Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-08

renders it impossible for a mother to
ever see her children as they really
are, and forms a true estimate of
their abilities, is one of the main
reasons why there are so many
square pegs in round holes and why
so many people are unsuccessful in
life
A very prominent business man
said not long ago that one of the
principal causes of bankruptcy
among merchants was that they
made a too optimistic inventory Of
their assets. They over-vaIued the
goods on their shelves, and put
higher price than they would fetch
On their wares.
That's the trouble with mothers.
Their love makes them see their
children as dazzling geniuses, and
world wonders, instead of the UNI
gifted, mediocre individual they are,
and so, instead Of fitting them to fill
worthily the humble spheres of life
to which heaven has called them,
mother units them to make a living
by trying to force them into some
high place for which nature never
designed them.
Sally, for instance, has carroty
hair, saleratus biscuit complexion,
and a dumpy figure She dances
like bale of hay, and has the con-
versational nimbleness of a perform
ing elephant, but she is strong.
healthy, energetic and capable, and
has plenty of good, hard horse sense.
If mother could see Sally as she
is, she would know that Sally's
chance of happiness in life lay in her
h11cinacS M q r.
rying some sensible, practical man
who puts more stress on a wife's
cooking than on her looks. But
mother sees Sally as a radiant crea-
ture born to shine in society and so
she piles fine clothes on her, and
hawks her around the marriage mar
ket, and breaks her heart Wl,n "'a-
grin wondering why other girls have
beaus and Sally has none,
Toms a good, honest, Industrious
lad 0 would make a steady, plug
ging clerk who would work hard and
eventually save up enough money to
start a little corner grocery of his
own. But mother hears in his halt
ing speech the eloquence Of an ora
tor, and she forces him into the law,
where he, starves.
A famous alieniSt told me once
t. it was mothers inability to
see in her child any defect that was
responsible for an enormous amount
of feeblemindedness He said that
if competent physicians could treat
the children who are under par men,
tally while they were still very
young thousands upon thousands of
them could be cured, or at least
helped.
But mother love kept the mothers
even from admitting to themselves
that there was anything the matter
with their children. They would
say that their babies were "back-
ward" in their learning to walk or
talk, or that they were delicate.
or so sensitive" and so cover up the
m ntal defects until it was too late
to saw, the child from the most cruel
fate on earth.
1t is the same mother blindness
which refuses to see in child any
blemish which keeps mothers from
helping their children to correct
their faults. Mothers know that any
other children who are permitted TO
grow up wild and uncontrolled will
inevitably grow into the kind of men
and women who make undesirable
citizens and DEFY law and order. she
knows that a child who is. never
taught to govern it's temper develops
into the man or woman who Is a
failure in life and brings sorrow to
all with whom he or she comes in
contact.
But mother cannot save her chill
dren from their weaknesses because
she sees in their uncontrolled out
bursts only high spirits, and cam
nuflages their RACES as nerves.
This is what turns mother love,
which should be the greatest bless
ing that can come to a child, often
into the greatest curse that can be-
fall it.
What the world needs is a new
generation of mothers who do not
take too optimistic inventory of
their offspring.
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syn
dictate, Inc.)