New Britain herald., 1926-09-02
CHARLOTTE MILLS TELLS OF HER
 MOTHERS ADVICE ON MARRIAGE

everything" l. think of that often now, and cry and &fy ~
 Mother spoiled ma Tt l guess it's always that way sl-t the first child. She used to make , tile white dresses for me and try to curl my hair over her fingers with q wet brush. My hair WIS thick and al most cream colored but 1t wouldn't curl and it always disappointed her. Her hah curled naturally but 1t was dark.
 When she had me 0N dressed up she'd let me go to see Hy grand mother Reinhardt. They lived about three blocks from US then, A trolley ran on one of the streets 1 had to cross. Mother was afraid of the trolley but I used to yell and carry on terrible if she didn't let me go. and after a while she found l could manage it all right, little as l vas. I used to be so proud going over there by myself, l. took me nearly half an hour because l always wait ed at the trolley street until there was nothing at all in sight Some times ladies would take my hand and help me across, and they always kissed me and made B fuss over my being smart enough to go alone be- ing so small.
 Mother was happy when ] got old enough to go to school One Of the 1 things I'll never forget is Mother saying about a thousand times T want you to have what l didn't and she used to get ont of patience l because I was so dumb al by studies, i I remember once I was sfrugl ing with an example in arithmetic and 1 couldn't get it. Mother to k 1t ] and worked it out in abou- T Hute 1 and I though my troubles ere over. | But she wouldn't let me have it. l She explained how she did it and made me understand but then l had to work it out for myself. She said 1 she just wanted to prove she could do it; but she kept saying If l do your school work for you you Il never learn anything
 She was very quick that way and could never see why everybody couldn't do it as quickly as she did. | used to cry over how dumb l was. I used to get furious; 1 never did like arithmetic but Mother made be stick at it.
 Another thing I hated was when she made me join serious things like the Audubon Society club in school. | I didn't want 10 read about birds and nature. I'd rather have played games and with toys and dolls. or course I did play, but Mother al ways made me do the other stuff first.
 Once over an arithmetic lesson she hit me over the hand with 2 ruler and when 1t came out in Welts she was so sorry that she cried and hugged me and rocked me and said I could go any place l liked.
 There was a serial movie being shown near our house. Mother never let me go to the movies. They were always crimes and mysteries, and she said it was no place for a little girl
 I often think of that now. :. Poor Motheri' But this time she let me go, and I had regular spree ' I'd have been willing to get hit with the ruler every day if she'd let me go to the movies. I've got all over that now: ] don't care for them.
 If Mother was a little bit strict with us sometimes, she always made up for it with some indulgence. She liked to give us surprises. If she wasn't home when Dan and l came from school, we'd sometimes find a note:
 Children: Look in the oven and you will find two dumplings One is for Charlotte and one is for Dan, and they are just alike. Mother"
 She knew if they weren't just alike or one was bigger, we'd fight, for we were crazy over dumplings. She made them out of jelly and the crust that was left over from the pie for dinner, or the apfel kuchen now. Always two big square pans about two inches deep, with powdered sugar and lots of butter spread over