Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-20
Born To Marry And Keep House.
Woman's Journal.

The end of woman is to marry and
raise up a famaily. She starts out in this
direction when she carries a doll in child
hood. Your girl who leaves home and
goes out for herself does so because she
has failed to find the man she wants to
marry. By and by she does find him and
when she does she drops everything and
goes with him. She stops short in her
music, her acting her art her literature
or whatever it is because after she follows
her instinct tells her to marry and she
follows her instinct instead of her reason
A man can marry and go ahead in the
particular pursuit or profession he has
chosen but the woman stops and subjects
everything to the one duty of wifehood
That is the reason women do not sue
ceed as well as men. They fall short
Grant all this for the sake of argument
Admit that it is the general mission of
woman to marry and raise up a family
But [ am now writing about the excep-
tiOns. There are exceptions to all classes
all rules all theories and all PHILOSOPHERS.
Most women do mary young and that is
right. That is as far as most of them
want to go, They are fitetd for this sort of
life and have no desire or fitness for an
other
But are you going to make one kind of
girl do this when it is a strait jacket
and an denomination to her? In other
words is she to marry simply for the sake
of marrying, and ''settle down" simply
for the sake of settling down? Why not
allow her to follow her natural bent as
well as the young man? True, she may
as my objector says find some man while
herself following successful career whom
she will love and whom she will marry,
thus cutting short work that might
otherwise have been rounded and made
complete. True woman are not as COM
pletely successful as men in the more in
dependent pursuits of life. But the point
which I wish to make clear and emphatic
is that society and the woman herself,
and the man she marries and all directly
or remotely concerned are the better for
her having done even something for her
self however little.
repeat that the self-reliant woman is
civilizer. The busy world is improved
by her having been a participation, Her
words are gentle and kind and her pres
ence is restraint to the headlong i'm
petuosity of men. Even though she may
not remain long with US single let US be
thankful that she come at all. If she
ldllS Ill lOft duu IudII1cS tftIl dG bll6 sac
rifice of an independent career her life
after all is not in vain. Her own views
have been broadened her sympathies
have been deepened her capacity for en-
joyment made greater and her scope for
usefulness widened. I say again and
again let the ambitious girl see what she
can do for herself.
Providence Journal: A story is told of
a Boston doctor, though I do not know
upon what authority. Ina crowded church
the deacon with the contribution box made
his difficult way up the aisle and held that
receptacle for the cash of the charitable,
suggestively before the young man. Il
am very sorry ,sir, the doctor said, to the
infinite scandal and establishment of all
about him, ''but the woman with the pink
bonnet has taken my purse and | can't
have her arrested until after service, so