W. Grant Hague

“ Motherhood—that angel spirit, whose influence every human heart has felt—that guards and guides the world in its sheltering arms—is born in its divine sense, into the heart of every woman for the [105] first time, as she gazes in ecstasy and wonder at her first-born. She feels that she has begotten a trust,—a trust direct from her Creator, and she makes a silent resolve, as she gently and timidly feels the softness of baby's cheek, that she will watch over it, and guide it, and do all a mother can for it, with God's help. ”

“ When we stand by the bedside, watching the fitful, final breaths of a well-loved child, or of an old, honored and faithful mother, there creeps into our consciousness feelings with which we are strangers, but they are ours, part of the divinity in us which in the work-a-day-world we stifle and crush. Friendship and no other human quality brings this divine element into our actual life. Those who have never had a friend have never solved the riddle of human nature. ”

“ Can we sit still and permit the profession of medicine, which has always contained the best of the race in its membership, the best intellects, the most sympathetic and unselfish characters, the noblest and most steadfast souls, to be maligned and assailed, to have its means of well-doing assaulted and threatened, when we know that it should be supported and protected for the sake of all it has done in the past in the interest of humanity? ”

“ It would be absurd to expect a high standard of efficiency from an individual with a low standard of health. Poor health means poor vitality. Vitality is the mark of the master. Without vitality one can never dominate. All the great achievements of the race have been consummated by those who conserved their vitality. No single factor contributes a larger percentage of inefficients and failures than overeating. The man or woman who, from habit or experience, has learned the lesson of right eating and living need not be lacking in efficiency, nor need they despair of the attainment of success. ”

“ One of the most valuable lessons experience can teach any human being is not to worry and fret about the future. You can plant ahead of yourself a path of roses and be cheerful, or you can plant a bed of thorns and reap a thorny reward. Cultivate the spirit of contentment, devote all your energy to making the actual present comfortable. Don't fret about what is going to bother you next week, because, as the philosopher said, most of the troubles we anticipate and worry about never occur, but the worry kills. ”

“ If we are eager to do something to lighten the load of another, eager to sacrifice self, to cheer and counsel and inspire, to leave unsaid some unkind word, to forget our own troubles in the larger trouble of a friend, we are home-builders. We must control our moods in the home, we must submerge the instinct of selfishness, of impatience, of pride, and of obstinacy. We must not be opinionated, we can many times conform to the opinion of others in trivial matters and preserve peace; we thereby minister to the happiness of others, because to give happiness is the surest way to be happy. ”

“ The great foundation of education—character—is not taught in the public schools. There is no systematized process of developing a child's power of concentration; there is not time for this in the cramming process now in vogue and with the enormous pressure placed on teachers. No teacher can do justice to more than fifteen children through the school hours. In many of our public schools there are fifty and sixty children under one instructor. This is fatal to the nervous system of the teacher and deprives the pupils of that personal sympathy which is of such vital importance. ”

“ The secret of the sources of home is its atmosphere. The atmosphere of home is the sum total of the kinship and sympathy radiated by its members. It is a tangible something which is capable of being felt, which is capable of inspiration and which is capable of being carried away into the years beyond, exerting a helpful influence over the milestones of worry, and trouble, and defeat; and it is always a fragrant, soothing, energizing influence. Every human heart needs the memory of a home and the presence of a friend at all times and in all places. ”

“ We discover the source of the unusual atmosphere. It is herself, the wife, the mother, the home-maker. She is the mystery of the ideal home. Each day her divine art grows more perfect because her heart is consecrated to the work. She may not be surrounded with material splendor. The miracle is in the soul she possesses. Love is the magic wand she yields. She loves her home, her children, her husband. She is the queen mother in the paradise she creates.
We have seen that a good housekeeper may not be a home-maker. Every home-maker, on the other hand, is a good housekeeper. ”

“ If we understood all there is to know about environment; if we knew the laws of heredity, and psychology, and eugenics, and then could apply them, and educate the product of this combination of forces, we would be very near to the super-man. One must have a sober mental horizon to evolve the picture which would be the product of the above solution and then to estimate its meaning on human happiness and progress. We are approaching the ethics of right living,—of justice and truth,—the divine in man. ”

“ It is not what the doctor does that brings a baby through a dangerous sickness; it is the faithfulness of the nurse in carrying out his instructions that is responsible for the outcome. A timid, halting, doubting nurse can quickly undo all a physician hopes to accomplish; while a prompt, faithful nurse, with initiative, and good judgment, can save a little life in a crisis, even in the absence of the physician. Follow instructions implicitly, even though the carrying out of the instructions seem to cause the baby pain and suffering,—it is for the baby's best interest. ”

“ She has known her husband only as a sweetheart, she has clothed him with virtues that exist only in her imagination, will he measure up to her expectations? She is watchful and tactful,—the little mother-talks she remembers. She did not believe when mother told her, that he had qualities which she would only find out after marriage, but she knows now. She is learning that household duties are exacting and fretful; that, though married, life still has a few thorns. She finds out also that the long day, when husband is at business, affords many opportunities for reflection and serious thought. ”

“ You may be exhausting your vitality and fraying your nerves by social exigencies,—those empty occupations which fill the lives of so many fussy, loquacious females,—echoless, wasted, babbling moments, of supreme important to the social bubbles who ceaselessly chase them but of no more interest to humanity than the wasted evening zephyrs that play tag with the sand eddies on the surface of the dead and silent desert. ”

“ The "two hearts that beat as one" are old hearts, hearts chastened by experience and mellowed by the sorrows and joys of life, hearts that have gone through the dark spots and the deep spots of affliction, and have loved and helped each other all through the long journey to sunset's old age. God never inspired a holier picture than the wrinkled face of a good old mother. ”

“ So long as there exists an unsupported mother or a suffering child; so long as we rely on hospitals and prisons, penitentiaries and the police, to minister to the correction and regeneration of the unfit and degenerate; so long as we tolerate grafting politicians and deprive the poor of breathing spaces, sanitary appliances, and a hygienic environment; so long as war and pestilence deprive posterity of the best of the race for parenthood; so long as we emphasize rescue rather than prevention, so long must the eugenist strive unceasingly to preach his propaganda of race regeneration. ”