As I have said, over and over again, the proof of any pudding is in the eating of it; so let every mother _examine her methods with her children by this standard: Are the children developing in moral and physical welfare by those which she is using, or are they retrogressing?_ Is she employing tact to guide their young fierce spirits, or is she trying to crush them by old-fashioned rules? Questions such as these ought to be honestly asked by each mother of herself, and if the answer proves that retrogression is in progress, then she should not be so incredibly stupid as to continue in her old lines, but should examine herself and see how she can find the right new ones for her particular cases. La Rochefoucauld was wise when he said that vanity was at the root of most human mistakes. If a woman is not willing to undertake the true responsibility of motherhood, then she had far better be that sad thing which is a growing quantity in modern civilisation, namely, a childless wife devoted to dogs. Hundreds of selfish, neurotic females show the utmost unselfish devotion to wretched little pet animals, when the slightest self-denial asked of them for little human atoms is more than they can accord. What does this mean? Is it a writing upon the wall?