44 The Country Mother and the Children 



How much more careful you should be not to over- 

 work the mother of your children. You rein back 

 the free member of the team. You take special 

 care of the brood mare, and the cow that gives three 

 hundred pounds of butter. Have you always kept 

 the freest of all workers, your wife, from doing too 

 much ? How about this ? " 



FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN 



But this chapter, as well as the entire book, is being 

 prepared in the interest of boys and girls. So we 

 shall attempt to show a number of specific conditions 

 that may be sought as tending to conserve the 

 strength and the life of the rural mother, with a view 

 to her continuing to be in every best sense of the 

 word a caretaker and conserver of the lives of her 

 own children. 



1. Surplus nerve energy. However it may be 

 achieved, the thing to work for in this connection 

 is a surplusage of nerve energy. If the child train- 

 ing is to go on in a satisfactory manner, the mother 

 especially, and if possible both parents, must have 

 stated times and occasions for looking after such 

 training and for inculcating a series of important 

 fundamental lessons. The first and best test of this 

 child-rearing situation may be made at evening. If, 

 after the work of the ordinary day, the mother is 

 still fresh enough to take a real interest in the chil- 

 dren's affairs, to read to them briefly and perhaps 



