62 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



know one mother — it is a privilege to know her — 

 who is in and of the West. She has no servants, 

 no sister, not even a friend to help her care for her 

 three children. Does she hug her little ones in pub- 

 lic ? Not she. But she gives them hours of patient 

 teaching and gentle correction. And when her chil- 

 dren grow up she will have her reward. 



There are many such in the West, but there 

 might be so many more. And, mark you, the " ani- 

 mal" mother, beneath the veneer of tenderness is 

 hard — hard as the nether millstone ; and her hard- 

 ness grinds to powder the gawky hobbledehoys and 

 hoydens who are not a credit to her whom they 

 have the misfortune of calling — mother ! 



Some of my readers will remember a paragraph 

 of Daudet's in that delightful book Fromont Jeune 

 et Risler Aim. It is so pat that I cannot forbear 

 quoting it : a translation would spoil it. 



" Ce que Sidonie enviait par-dessus tout a Claire, 

 c'^tait I'enfant, le poupou luxueux, enrubann^ de- 

 puis les rideaux de son berceau jusqu'au bonnet de 

 sa nourrice. Elle ne songeait pas aux devoirs doux, 

 pleins de patience et d'abn^gation, aux longs berce- 

 ments des sommeils difficiles, aux r^veils rieurs, 

 ^tincelants d'eau fraiche. Non ! dans I'enfant, elle 

 ne voyait que la promenade. . . ." 



The women of the Pacific Slope have indirect 

 control of the churches and schools. We are told 

 that "the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand 

 that rules the world," but in the West it not infre- 

 quently happens that in attempting to rule the 

 world, the cradle is allowed to stand still. Work is 



