RESPONSIBILITY OF MOTHERS.
By Mrs. M. A. Humeston
As the different nationalities become merged in one to form our peculiar American people, the nervous type sooner or later gains ascendency in nearly every family. No matter how stolid the race from which we originally sprang, in the commingling of bloods we eventually lose our coolness and become hasty and irritable, to a greater or less degree, according to the power of our wills to control these feelings or the manifestation of them. We seem to have gotten into the habit of laying our blunders and sins at the door of "nervousness," deeming that a sufficient cloak for all, and going right on our way in a rapid, nervous fashion, as if we were in haste to commit some mistake more grievous than any in the past. Is it not time to inquire if our life in this world could not be made to yield us more serenity and enjoyment? If too late to benefit ourselves—which can scarcely be true—may we not find how to add to the health and comfort of our children? Our moral and physical natures are so interdependent upon each other that it becomes a perplexing and entangling subject to handle in detail. There is a responsibility laid upon mothers which they cannot avoid, however much they may desire. If they seek to evade it, they meet with a moral loss, and their children suffer, both morally and physically. The nature and disposition of a child should be an especial study, not alone to give proper bent and direction to the mind, but also to send the physical forces in the right paths. When, upon the occasion of a slight accident or ailment coming upon a child, the mother becomes nervous and perturbed and sends for a doctor, when it is all unnecessary, she is trying to shift her responsibility to the physician's shoulders. But she really weakens her child's confidence in her judgment and opinions when they may be both sensible and just. Physicians are very good in their place, but their place is much too large in a majority of American families. Children should be taught to control themselves, their appetites, passions, and desires. They should be taught that disobedience to God's laws inevitably brings suffering. The man, or woman, of healthy body and properly cultured mind we find cool, clear-headed, unbiased in judgment, and capable of forming just opinions. He has wholesome appetites for plain, nourishing food, with no morbid craving for dainties. He is a cheerful, untiring traveler, and a comfortable individual to meet in all the walks of life. He is possessed of a "sound mind in a sound body," but, alas, how rarely is he met with! The noticeable national habit of forcing ourselves to the utmost limit of our powers, both physical and mental, is having its effect, not only upon ourselves, but upon those coming after us. We lose in concentration of thought and purpose, and scatter when we wish to gather and hold. As a consequence of all this the coming generations must succeed to an inheritance of weakness, or at the best to a lack of balance. If the strength of mind and body be given to the cultivation of one talent, how is it possible for a just mental and moral equipoise to be maintained? Mother of a gifted child, you are running a great risk when you cultivate one gift at the expense of the rest. Much the safest and happiest way is to seek the healthy action of every faculty of both mind and body; then the especial talent will develop in a manner that will give you satisfaction and pride, without fear of ignominious failure or crushing defeat when your dear ones goes from your sheltering care to the battle of life. The health of a people depends more upon its mothers than upon its medical men, and it becomes a study to give thoughtful attention to the subject in all its bearings. Let us have a plentiful supply of pure air, pure water, pure lives, pure conversation, and pure thoughts. Let there be clean bodies, clean clothing, clean hands, and clean hearts. Let us moderate our desires, and attempt only the attainable; then we shall have fewer blunders and crimes to lay at the door of "nervousness," and we will also gain in individual and national strength and happiness.