he contents of a book, seldom have any
further interest in it. But music and painting and poetry do not lose
interest through familiarity, even for mature natures. Their appeal is
more like that which stories have for children.

Owing to this condition of affairs, a mother need never be at a loss for
stories to tell or stories to read. This part of child life should not
be an exceptional occurrence due to her mood or whim, but a constant
feature of the daily life to be counted on and treasured up. The lovely
atmosphere which surrounds it, the moral and spiritual ideals which are
engendered by it, combine in making it a precious influence in the
rearing of a new generation.

"But," exclaims the up-to-date woman, of enlightened intellect, "what
kind of old-fashioned, benighted mother are you prating about! This is
the era of woman's rights and woman's emancipation! What time would a
woman have for her own affairs--for the exercise of her rights, which
have been won with so much effort--if she had to keep bothering her head
with that sort of thing?"

That is true. It would seem as if we had forgotten about the
self-interest and selfishness of the modern movement, which is there on
all sides to poke its tongue at a mother's devotion to her sacred cause.

Indeed, we have no answer to give to that kind of selfishness. The
essence of our thought is love and faith in the love of motherhood.
There is no selfishness in it and the language it uses is not
translatable into terms which the rule of reason can hope to understand.

But to those mothers whose hearts are still in the right place, even if
their heads have become more or less confused by the shouting and
example of intellectual leaders, there is a very simple observation to
suggest, as an answer to such objections.

Is it of much importance or benefit to you, yourself, or to anybody, or
any thing, that you should spend so much of your time in gambling at the
bridge table? Or gossiping at an afternoon tea? Or attending a meeting
at the woman's club? Or at the hair-dresser's and manicure's? Or in
intellectual pursuits of any kind? Is it not more important to you and
to your family and to the future of your race and kind, to devote a
considerable amount of your time and energy to the children, who love
you and need you and can profit greatly by your help?

Is not that entitled to the best you can give, not only because it is
the most important of all earthly occupation