like the moth
er in the poem, did it hurt your
feet, my SOM"
However, there is occasionally a
mother who is a monster Of self
nshness, a woman who feels that
her children were only created to
be slaves to her. and to minister
to her comfort and pleasure, and
who ruthlessly sacrifices their
whole lives on the altar of her
I colossal egotism.
Sometimes you will see a daugh-
ter who is the victiM of a tyranni-
cal old despot of a mother. The
daughter may be middle aged, but
she is still in leading strings. and
! mother exacts the obedience of a lit
tie child from her. Never. in an
her life, has the woman been per-
! mitted to exercise her own taste and
volition on any subject. Mother
I
Mother has made her wear the kind
of clothes she likes. Mother pre-
vented her from marrying the man
she wanted to. Mother has kept her
from having any life of her own.
Mother has blotted out all the Joy
of existence for her just because she
liked to boss and force .her opinions
on everybody about her.
Sometimes brilliant and talented
woman is forced to give up the ca
reer for which nature designed her.
and in which she would find fame
! and fortune, in order to take care
I of an old mother who refuses to
leave the obscure village in which
/ she has lived, or to be waited upon
by a servant. To crafty her silly
whfm of being served by her daugh-
| ter, she is willing to ruin the daugh-
| ter's life, to force her to be a
drudge. and to forego all of the op-
/ portunities for culture, for a wider
| social contact, for success that
might be hers.
Sometimes it Is a man who is the
victim Of a mothers selfishnesS, and
one such case has just fallen under
my observation. I know a splendid
young man, who has reached the age
of 80, and who has been a most de-
voted son to his mother. This young
man wants to marry and set up a
home of his own, but at the very
mention of such a thing the mother
goes into Mysteries. She tells her
son he must never marry, that it is
his duty to take care of her, and
spend all the money that he makes
upon her.
|
/ have married. She thinks it right
| that other women's sons should not
have refrained from getting married
| to devote themselves to the moth
ers. She doubtless thought it all
right that her own husband should
have left his mother and taken unto
himself a wife, but she is not willing
that her son should follow the COM
mon lot.
| In order that she may have a lit
tie more money to spend. that she
may have a few more attentions from
( her son, this woman is willing to de-
prive him of all of the sweetest joys
of life. She is trying to take away
from him the glory and the romance
of youth, the joy of love, the pleas
ure of nest building, the sweetness of
home of his own, the long years
of quiet happiness with a wife who
is a part of himself, the rapture of
little arms about his neck, the COM
fort Of children to lean upon in his
old age.
Because she wants to monopolize
him this mother stands ready to doom
her son to be a lonely. forlorn, old
bachelor, empty hearted. without any
vital interest or ties in life, with no
bonds closer than those that bind him
to a club steward. or the restaurant
waiter that make his poor semblance
of home; with none to cherish him
in the lean years that come to us all
when we grow old.
OF course, the mother who does not
want her son TO marry justiias her