MOTHERHOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20520, 22 March 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

MOTHERHOOD.

; V. THE HAPPIEST TIME.

, BY EDNA GRAHAM MACKY.

It is only in old age that we can get .Ihe true perspective of life. When we arc young wo are so close to its wonder and mystery that it looms above us like a ' towering building, which we seek to enter, ' seeing nothing but the entrance steps, over ;which we stumble in our haste. In middle life we are inside the building, busy with the thousand duties of daily round, knowing/nothing of the outside of the place jin which we dwell. In old age we go I out of the building, sometimes, and climb I • to the top of a nearby hill, where we can judge of the architecture, tho number of stories, the proportion of height and width. [ met one day a little old lady of seventy v.iih observant eyes and a keen memory. " Mother," I said, " what do you consider the happiest time in a woman's life?" She sat for a long time with her hands folded on the book she had been reading. •

" My cliikl," she said, wif.li the slightest trance-like quality about her voice and the faraway look of a -crystal-gazer in her eyes;. " once 1 took it for granted that nothing could be happier than the lifo of .v child, so innocent., so irresponsible, so charming. Daisies and butterflies and golden hours of playtime were always in .my picture when I thought about children. ' " Now, when I look back dispassionately upon childhood's days, I realise that there were many sorrows, many disappointments and even terrors to face. There can be' no grief more poignant than that of a child. AIP its little world may lio shattered in a broken doll. Harsh and unsympathetic commands may close abruptly the very doors of paradise. " There, is so much to learn, and so many pricks and stings in the learning. - ; Hedged round by unreasonable and iri- ' j terminable-restrictions, baffled by great mysteries and unsolvable problems, cirild- , hood is not, in my opinion, the happiest i time of life. School studies bring their , anxieties, and we learn sad lessons con- | cerning the frailty and unreliability of .(human naturo from our chosen playmates." , ." Hope and enthusiasm and energy bring ' certain delights to childhood days, but, i taken as a whole, they have much to ;weep over.*' * " I am to say that old age is . any more pleasant," said the old lady quickly. *' It has much compensation of ] a negative character. Things do not hurt . one so deeply. Disappointments and fail- . ures are taken with a dose of philosophy, i .One underts.mds a little more clearly the i ;whys and wherefores which once seemed . so confusing and unanswerable, , but the sorrows of old age are many and deep. ! Our beloved children go away and leave us, and our Ipve will not allow us to pro- , test. Old friends pass away one by one ; while wo are left to mourn. Our eyes, : sharpened with watching, -behold the j cheapness, the tawdryness and even sori didncss of many of life's vaunted treasures. Lifo holds out few of the high hopps' and enchanting vistas which once she offered. " Perhaps," went oil my wise old .friend, "you think that girlhood is the most delightful period of a woman's life. Dreams are rosiest then, no doubt, and l-omance spreads a carpet of wonderful surprises. Disappointments - are correspondingly keen, though, for it is in girlhood that we are called upon, in many qises, to bear that most devastating pain that the human heart can ever know;—-dis- . appointment in love." The old ' lady sighed here, and a faint light of memory came into her qpiet eyes. " Jealousy, too, may afflict us and, like Melesaride, we r may have to drink deep of" the bitter waters. "Motherhood," said the little old lady smilingly, " is undoubtedly, in my opinion, the happiest time 4 in a woman's life. Shefeels secure in the possession of a. home and husband. She exults exceedingly in the sweetness of the baby form pressed' so warmly and fragrantly Against her breast. She is busy and contented, for she knows that she is needed in the scheme of thing?. She is fulfilling her special mis- , sion in every s6nse of the word. There is a little, downy-headed being, so helpless. so trusting, depending upon her for its existence and succour. Mysteries of life do not perplex her any more, for she lias taken part in the greatest mystery of them/ all, "that of bringing a little child info the, world.