The New York herald., 1922-11-12

should remain uncritized. 1t is an estab-
lished fact that, throughout all ages, every
generation has looked down on the one i'm
mediately preceding. But it is equally true
that the passing generation feels no lesser
contempt for the one it has produced.
On both sides the criticism is likely to be
unjustly bitter, particularly between
mother and daughter. While it is true
in their attitude toward their daughters.
the daughters are, in many ways, very un-
just toward their mothers.
This situation having arisen, it is in
teresting to discover row it has come
about. The emancipation of woman has
made such great strides during the last
twenty years, particularly during the war,
that the old fashioned mother faces an
almost impossible task in adapting herself
to the ways of life and thought of her
daughter. Her own g'lhood stands in the
way of this readjustment. When one
thinks of what was the girlhood of the
woman who is now middle aged, one is
amazed, not so much because she has
evolved so little as because she has evolved
Sc much.
Thes middle aged mother tolerates a
number of things which her own mother
would have received with fit For In
stance. smoking, which she herself in
dulged in on the sly thirty years ago:
to-day she accepts a cigarette from her
daughters case. Chapcrons are thing
Of the past, possibly because she refuses 10
grow old dances and plays games as en-
ergetically as her daughters. 1t is quite
common now to allow daughters latch
keys, although some mothers still make
difficulties. She allows her daughter to
become daily more athletic and even en-
courages her to ride astride clad in coat
and breeches. Our grandmothers did not
allow their daughters to issue invitations:
Our mothers do The daughter of TODAY
frequently arranges a tennis or luncheon
party, and tells her mother later. STILL. the
old fashioned mother is not above criticism
The Girl of Fifty Years Ago.
Before criticizing the mother of yester-
day, who, according to her critics, has pro-
duced such regrettable daughter, it is
only fair to consider the difficulties of every
imaginable description with which she was
confronted. The girl of forty to fifty years
ago lived a protected, sheltered life and
entered into marriage in state of COM
parative ignorance. Her education was of
the scantiest; any individuality of char
acter was quickly repressed: she was
tO halia hot
sole aim in life. Is it then strange that she
should view with dismay the freedom of
thought and action enjoyed by the modern
girl? Once married she was plunged into
the difficulties of rearing a large family
without any of the advantages which mod
ern science has produced Properly trained
nurses were unknown instead of the eff
ficient present day nurse all the help the
mother could obtain was woman un-
taught in feeding. doctoring and control
ling; in those days the nurses one recon-
mendation was her complete devotion to
the family. The young mother of to-day
has countless sources of information.
whereas the Victorian mother had only her
own common sense to guide her
The mother of yesterday was handi-
capped because her own mother had been
able to do little for her, because the diff
ficulties in educating young children were
enormous; transport was inadequate; hy-
giene was almost unknown. Should we not
be grateful to our mothers that they over
came these difficulties and broke down
prejudice and tradition? After ALL ham,
pered as they were, they did bring us up.