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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1915)
THE HKK: OMAHA, TliriJSliAY. ui.TnHKK 7, IMa. lb e B ees. Mo m e Magaz i m e Pa Writing Our Own Price Tags (Cost of Mother's Sacrifice) More Wearers of the Laurel By NELL BRINKLEY Copyrlnht. IMS. Intern! Nfwi Rerrlce. LITTLJE SHE'S rrr . fr fl f. it i - . . -- Fl 1 fci w 1 Vaft i .... i By DOROTHY DlX. I have received a Wlff from a woman who writes these words: "1 have two daushters. They are hamt om and Intelligent girls, and from their hlrth It has been my amMti-m to irlve them every advent aire of education that wss possible. We aro pe"P' ,n moderate circum stances, and In or der that tny chil dren might go to schools and dress well, I have tolled slave and ona without every vtnfort for myself. "My liui htera have had pretty "rocks. I have not vn decent clothea. fhejr hart had mas ters In mulc. and anrnace, and dan- '.Inr. I hare cooked, and washed, and ewed to pay for It Neither one of my girls haa aver cooked a meat or washed a dish, or dona without anything" she really wanted. Now my children are. grown. They ara ungrateful, uoappre ttatlTe; they ere Impertinent to nie: they acorn me, and are always threatening 'o leave home. "Have I done my duty as a mother to my daughters, or have I been a fool?" A fool, dear lady. A douhle and twisted, Jyed-ln-lhe-wool fool. Bo Is any mother who makes a slave of herself to her chil dren, and sacrifice! herself absolutely lo them. She has pat her children up on a , pedestal and prostrated herself before them, and they naturally look down upon her. She has made of herself a door mat, and she meets' the common fate of doormats, which Is to be walked upon. .; A gTeat deal of slushy sentiment has - hern expended upon the beauty of mother ttarrlftce, but nobody yet has ever seen . it appreciated by the recipients of It. Of coure, every mother thinks she's i going to be the exception to this rule. i She deludes herself with the fond fancy , that her children arc going to ho differ ' ent from everybody else's children, and that the time will come when they will theirs and klsa and Mess them for the ' toll they havo undergone, and when they i will crown her gray old head with tho halo of their worshipful devotion, j Kut the dream never materialises. In- stead of reverencing tha .mother ,Uous i palms the children are ashamed because ? thry aro not rink and manicured like their own hands, and In place of crown j Ing her with tlllfil devotion, they bestow upon her their year before last hat. : A'! for appreciation of mother's cacrl - flee, the Idea that there is anything heroic in self-abnegation never even ' entrrs their dense young skulls. They J think that mother eats the neck and back of the chicken because she's Rot a queer taste In meat, and that the , reason she never has any clothes that ara t fit to wear Is because she's liuprlessly old-fashioned and out of the style, i In the same manner they account for mother's staying at home when every one else eoea a-Dleasurinar bv the chn r. ful aasumntlon that mother' h.Kt wtd I to the kitchen and the waxhboatd. And j as for work, why, mother Just dotes on ; ! Aoklg all of a long hot summer day, j and Bitting up half the night to make ' Johnnie new suit to wear to the ba j ball game or flnlah off Mary's dress for j the party. Haven't you heard a thousand times j hoys and girls ridiculing mother's sub- lima sacrifices for them, as Just her' pe culiarities? Haven't you heard them toll how you couldn't pry mother away from home with a crowbar, and laughing at I her shabby old clothes? It brought a .1 tump Into your throat, because you knew t uiai roomer was oxtering up ner very nxe y itself on the altar of her children, and inry uiirn i aavo seniw enouK'i ere 11 or gratitude enough to give her one tbank for It. ' ; Tha truth of the matter Is and It's ; one of the most unlovely things about . human nature that everybody, our own . children Included, gives us exactly the i sort of treatment that we demand of ; them. We write our own price tags, and we ara cheap or dear, as we assort our- ' neivu o. vy get jusi exacuy wnat is coming to us, no less and no more. If a woman teaches her children by precept. If not by word, that they are to be preferred before her, that they are to have the best of everything, thst she Is iw noming oui a servant to tnem, it la her own fault If they are selfish and ! 