Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-04-02

You ask me for the secret OF tne
power, and | reply, it is the superb
or moral endowments OF woman. 1t
is the power of her faith and her
love, and, | add further, that 1t Is
the secret Of her wonderful power
In the temperance reform OF to-day.
What shall we learn from these
facts of history
Do they not point to the true so
luton of the so-called woman ques-
ton!
Do they not indicate that woman
lowers her nature i'll this unholy
strife for place and recognition in
the hard drudgery Of political life !
Is net her power in the nobler and
finer side of her nature Is not her
power to be expended in the work
of refolm--the work that demands
the exercise of the qualities OF
mercy, of charity and of love.
To man is committed the hard
work-day labors Of life. The devel-
opment of science, the inventing OF
machines, the logical statement, the
philosophical Investigations. 1t is
by virtue Of his endowments. TO
woman is committed the holy Sab
patchwork of life. Poetry and music
and the sweet charities of life are
prominently hers. The moulding OF
character and the clarifying Of it
with purity and truth is hers. 1t
is hers by virtue of her endowments,
For the great work OF moulding
character in the home OF reform
ing it through the Church, God has
endowed women with peculiar quail
iiications--shall | not say sanity
qualiiications-in her potent love,
her irresistible grace and her self
sacrificing instincts. She is endowed
with the almost divine side of our
humanity, and has she not III this
very endowment privileges and re-
sponsibilities enough to satisfy the
demands of angels, 1t is no longer
room for work that woman needs
bat the development of her faculties
in the right direction. Her duty
lies in fitting herself to fill the holy
vocation to which God has called
her and for which by nature he has
Ltted her.
When | see boys going astray
e,ore they have fairly broken away
nom mothers apron strings, all
think there has been some defect in
the home training, however that
may be, of one thing | am sure that
you will seldom find man who has
taken high rank for goodness
among his fellows, but finds that his
m mory produces through life, traces
o. the influence of a sanity mother.
That remembrance of her is
sacred shrine in his heart. Under
God it is the influence which has
made him what he is.
We shall not wonder then at the
reply of him who in his day stood
without a peer among his fellow
men. When asked what was needed
to regencrate France! What to III
crease her glory! Napoleon re-
piled, the one great need of France
is good mothers.
His reply had more truth in it
even than he knew. Yes, the one
great need of the world is good
mothers. The mothers of the age
determine not only the moral char
acter Of their own age but what
shall be the character of the next.
This is the high position to which
charity eXalts woman, and in the
way opens up vast possibilities be-
fore her, and III Il way most satlsfac-
tory to all, solves the yeXed problem
OF woman's mission.
Again, these thoughts show us
how it is that women make society
what it is. Society is impossible in
amy bat Christian countries. So
ciety was impossible in all ages and
under every form of religion where
women were regarded as inferior.
llindoo sacred books declared that
IGNORANCE is woman's Jewel" The
feminine qualities are four, "ignor-
ance, fear, shame, and impm'ity."
1t shines through the rubbish.
Wherever llindooism bears sway
there exists no possibility of pro-
grcss except downward, for the ban
i, put upon the qualities most need
ed in all reforms, the love, the grace,
the tenderness, and the mercy of
womaus heart.