Show MOTHERS IN FICTION chiefly conspicuous by their absence and kot always admirable A vigorous search has recently been made in novels for the admirable mother in fiction and it gave the searchers a shock that she failed to materialize the father tho brother sister cousins aunts and even grandmother are often drawn with a loving pencil but the mother is always a subordinate char acter if introduced at all j perhaps because bis own mother was 1 so unsatisfactory dickens never put one in a novel of his that deserves to bo mentioned in connection with his be aig uig n fathers here is the list j our mutual friend mrs wilfer i outrageous dombey and son mrs a libel on the acs david mother is an amiable fool mrs Ste erforth impossible and horrible mrs a mate for her husband mrs micawber Mic awber a caricature in blaak house lady bedlock a mother who abandoned her child mrs one who neglected her children tor a hobby in the tale of two cities the mother dies before the story begins then there is mrs coleman a criminal mrs and mrs gor gorn n worldly and mrs nici ant weak minded in little dorrit dickens mothers are all objectionable thackeray s only concession is mrs pendennis Pen dennis mrs edmonds maternal qualities aro not strong who does not love the gentle vicar of wakefield and his homely tender philosophy his gentleness is illustrated by his constant excuses for his nagging wife george eliot ignores mothers sirs is the most successful hut aho comes of the lower order mrs and her whole family are ruled by mrs culliver Tul liver and mrs deano in the mill on tho floss aro almost imbecile the wonder is that they had such children jano eyre has two thoroughly cruel and offensive lady ingram and mrs reed stratus mother in Lyt tons novel the cartons is a tender and loving woman an exception to the rule charles has one ro mother mrs little put yourself in his place but wilkic collins falls in with the custom very naturally guidas mothers aro nearly all detestable robert is the one exception the tiresome hero of that novel would have done well to have been endowed with hia mothers intellect cheerfulness and vigor but interesting as she is her maternal influence did not go far amolie rivos has a cruel and heartless mother in tho witness of the sun who sacrifices her sons happiness to satisfy her selfish passion in mrs stories tho mother is conspicuously absent and so on and so on indefinitely |