The Osceola times., 1884-08-23
Woman as u Helpmest.
The Current.
"A perfect woman, noble planned

"A perfect woman, noble planned
To warn. to comfort and command
The high vocation of women as the
monitors of the family circle seems nev.
er to have received the serious consider
alton it deserves. Advice so comm My
given to women in regard to the physi-
cal comforts of their households is, for
the most part, unnecessary. A true
womanly instinct prevents the majority
from neglecting those miner matters. 1t
is their higher duties which they so Of
ten 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 broth
er, is work worthy of the noblest wo-
men. 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
Workingwomen, so called, like all other
breadwinners, are compelled to think
much about sordid things and are them
selves constantly exposed to multifarious
and subtle temptations.
The fact that frequent contract with
evil tends to blunt human sensibilities
makes strong counteracting influence
a necessity. This can only be provided
in the pure and noble atmosphere of a
true home. So trite a 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 teach
ing and other occupations, and they seek
to become accomplished, cultured and
refined, that they may shine in society.
But God and nature seem to be expected
to prepare woman, without her knowl-
edge or interference, for the most i'm
portant duties of home life.
The truth is, this field of labor, more
than all others, requires skillfully train
ed laborers To really succeed here
women must know how TO observe to
consider, and to act. They must not
only have their own moral sense thor
oughly aroused, but they m'ist keep it
in constant cultivation. And if they
are in the highest sense progressive, If
they seek the immeasurable assistance
of intellectual culture and refinement,
they lead the van of reform movements
without stepping from the modest re-
tirement of their homes. 1t is their
separation, in sense, from the world
that gives to domestic women pecul-
iarly favorable opportunity for moral
culture. They alone, as personally dis
interested observers, are able to weigh
the worlds many temptations and note
the terrible results of It's small and great
immoralities. They alone, comparative
ly 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 con-
done wrong, though the guilty person
be their dearest friend. For loves own
sake they are unsparing in their con-
demnation of all immoral doings, and
shrink almost with terror from the blood
outlines found in the pseudo charity
which makes too light of il because of
a norbidly sentimental feeling for the
sinner. Moreover, it is morally enlight-
ened women who the most readily and
auxiously seek to lift up the fallen, and
whose sympathy and mercy are the most
unselfishly offered.
Strong moral support is an absolu c
necessity for the success of any good
cause. Every man with an earnest pur-
pose 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 ipspira.
ton from o good wlIe Sr .lcsS.t., Il