ifications necessary for a
successful caretaker. They do not combine as a rule. It has been my
experience, as a mother with a profession, and that of many others of
my acquaintances, that an art student or a music student makes a
splendid caretaker. There are hundreds and hundreds of genteel women,
with winning manners and beautiful dispositions, who may be obtained
to sew on the buttons, wash the faces, and change the clothes of our
darlings while we are carrying forward in the world the great work for
which we have fitted ourselves during the long struggles of our teens
and early twenties.

The young woman who is brought in to care for the child should be
above the usual "servant" class. She must eat in our dining-room, she
should be welcome in the living-room or sun parlor, and be treated as
a respected member of the family. Her salary is usually not large for
she realizes that she is given something in that home--something that
money cannot buy.

THE UP-TO-DATE MOTHER

Now this young woman (the caretaker) wants to hold her position, and
so she is very anxious to carry out in detail the laws and rules that
are laid down by the mother. Mother can keep abreast with the world,
mother has time to read periodicals that keep her in touch with the
great, wide, pulsating affairs of life. She is able to meet more
women worth while, and with her husband attend lectures, musicals,
theaters, and other places for intellectual culture.

Anyone of my readers need not look four blocks from her home to find a
mother who is run down at the heel, whose dresses are calico, whose
hat is five or six years old, whose black silk dress (the only one she
ever had) is worn shiny or threadbare, who works and saves every penny
that she can that her children may look well; and, even when the
husband does invite her to go out with him, he will often be
confronted with this remark: "John, I would like to go, but really my
clothes are a little bit shabby." The world is just full of such
women, with their very hearts being eaten out of them for the want of
a beautiful gown, a beautiful hat or a pretty pair of evening shoes,
and they might have them every one if they would be willing to allow
the duties of the household to be presided over by a woman that cannot
do the things the mother can do, while she goes out and accrues a
number of dollars each week which will more than provide for the
things that her soul desires so that she may go well d