Voice of Woman

the depths of lowness and the meanness of the mire; rather, you draw out of it a pure substance with which your flowers glow and your fruits grow sweet, and by which your boughs rise high and lift you toward the sky, O tree.

You are a blessed being bearing goodness: you do not harm those who harm you, nor harbor evil against any creature; rather, you are forever growing and striving toward the heights, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and purifying the air.

You have taught us fortitude and steadfastness, generosity and open-handedness, loftiness and forgiveness, tenderness and solidarity. You have granted us livelihood and beauty. You have taken us by the hand into the open country of ease and the field of plenty; and you have been to the universe a tender mother, giving, showing mercy, preferring others, loving all her children alike, the good and the bad, without taking payment, without coveting wage or reward, and without ever betraying or divulging the secret of that great and holy love.

You have spoken to us, silent, a sweet and moving speech; you have confided to us, murmuring, a tender confidence; you have inspired us, whispering, an inspiration lofty and radiant; and you have breathed upon us perfume and fragrance, varied and resplendent — and breasts opened to it in their widest spaces and their softest quarters, their deepest corners and hidden places, thrilling with delight and casting off their cares.

You are the written book, and the composed poem, and the lawful intoxication, and the pleasure pure of every fault or slip.

And in your gay green color we have rest for our eyes, and refreshment for our spirits, and spring for our lives, and the beloved cedar for our flags.

You are the ornament of existence, and the symbol of life, and the emblem of triumph.

So remain a guardian of purity and beauty, of goodness, blessing, and plenty, O tree.

Stubbornness is a serious educational problem to which every child is exposed, especially between the second and fifth years of his life. Educators, whatever their schools of thought, agree that this problem, despite the complications it entails, is considered natural and usually passes with the close of early childhood. Once parents have understood this, they have only to take a forgiving attitude toward their children's stubbornness.

It is easier for a child to be negative in his answers than to be positive, because the word "no" is easier to pronounce than the word "yes." Here is an example to support the soundness of this theory. A lady asked her three-year-old daughter whether she wanted to accompany her on an outing; the girl answered her at once, "No," then trotted off to her room to put on her coat, and was in the front rank of those setting out on the outing. This incident is a model of many incidents proving that the child does not intend stubbornness in the sense in which we understand it. Very often his stubbornness shows itself in not complying with some request because he does not know the purpose behind the request. Here is a lady who tried in vain to keep her child from going near the heating stove — and only because he did not know the danger that comes of touching it.

Stubbornness takes on many colors: among them affectation, disobedience, the child's screaming and the grinding of his teeth, his freezing on the spot, and his throwing himself on the floor to get his way, and the like.

Here, in brief, are the agreed-upon causes of stubbornness:

1 - A direct protest against the authority imposed upon the child.

2 - An indirect protest against whatever things there may be that trouble the serenity of his atmosphere.

3 - A protest against the multiplicity of demands directed at him.

4 - A reaction to a pent-up feeling he harbors, arising from not feeling his parents' love and not feeling secure — a theory in which "Morgan" believed and which he embraced.

5 - His bodily weakness.

There is no doubt that all parents aim to strengthen their child's personality; by treating the problem of his stubbornness with a treatment built on an understanding of his psychology, and by taking a forgiving attitude toward his behavior, they will have achieved an ample share of their aim.