The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-07-19
Woman as a Helpmeet.
"A perfect woman nobly planned
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WOudu Us d6lpm66ls
"a perfect woman nobly planned
4 10 warn, to comfort and commando
The high vocation of women as mon
1tors of the family circle seems never tt
have received the serious consideration
1t deserves. Advice so commonly giver
to women in regard to the physical
comfort of their households is, for the
most part, unnecessary. A true wo.
manly instinct prevents the majority
from neglecting the minor matters. Ii
is then higher duties which they so often
fail to appreciate and for which they
are commonly too lily prepared. "To
warm" to keep bright the moral armor
of husband, son, father or brother, is a
work worthy of the noblest women. 1t
is work the influence of which is wide
and ever increasing, and which is seen
In its fullness. when some great social
reform is accomplished. And this
grand work is the special duty and
privilege of women whose interests are
confined chiefly to their own homes.
Working women, so called, like all
other bread-winners, are compelled to
think much about sordid things and are
themselves constantly exposed to multi
farious and subtitle temptations. The
fact that frequent contact with evil
tends to blunt human sensibilities
/ makes strong counteracting influence
necessity. This can only be provided
in the pure and noble atmosphere of
true home. So true statement would
hardly bear repeating, were there not
so many family circles in which the
moral influence is by no means the
strongest. Few women doubt their
capacity for home-making and home
keeping. They learn how to sew and
to cook. They prepare themselves
carefully for teaching and other occu-
pations, and they seek to become &C
complished, cultivated and refined, that
they may shine in society. But God
and nature seem to be expected to pre-
pare woman, without her knowledge
or interference, for the most important
duties of home life. The truth is, this
field of labor, more than all others, re-
quires skillfully trained labors. To
really succeed here woman must know
how to observe, to consider, and to act.
They must not only have their own
moral sense thoroughly aroused, but
must keep in constant cultivation.
And if they are in the highest sense
progressive, if they seek an immeas-
urable assistance of intellectual culture
and refinement, they may lead the van of
reform movements without stepping
from the modest retirement of their |
own homes. 1t is their separation, in |
q sense from the world that gives to |
domestic women a peculiarly favorable |
opportunity for moral culture. They |
alone, as personally disinterested OBJ
servers, are able to weigh the worlds |
many temptations, and note the ter
ribie results of its small and great i'm
moralities. They alone, comparatively
free from the binding influence of the
glitter and false colors of evil, can, if
properly enlightened, look upon sin
with the horror it merits.
Such women never connive at, or
condone, wrong, though the guilty per-
son be their dearest friend. For loves
own sake they are unsparing in their
condemnation of all immoral doings,
and shrink almost with terror from the
blood-guiltiness found in the pseudo
charity which makes too light of sin
because of morbidly sentimental feel
ing for the sinner. Moreover, it is
enlightened women who the
most readily and anxiously seek to lift
up the fallen, and whose sympathy and
mercy are most unselfshly offered.
Strong moral support is an absolute
necessity for the success of any good
cause. Every man with an earnest
purpose can look almost with certainty
for the attainment of his object if he
has some one to hold up his hands. So
fully is this realized that no one is sur
prised to hear how this or that great
reformer received his strongest inspir-
alton from.a good wife or mother, of
whom the world knows nothing fur
her.
Indeed, there seems to be no reason
able doubt about the greater part of the
purifying influences exerted upon the
world springs from comparatively OBJ
,cure wives, mothers and sisters who
nave learned the noble duties of their
positions. And their vocation cannot
be too highly exalted; it demands the
:xercise of heart and brain, it asks for
,he highest qualities woman can pos
Jess, but success in it means the great
,st reward obtainable-a pure home, a
world made better, power and influ-
,nce queen might envy, and eternal
assured.