The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-24
Trying Task
Remains Lot
of Mothers
Importance Not Lessened
by Changed Status
in Modern Day.
BY GRETTA PALMER
Times Special Writer


VXTAsHINGTON. Jan. 24-"You
w hear a great deal about the
mothers Of great men" said Mrs.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman in an ad-
dress here before the National Com
mittee on Federal Legislation for
Birth Control. you never hear
about the mothers Of the little men.
Yet women have made them what
thev are. too-Ve women are re-
sponsible for all the people who
make the world what it is today
And nov look al it, was implicit
in the fine scOrn with which the
veteran feminist assumed response
bility. on behalf OF her sex, for Hit
Ter and Capone and Two-Gun Crow
ley-for corrupt politicians and
sweatshop owners and the men in
volved in the san Jose lynching.
This seems 70 leave the fathers
out in the cold-as inconsideraole
in their effect on their sons devel-
opment. as the teacher allotted to
him in Grade 2.
In the normal home the father is
a good deal more important than
that, but It is still true. We think,
that a boy is likely to be made or
marred by the kind of mother he
happens TO draw.
Mistake May Change History
Motherhood is the most common
and popular Of women's careers,
and 1t is no exaggeration to say
that the happiness Of the next gene
ration depends upon how effectively
the mothers Of today fill their roles.
A stenographer. a woman lawyer
or a milliner may make a botch Of
her career with no more serious
effects than an individual failure
to make both ends meet. A mothers
mistakes in bringing up her family
may change the course of history
fifty years after she has died.
And how much thought or pre-
paration does any blithe young girl
give to preparing herself for this
enjoyable but extremely difficult
Job? Just, We hazard, about none.
She studies TO become a competent
cook or decorator, but for the job
Of bringing up her young she trusts
TO that blessed fallacy, maternal
instinct"
on, there is a laSt-minute scram-
bic on the part of the young mother
of today to learn the details of n.y.
gienic baby care. She memories diet
formulae and gets the nurse to teach
her how TO bathe a baby and when
to let IL cry. But for bringing up
children whose little souls will not
be warped by the wrong kind of
rearing she has usually less train
ing than the unions would demand
Of a bricklayer before they would
give him his card.
More Than Casual Job
There has been so much sacch-
arine sentimentality attached to the
name Of mother" in the past that
the brisk and realistic young girl
Of today suffers a sharp reaction.
She knows that reverence is the last
thing that she is going to expect
from her children and that she is
not going to wear halo for the
rest of her days because she hap
pens to have some pleasant children
tumbling around the house.
In her horror of old-fashioned
sentiment she is likely to minimize
motherhood and to look upon it as
an incidental little job. to be cas-
ually sandwiched between appoint
mentS.
Il IS Just as we'll as to remember
sometimes that it is more than that.
Without in the least exaggeraGnE
the pains of without
any hySterical talk of the descent
into the valley" we can still assure
the modern mother that her task
compares in importance quite favor
ably. with that of any legislator in
the land.
His mistakes can be repealed.
Hers must endure into the next
generation and perhaps the one be-
yond.