8he could equally well have taught them ' to be dutiful, respectful and appreciative I of her. It Is the woman who demands the most of hsr chl'dren who gets the most, and If i you want proof of this Just observe that ; it la never the mother who has made a martyr of herself for her children who Is tha best loved or the most considered. isnniDiy 11 is me moiner wnn nas i made her children think for her who la petted and coddled and adored by her sons and daughters. Indeed, It is an axiom that trifling mothers make smart children and selflxh mothers good chil dren, and it ia a rule that seldom falls. Tha mother who thinks that she Is do ing a kindness to her children by saving them every hardship makes a terrible mistake. Wa grow stronger morally by using our soul muscles Just as we grow I stronger phyaieal'y by exercising our bodily muscles, and the children who have their part of the family burden laid upon their shoulders. Instead of mother bearing It alone, make the men and women who are champions In the battle of life. Often virtue leans to vice's side, and tha woman whose unsWflahness makss her daughters so selfish they are willing u sit about in idleness ana see their poor old mother work for them, has not dbna her duty by her children. he has com mitted a crime asalnst them. Motherhood, at best, la full enough of aacrlflcea without committing the folly of giving ap everything oa earth for bar shlldren. i. f , A little while ago I made a row of little chaps (masculine chaps), the future "great," in all stages of wear and tear, lovable, and beloved I know, freckled and smooth and rough and clear (all good stuff, and to a woman's heart, cuddleable!) So comes along a letter, a very dear letter, from a woman person, and says she: "Please, are there no little women-children who will one day be great also? You know better, so please don't leave them out." So herethey are woman's woman! All In a row for yon. And surely there are great among them. These little chaps (feminine). Little girls are dainty so I cannot show you the grubby knees of them, 'the scratches and mars and bruises, the poverty, as I could on the little boys. But it's there most surelyl Who. could believe that crop-headed, boyish Sara, with the squint and the Teddy-bear, will discover more magic tn the scientific world some day something that will set the world by the two pricked ears! Barbara, with the steadfast gray eyes and the "er-plain face," who speaks at the Explorers' club on the far places she has gypsled through, was once this little beauty with the pale brown cruris, the blue baby-ribbon wound in them, and the frothy dress. Then she was a professional beauty! Julie, with the stockings that were knit to last, the old-fashioned apron, and the hair ribbon faded and glossed with the washings and Ironings that have been its lot j Julia, with the gallant little smile any one might dream here is a great comedienne! Cissy, with the boyish hair and socks, scuffed shoes and ravaged knees, all boy save her heart becomes a great mother. And there are famous mothers many. The mother of a great suffragette and orator, a woman with a silver tongue and voice of gold, brings out her baby picture. And lo! It's a bit of a girl with a blue slip, soft hands, soft face and demure, -long, soft; brown curls! Just a baby girl named Dorothy Jane! Here is Joan. Fat and smiling, dimpled and golden, clutching a flower with all her soul. A "snap" the sun in her eyes and her hair ablow. The material in her slip Is cheap and not new. But the light in her eyes is rich and alive to sound. And one day you will pay joy ously your five or ten or twenty round dollars to hear her sing! And you will sit wrapped in a magic cloak, drowned in the diamond stream of her voice. And your eyes will ache with tears and your heart beat glad and sad. Just the same Joan wore blue-print and did it not cost very much! And Mary, the dreamer, with the slow, soft eyes and always the best love for her velvet frock, the little girl with a lonely way with her, who saw the sunset In the heaven before she did the toy at her. feet a little chaser of hoops and obscure fancies perhaps shell paint and write and give great dreams to the world from the head under her thatch of fine dark hair. Who knows! Look Into the eyes and heart of your little daughter and won der and reverence and be afraid. For something looks back at yon of greatness and splendor! And if you will search and help yo may sense the dim gloat-glow of Fame's halo 'bove her hair. NELL BRINKLEY. The Real and the Ideal By BEATRICE FAIRFAX. There Is Just one danger In having Ideals they may blind you to tha possi bilities of the real. "Ideals are specifi cations to guide you in building dwell ings, both material and spiritual." says a clever writer. She goes on to liken Ideals to blue prints and realities to tha brick, atone and mortar of which the bui ding is to be made. Ideals are far mora than blue prints they are the spirit of the builder. An ideal to be worth anything should mean the -vision splendid of the completed dwelling. Constantly