The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1919-04-04
HOME CIRCLECOLUMN
A SCORE CARD FOR MOTHER
BY Dr.. William A. Mekeever
University Of Kansas

daughter and treating her as a harum-
scarum renegade instead Of a human
being, let me advise you to call this
girl in and have her assist you in I'LL
| ing out q score card to determine your
rank as a mother of such daughter.
Perhaps this win help you to be more
patient with her and IL may suggest
ways whereby you might improve your
record. Have her help you as follows:
l. Taking proper care of your own
health,
2. Status as a home companion and
guide for the children.
! 3. Attitude toward the school, the
| church. and the community. !"
4. Reasonableness in matters of
dress and personal appearance.
S. Patience In dealing with the
| daughters peculiar desires and tastes
6. Motherly guidance in the perfor-
nance of house work
I, Informing the daughter as to the
secrets of life.
5. Home instruction in regard to
| thrift and frugality
| 8. Attitude toward daughters flu
ture marriage and motherhood.
10. Womanly disposition toward So
ciety and the nation.
The idea of the first point is to
emphasize the fact that the care OF
personal health is fundamental for
motherhood. sick mother is scarce
| ly ever fair and just in her treatment
OF the young daughter.
Point two is intended TO emphasize
! the need of furnishing home enter
tainment and sociability,
t,a -
connecting the home training with
nate with the home.
Some mothers dress too shabbily.
others too gaudily to be helpful guides
and companions to their daughters.
Every growing girl has right to
her own peculiar fads and fancies, her
pastimes and her avocations. Not
every mother recognizes this right.
Some mothers hold their girls over
much upon the humdrum OF house
| work and make them sick of 1t all.
Others cheat and spoil their daughters
by teaching them none of It. Every
girl has the right to be taught how TO
perform all the common duties of
housekeeping.
Mothers should impart to their
daughters the simple elements of per-
sonal hygiene and should tell enough
about the origin of life to satisfy cur
iosity.
The best home instruction as to
thrift and frugality for the daughter
Is that given by means OF precept IL
lustrated by concrete example in the
management of the family budget. The
housekeepers of America spend many
millions of dollars per day. They
need much early instruction in order
to become able to handle these vast
sums economically. Score closely here.
The welfare of the nation depends
upon the integrity of the common
family, and this in turn is very close
| ly related to the compatibility of the
man and wife. The mother who is not
prepared to teach her growing daugh-
ter how to know a good, marriageable
man is lacking In her maternal equip
ment OF course, much of this train
ing is given in various indirect ways
and is to extend through the so-called
| teen years of the girls life.
To mothers largely is due the for
nation of their children's character.
| II she is vain and frivolous. wanting
| in those strong qualities at heart and
head. the children will likewise i'm
bibe much OF her nature; but so much
has been written on mothers great
influence over her children that there
is but one little thought left to be said.
To the toiling and careworn mothers
all over the land our heart goes out in
deepest sympathy, and / would say
Ixxyl,a hau fr,,-fa n In
homes consider yourselves happy, and
hold yourselves up with as much dig
nifty as the queens of the earth, for
who has a fairer right to the good
things of earth than you?
Our sense of the value Of the fam
lily needs to be rivivified and reused.
The family, the great institution of
paradise. the scene of purest love. the
nursery of infancy, and the stimulus
and shelter of all the virtues! Each
man and woman has a duty to this
end. A homeless civilization is sure
to be a santanic one; the vices will
flourish and the virtues be nipped by
the untimely frost. Back of the good
man must needs be the good house,
hold. Here and there may be saint
and an apostle won from the dens OF
vice; but, unless the den be reformed
a miracle only can insure the safety
of the new convert In the future. as
in the past. the solid and reliable men
and women, the leaders in business
and society, will be found in the quiet
and holy homes of the land.
People who have warm friends are
healthier and happier than those who
have none. A single real friend is a
treasure worth more than gold or pre-
cious stones.
All success is a series of efforts, in
which, when closely viewed. are seen
more or less failures. The mountain
is apt to overthrow the (hill, but a
hill is reality neverthelessl If you fail
now and then don't be discouraged.
Bear in mind 1t is only the part and
experience of every successful man.
and the most successful men often