s havoc
with her strength and character. The very worst cases of housewife
neurosis are seen in such mothers; the most profound interference with
mood, emotion, purpose, and energy results.

Similarly, with the mother of the feeble-minded child. At first the
child is viewed as a bit slow in walking, talking, in keeping clean, and
the mother explains it all away on this ground or that. A previous
illness, a fall in which the head was hurt, difficulty with the
teething, diet, etc., all receive the blame. Alas! In the course of time
the child goes to kindergarten and the terrible report comes back that
"the child cannot learn, is clumsy, etc.", and the teacher thinks he
should be examined. Then either through the examination or through the
pressure of repeated observations mother love yields to the truth and
feeble-mindedness is recognized.

There are plenty of women who, with this fact established, adjust
themselves, make up their minds to it. But others find that it takes all
the pleasure out of their lives, become morbid, and do not enjoy their
normal children. For with all due respect to eugenics and statistics I
am convinced that the most of feeble-mindedness is accidental or
incidental, and not a matter of heredity. Once a mother gets imbued with
the notion that the condition is hereditary, she falls into agonies of
fear for her other children. In my mind there is a thoroughly
reprehensible publicity given to half-baked work in heredity, mental
hygiene, and the like that does far more harm than good and interferes
with the legitimate work.

There is no offhand solution for the case of the incorrigible boy or
girl. Of course the largest number sooner or later reform, sometimes
overnight, and in a way to remind one of the religious conversions that
James speaks of in his "Varieties of Religious Experiences." So long as
a child has a social streak in his make-up, so long as he at least is
responsive to the praise and blame of others and understands that he
does wrong, so long may one hope for him. But the child to whom the
opinion of others seems of no value, who follows his own egoism without
check or control by the accepted standard of conduct, by the moral law,
by the praise and blame of those near to him, is almost hopeless. Some
day intelligence may keep him out of trouble, but by itself it cannot
change his nature.

It is not sufficiently realized that while there has been a rise of
feminism there has also be