THE CALL OF THE HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1928, Page 6

THE CALL OF THE HOME.

The decision of Mrs. Hilton Philipson. Conservative M.P. for Northumberland, not to stand again at the next general election in view of the appeal of her children shows how difficult it is for mothers to spare the time necessary for loyal service in public offices. They render the best service to the State when they look after their homes and train their children to be useful and loyal members of the community. The mother of the Gracchi would not have done so much for Rome if she had contested a seat in the Senate to the neglect of the training of her boys. Tim Greek poet tells of the pride" felt by the mother of Themistocles in the fame of hcrson, and the highest ambition of Greek and Roman matrons was to have children worthy.to serve their country and deserve well of the Republic. It lias been suggested that children should be brought up in State homes so as to leave their mothers free for public life, and so as to ensure that the children should be standardised and not'be subjected to the individual idiosyncrasies of foolish or overindulgent parents. Every age has its own folly. and one of the follies of our own is the belief that we can go against Nature and make women in all respects the same as men. For a time any idea, however foolish, can be assured of a certain vogue. Motherhood is the highest thing in the world, and the loving training of children in the home is the highest duty a woman can undertake. Nothing can supply the place of a mother's love. There is, of course, room for women in many walks of life that in the old days were monopolised by men. There is no reason why the laws for men and women should be made and administered exclusively by men. But to contend that professional life or public service is tins highest duty of women is to ignore the fact that the welfareof any State depends on the character of its citizens, and this character depends in turn on the home training they have received as children. There has lfufely been a marked reaction against the tendency to assimilate the education of boys and girls. The boy has to be trained to make his way in the world; the girl should be trained to make happiness in the home. This is a terribly old-fashioned idea, but ideas that have stood the test of centuries cannot always he brushed aside for the latest fad. Nature asserts herself in spite of all our attempts either to extirpate her with a pitchfork or improve upon her with "isms." —W.M.