ep
the peace; to be hopeful and cheerful. If she has succeeded in keeping her
home neat and clean and comfortable, it has been at the expense of her not
too robust constitution. If she has made efforts to observe the amenities
of life, to be true as wife, companion and confidant, it has taxed her[133]
nerves, her courage and her vitality. She has frequently been at the
breaking point but she has kept up because she felt it was her duty, and
because there was nothing else to do.

As she rests from her weary labor during the first long days after getting
out of bed, the loneliness of it all crushes her. She is weak, nervous, and
discouraged, and her white, wan face, with its tired, appealing eyes,
bespeaks her anemic and hopeless condition. She is only a child herself,
yet fate has crowned her with the holy diadem of motherhood. There are
thousands of such mothers and yet posterity need not despair. This is just
the beginning, and from such beginnings have sprung the heroes of the race.
If the reader has carefully read the chapter on Heredity she will
understand that the temporary condition of this mother is not important so
far as the destiny of the child is concerned. The really important question
is, How will this mother develop? The environment of the child depends upon
the conditions with which its mother surrounds it. If she is a failure, the
child's environmental influences will be unfavorable; if she proves worthy
of her trust, if she progresses and masters her difficulties; if she is a
good mother and a good homemaker the child's surroundings and influences
will be favorable to the full development of its hereditary endowment. But
it must be remembered that even an unfavorable environment need not prevent
the hereditary promise from dominating the life of the individual.

To return to our girl mother, upon whose slender shoulders the weight of a
great responsibility rests,--we wish to concede that her burden is great.
Her home duties are rendered more onerous because of her physical weakness
and disability. The strain of nursing her fretful child is taxing her
vitality and her nerves to the limit. Her disposition is imposed upon by
the exactions of an uncomprehending husband. She is inclined to fretfulness
and melancholia by the seeming uncharitableness of fate and fortune. Her
moments of introspection are almost bitter. It is a critical period,--she
has reached the breaking point. [Page 134]

Such moments are a