GOOD MOTHERS by Mrs. A. E. Barr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 11, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 31.

GOOD MOTHERS.

By Mrs. A. E. Barr

BY MRS. A. E. BARR.

THE difference between good and bad mothers is so vast and so far-reaching that it is no exaggeration to say that the good mothers of this generation are building the homes of the next generation, and that the bad mothers are building the prisons, for out of families nations are made, and if the father be the head and the hands of a family, the mother is the heart. No office in the world is so honorable as hers, no priesthood so holy, no influence so sweet and strong and lasting. Unselfish love in the mother, cheerful obedience in the children, in whatever home these forces are constantly operative, that home cannot be a failure. And mother love is not of the right kind, nor of the highest trend, unless it compels this obedience.

The assertion that affectionate firmness and even wholesome chastisement are unnecessary with our advanced civilization is a specious and dangerous one. The children of to-day have as many rudimentary vices as they had in the days of the patriarchs; as a general thing, they are self-willed and inclined to evil from their cradles, greedy without a blush, and ready to lie as soon as they discover the use of language. A good mother does not shut her eyes to these facts; she accepts her child as imperfect, and trains it with never-ceasing love and care for its highest duties. She does not call impudence "smartness," nor insubordination "high spirit," nor selfishness "knowing how to take care of itself," nor lying and dishonesty "sharpness." She knows, if the child is to be father to the man, what kind of a man such a child will make.

How to manage young children, how to strengthen them physically, how best to awaken their intellects, engage their affections, and win their confidence, how to make home the sweetest spot on earth, a place of love, order, and repose, a temple of purity, where innocence is respected, and where no one is permitted to talk of indecent subjects or to read indecent books, these are the duties of a good mother, and her position, if so filled, is one of dignity and grave importance, for it is on the hearthstone she gives the fine, healthy, initial touch to her sons and daughters, that is not effaced through life, and that makes them blessed in their generation.

There is another duty, a very sacred one, which some mothers, however good in all other respects, either thoughtlessly or with mistaken ideas, delegate to others,—the religious training of their children. No Sunday school or no church can do it for them. The child that learns "Our Father" at its mother's knee, that hears from mother's lips the heroic and tender stories of the Bible, has a wellspring of religious faith in his soul that no after life, however hard and fast and destructive, can dry up. It is inconceivable, then, how a mother can permit any other woman to deprive her of an influence over her children nothing can destroy, of a memory in their lives so sweet that, when every other memory is withered and approaching decay, it will still be fresh and green, yes, even to the grave's mouth.—North American Review.