The Silver State

Confidence Between Mother and Son.

"There is a tide in the affairs" of boys, which needs to be "taken at the flood." Many a mother loses control over her son at a critical period of life simply because she fails to realize the changes his character is undergoing, and does not appreciate the accessions of manliness of which he is very conscious. She cannot with wisdom treat the boy, whose head now comes above her shoulders, just as she did the boy of a year or two ago. To keep his confidence is worth all it may cost her in thought and effort. To treat him with respect as an individual, is sometimes the only way by which she can hope to succeed. Ridicule-that dreadful ordeal of being "laughed at," which is a torture to a sensitive boy-has been the means of turning him away from his mother and father to companions and confidants unworthy of him. Suppose it does seem absurd to you that your son should have a mustache and walk home with some one besides his sister, do not laugh at these evidences of common nature. One of the worldly and surest sentiments of which the human heart is capable is that which a mother experiences when she yields her own first place in the heart of her son to another woman. After years of devotion and sacrifice she acknowledges that he is no longer hers, and henceforth she expects only the respect and kindly interest which the best of men ever give to their mothers, and to render this experience possible it is well worth while to do all that woman may do.