324 AXXTTAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Girls, do you say, "Oh, well, iny mother does not take the same 

 interest in me that those girls' mothers did." Are you sure? Have 

 you proven the truth of that statement? She may show her interest 

 and love difl'erently, but if she be a true mother it is there. Give 

 her a chance lo show whether she cares for your confidence. It may 

 seem strauge at first to seem to thrust it upon her apparently un- 

 asked, but under the calm exterior there may be a hungry heart- 

 aching for this which you alone can give. Do you not go to her 

 with your troubles sure of sympathy and help? ^Vhy not with your 

 j(»ys as well? I'll guarantee that in the majority of cases her heart 

 will respond readily. It's worth the trial anyway, won't you try it? 



Yet there are mothers it's true and "pity 'tis, 'tis true," who are 

 too much engaged in having a spotless home or in fashioning fine 

 garments for their girls, thus expressing their love for them, forget- 

 ful of the fact that the young hearts under these gowns are starv- 

 ing for sympathy and love, unmindful of the fact, too, that they are 

 (hiving these same young souls to find companionsliij) in a ''chum" 

 less safe, less helpful. Mothers! May I ask you to pause ere it is 

 too late, and meeting her half-way, endeavor to be a "chum" to 

 your young daughter who, tho' "bone of 3- our bone and flesh of your 

 flesh" must have someone to "tell things to" and talk things over 

 with. Let that someone be you. Do you feel you have done your 

 duty when you have provided for her temporal wants? That as a 

 growing girl she is not to be considered in any way a companion? 

 Do you think she is ever and only a child until the larger experiences 

 of life come to her and then you suddenly awaken to the fact that 

 she is a woman — a being like yourself. And then you are amazed 

 at your blindness that you did not see the quiet unfoldings of that 

 nature ever before you, and you realize that the period 'twixt child- 

 hood and womanhood has been lived without you. You have failed to 

 help her interpret the messages along the way and 3'ou have lost 

 forever the close companionship both for her and for you during 

 that precious time which cometh never again. If you have another 

 daughter, will you not as a child cultivate her sense of importance 

 to you? Try to make her a companion and she will readily respond 

 and be ju-oud to be considered of value to you. I recall an incident 

 of my little niece not yet ten years old, when her mother was sick 

 and I was for the time taking her place, I had considered her a little 

 fly-away without much thought of anj'thiug but play, but as I con- 

 sulted her about minor j)oints — the dishes to use, the way we should 

 do things, etc., in order to make her feel some responsibility, I was 

 amazed at the womanliness manifested; she was rising to meet my 

 needs as she saw them in a way of which I had not deemed her 

 cai)able, and I called her then and since by the name which has, 

 ]jerhaps, more than any other, endeared Louisa M. Alcott to us, 

 that of "little woman," for I saw even in that little child the spirit 

 of helpfulness which must exist in every true woman. 



When your daughter goes to a home of her own, then your inter- 

 ests are more similar 1 grant, and your experience can teach her 

 much in the new work of managing a household — and a husband. 

 But much as a mother may be of value then, I question whether she 

 is actually needed so much as she is as "chum" to her growing 

 daughter. 



