2 92 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of the home and the different phases of what Baldwin calls "the dialectic 

 of personal growth " which occurs in the socialization of each of her 

 children. "While she is increasing her own stock of information in 

 this way she will find that she is becoming a much more interesting 

 companion for her children and is able to show them their real place 

 and share in the world's work. In this way she can exert a much wider 

 influence over them than by merely providing for their physical wants. 



We are accustomed to say that the human necessities are food, 

 clothing and shelter. We might better say that the human necessities 

 are food, clothing, shelter and thoughts, for the mind needs food as well 

 as the body. A growing child can get along without clothes and shelter 

 if the climate is not too severe, but he must have physical food and 

 mental food or else fail in human evolution. The mother makes a dire 

 mistake if she ministers to the physical needs alone, and neglects the 

 mental, moral and social personality of her child. While walking 

 along the path of her own home industry, she will find that she can in- 

 terest her children in world-wide problems, for children can become in- 

 terested in almost any subject. 



For instance, the boys I know best became very much interested in 

 primitive culture, primitive man and his investigations growing out of 

 their interest in the domestic use of fire. They read with delight 

 '" The Story of Ab " and parts of Jack London's " Before Adam." 

 They constantly asked for anything new on these subjects. One day 

 their mother heard some one say that when a man is drowned he is al- 

 ways found with his arms up over his head and that this posture is 

 probably a survival of his tree-dwelling days. A few days afterward, 

 the twelve-year-old boy came into the house much the worse for wear, 

 muddy, torn and bruised, but with face radiant. To his mother's 

 query concerning the cause of his condition he exclaimed, " I fell 

 through a manger in an old barn, I suppose I am hurt. I don't know. 

 I didn't have time to think, for when I came down I found my arms 

 were up over my head and I am sure my ancestors must have been tree 

 men." 



That mother by following along the path of her own duty had suc- 

 ceeded unconsciously in teaching her boy the power of mind over matter 

 or the uplifting power of an idea and of awakening in him an interest 

 in historical and sociological study. 



Lessons in wider social service and morality can be taught just from 

 the necessity of the housemother's preparing food, for children can 

 early be taught to share good things with others less fortunate and they 

 can cultivate the spirit of hospitality. 



However, it is quite difficult much of the time for the mother in the 

 home to cultivate a wide feeling of brotherhood in her children, just 

 because the mad scramble toward self preservation which the household 



