Evening star., 1932-02-07
X X X X

milk the children get at recess.
WE mothers don't do much for our
w Children CnCe they're out of the
nursery. Machines bake their bread
for them and can their beans; ma
chimes put on their buttons, polish
their shoes and manufacture their un-
derwear. Machines keep ice in the
house. bottle milk conveniently; we can
buy our lima beans Shelled and our po-
tatOes washed Between the cannerleS
and the telephone and the gas stove.
Housekeeping is reduced to few hours
work day and still the mothers, or
some Of the mothers, feel that the Gov
ernment isn't doing its full duty.
Many a hOUsekeeper, if she has
maid. does nothing at all all day. She
has detached herself completely from
living. other persons are doing every
thing but breathe, eat and sleep 1or
her. and she has to work hard to Keep
herself amused.
For instance. there is neighbor OF
mine. Margaret Margaret has three
little girls in whose progress menlally,
spiritually and physically she takes oniy
on outsiders interest. Her second chlld
is having a wretched time in the eighth
grade. especially with her French, but
although Margaret plays graceful
and charming part in the local FTench
class for groWn-upS, she never attempts
to help Jean.
THEN there is Mrs. Brown. whose
boys and girls all are being edu-
Gated in lessons and sports at the eX-
penSe of the taxpayers. They are III
their teens now, fine young creatures
who play tennis. swim, belong TO teams
and clubs and school organizations.
The town has paid for tonsil and tooth
operations But Helen has done apSo-
lutely nothing. Nothing, that IS puC
criticize.
Yes. she did one thing. She sued the
CITY when her Betty was knocked down
in a basket ball scrimmage, and h@S
never recovered from her reSentm NJ
that the case was thrown out OF court.
This attitude. that the State and
city owe the children everything ana
that idle mothers actually have no
duties in regard to them. is not only
surprising. it is costly. Children,
whether at home or in school, are
their mothers and fathers response
bilitv. and if they get the wrong 1000,
keep bad hours. or are abnormally ana
unnecessarily dull at their lessons, we
all pay for it.
One woman, in an Oregon town,
made such a fuss about the school
cafeteria that she was asked to come
before the Board of Education and pre-
sent her grievance. This woman was
a rich doctors vie and had two SerV-
ants. a car. and but one small child.
The board asked her if she could come
daily. to supervise the Cafeterla' when
was run bV the children themselves,
and work out some Of her own Ideas,
and she Indignantly repudlated the
suggestion.
On the other hand. it was a quiet
little woman with no servant, and 1our
children. who developed a practically
perfect. almost self-suppOrtlng system
for school lunch rooms, in another
Western State.
It is a fatal mistake to suppose thaC
all the advantages and privileges we
American mothers enjoy divorce US
from our share Of building the nome
and the State. There is no mother
who can afford not to de something,
little or big. toward making our type
of public scnoonng a success. The fact
that We don't have to spin cloth, Doll
soap. feed chickens and dip candleS
any more doesn't mean that our re-
sponSibilitieS are over. They nave
merely moved into a wider field our
motherhood new embraces all children,
our housekeeping all homes.
The minute you say salaries" plenty
of women are on hand to run the chill
dren. Some of them are completely
unfit: some are childless, and most
are inexperienced. But say $1,000 a
wear" and instantly you have some one
all agog to see that the dear children
get their hot lunch or make the cross
ing safely, or are coached in their
mathematics.
But to help out as a matter Of in
crest. service, and State and COM
munity loyalty is another thing.
One thing mothers ought to do and
ought to be penalized for not doing
and that is help out with homework.
Thousands of children blunder into
high grammar grades, and even into
high school, with only the haziest and
shakiest foundation in the simple es-