THE WELLINGTON MOTHER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 609, 11 September 1909, Page 11

THE WELLINGTON MOTHER.

: WHAT SHE SAYS, AND WHY. It is a beautiful day—so beautiful that even in the' ugly little street, with its jagged row of houses,'; outlined against a hillside composed of clay bank, broken fence, and persistent gorse—ono ; realises that spring is hero. The milkman goes about from house ; to house, sailing with goodwill, a cat softly crosses, the street, smiling also, with sheer complacancy, children loiter about the footpaths, aimlessly contented,• and there is about' the neighbourhood an: air of peaceful well-being. And-thfcn suddenly _ a shrill voice is raised, in. the. too familiar cry: "Wilfred, Wilfred, if 'yer don'ticome in this very, minute,. I'll smack yer." / : ' ' . • ' The threat is uttered, arid with an'.'intensityof • venom that. is. strangely at variance ' with the'. feeling .' of . 1 the bright morning, but it' has 110 effect 011 Wilfred, who continues to play on the fdotpath with the other children,'until .'the'owner of that shrill voice swoops idown and tweaks him away,. with many . signs and symptoms that the smacking, is. imminent. " . ' But does ..Wilfred get smacked ; and; if so, should ,he ,he smacked?- The . threat of a •smacking. had not' tho least, effect ,on him, and does that mean that he loves smackings, or that they do not,.'after all, como ihto his experiencer : 1 " ' :This is a question that (with a change only 'in the.' name) is - thrust constantly oefore anyone who goes much about tho Wellington streets. To know' tlioso streets, - and- tho people in; tho trains, the people in tho, cot■tages", is, to believe thai Wellington .mothers,'

or, at least, a : large. proportion ; of ; themi'. are amazingly harsh: and' cruel to; their children. "I'll break -overy bono in ' your body," is a very pet.' threat-'. . Tho loving > Wellington: mother picks it. up .very lightly, and heaves it ; at the: head of. her littlo'-son/ordaughter .whenever, tho- least ..thing;/annoys' her,' and, 1 sometimes,, when things aro ' just, a little n>orse, she shrieks at-'her :'"C6inc>.ra at once, .or I'll wring'your-neck." It was just tho other day that, a mother appeared at tho . gato of a tiny cottage, and began upbraiding a fouf-year-old child 'who stood - near. It was- ; a .very .imprcssivo jh'aranguoj wellimagined,, and _ forcibly delivered, and -the bystander fairly, boiled with, indignation at. the idea .that any woman could'talk to her sweet "little child liko : that. Sho. noticed . pityingly , how the small , child stood with wide-oponed eyes, gazing solemnly—despairingly, -sho thought—at: , the ■ angry ;woman.. But the'moment, that; the tirade, was finished'the; child; gave a' jolly. littlo 1 chuckle, -arid, spreading-/her ; arms, out' like , a little bird, ran. away; into another gate, as if. her mother' wore only playing a/gani'c../■'"; ■' - ,; K . "What .a_ shame that those dear children should: have such a mother," said ono woman in "a" train the other day, as she watched a'mother disciplining her, two littlesons,' humping them up. on to a 'seat when they wanted to struggle down, forcibly; readjust-' ing tHem; when-ithey'."tried; to look 'out,:-of the -window,, abusing ' them . roundly for infinitesimal offcnces, visible to her. eyo aloii6:-. ,"What :a cruel^mother.":';. "I don't think so," said the second woman. -''.When/1 see a woman; behaving tq .her 'childrcn. like'.that in public I : always imagine/that, in private,'she lets them', carry on', just .as they. like. .-You can see ' those children are irrepressible.' They -don't care what-she says' to: theni, .and' they'would if they- were frightened." That was a pleasant , interpretation to put on., .tho,.undeniable /act that ,tho mother was' doing everything ■ in her - power' to ..irritate her-little,boys,-and .she would have had only* herself to thank if tho children had ■ begun to'shriek aud stamp in.their childish equivalentof. hor expressions>'of bad temper. . Too. often the tired and'irritated mother flatters' herself, that: it /doesn't, matter what sho .says or how she speaks -to her littlo ones, since they must- know that she loves/them. I Sho works for; thorn, she -says,- and that is proof enough; of affection. And the onlooker, knowing that children can only reach full .development, in an atmosphere of -love and .tenderness , that .a child craves tho expression : of-4ov'e,. as 'it craves food—wonders what, sort ..of. men-and. women j are /growing up in Wellington. : , ,