working toward an Ideal means dealing with reality, of course but It means mora than that. It means dealing with reality purposefully. Suppose I am a otenographer a good stenographer but that I merely turn out my day's work as well as possible, with no picture In ray mind of where I mean to be carried a year from now by the work of each day. I am likely to be come ' a plodder an earnest, capable plodder If you like hut one who never becomes capable of more than plodding. Don't get Into tha habit of looking rapturously at your Ideal and scorning the real. Mansions have to be built of brick and mortar not of gold and Jas per. But brick upon brick may be laid So well that tha finished structure Is quite as lovely as If It were built of quarried marble. The common duties of every day have to be done. The point is, how wel you do them. Tou ean't help doing your absolute best wtth a seam when you have a vision of a lovely finished garment In your eyes; for you know that one awkward and bulging seam will spoil tha beauty of the whole. Because your spiritual eye hare tha vision of the beautiful whole, does not mean for one minute that tha eyes of your body shall fall to look with honest directness at the section of sew ing Just before them. . It Is never necessary to leave the (ileal or to forget It. It Is never possible to worship It blindly or falsely. It Is never possible that a real Ideal shall lure you from the petti of duty or cause you sor row. For a true Ideal la not an Im practical, ' floating, nebulous thing. Ir the pursuit of which you excuse your self from all the actuality of the pres ent. It Is Instead a vision of the reality to which you may attain. If I were a clerk In a shop, measuring off t-cent laces, I should have sn ideal of myself as a future buyer of the most exquisite And valuable lac. That wouldn't mean that one day I would absent-mindedly out thirty-five Inches to tha yard and the next thlrty-aeven. It wou'd mean that I should be con scious of tha fact that I had to do the task at hand very well Indeed In order to merit promotion. It would mean that I should study patterns and values; that I should go to the counter, where the expensive laces were sold, and study them lovingly; that I should ge to a public library and borrow books en laeea, and that all the while I should be train Ing myself to be an efficient bualnest woman wtth 'a special knowledge of mj subjeot. An Ideal la no good to yoq unless yott absolutely hold to It. You must be con " sclous that In the very process of work ing toward It you are on the. way t success nay, more that In tha evolvtnr of the Ideal you have berun te succeed. If, In a sordid world, yoi ran look above facta of the present to possibilities of the future, you have In y" the maklns of greatness. Abraham Lincoln,- lying on the mud floor of a wilderness cabin studying the law books he had trudged miles te ob tain, was pursuing an Ideal bat pursu ing It through reality, not through Idle dreams. In the pursuit lay promise ef success. An idral ean. never hurt you unless, haivtng It, you are too laay te make U coma true. An Ideal must aver help you If It Is a guide and a heaeon to be reached through reality. 1 " e - While the Victrola entertains -you it also develops the mesical tastes of jom childreiio BY ALJ, MKAK8 Hear the following numbers of the new Victor Records, on sale now. The greatest list ever Issued In any one month; 74443 Old Black efoe, by Alma Uluck with male chorus. 85466 Angels' serenade and Ave Maria equal to a Red Seal). 17822 LaPaloma (Saxaphone sextette). 35477 Old Time Songs, by mixed chorus. 88540 Blue Danube Walts, sung by Frieda Hemple. 74428 A Great Song, by McCnrmlck. 87X16 Thine Eyes, by Mlscha Elman and Frances Alda. 74445 The Broken Melody (a beautiful violin number by Zimballst). 46066 Two Cello Solos, by a wonderful lady artist. 6A1S7 Irish Eyes of Love (another River Shannon), 17802 Two attractive Accord eon Solos, by Pletro Dlero. 17805 Two of Mendelssohn's most popular compositions for orchestra. 17648 Two splendid Military Band Marches. If you don't hear them Take the Numbers for future reference, for they are great. Go to any Victor dealer's and he will gladlv demonstrate this wonderful instrument There are. Victors and Victrolas in great variety of styles from $10 to $350. Victor Talking Machine Co. Camden, N. J. "VB li lt "V - PIANO COMPANY 1311-1313 Farnara St Omaha. Neb. Hear ibe Newest Records In Oar Nwwly Remodeled Sound-Proof lfcenMjoatraUna' I looms oa the Mala Floor, Branch at 334 BROADWAY Cocscil Bluffs Victrolas Sold by A. HOSPE CO.; 1513-15 Dongl&s Street Omaha, and 407 West Broadway, - Council Bluffs, la. tir e Talking Machine Department in tho Pompoian Room VlctroU X, $75 Uabogany or I I. i ; ! J t