Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-17

worthy and suggestive
AFbESSG. Is it ominous? Does i
Nm indicate that American
K@&SMEH women are becoming in
MAzzzz9 MIR valids? In the middle
W2 EMbWi and higher circles, is the
%f*EiWnT social pace so exhaus
tive OF vitality that ma
ternlty is failing? May it be justly said
that motherhood is now considered 'bad
form?'
A striking article appeared in one of the
great dailies, the other day, which raised
and discussed these questions with singular
point and delicacy. 1t was a woman who wrote
and she exhibited both feeling and sense
Among other excellent things, she said
whereas our grandmothers looked with ad.
miring pride upon the dozen or more happy
faces, miniature ikenesses of their own,
around the hearthstone, now we could scarcely
nnd IN days walk household among the up-
per 10000 that could boast half dozen mem.
Ders OF the second generation. Does this de-
| crease in domestic numbers point US to what
seems to be psychological fact-viz., that the
friction of many minds from the nursery up to
the salon is necessary to the development OF
genius! 1t would seem so, indeed, when re-
membering that Napoleon Bonaparte was one
OF thirteen children, Benjamin Franklin one of
| seventeen, General Sherman one of eleven
Charies Dickens one Of eight, Glad
stone one of seven or more, DR.. Will
lam Makepeace Thaekeray, grandsire of
tne later namesake, was one of l6 Others
could be cited who have attained eminence in
| one department or another who were one OF
many while instances of an only child's celeb
rity are rare. What possibilities our fashion.
aDle mothers OF t,,,day forego In their narrowed
| home circles! The possibilities of fostering
genius and of gaining for themselves personal
| distinction. for we all remember Napoleon's
| pointed answer when Mime. Sfael asked him
VINO ne considered the greatest woman: "She,
Madame. who IS the mother of the most chill
dren." replied tho greatest general of France
TO the great woman of her day. It is a self-eyi-
dent fact that society women do not have as
many children as those less fashionable, and
the important question to be answered rs:
Which is cause, and which effect? Does the
fashionable life really lessen the Chances of
motherhood, or does it necessitate its decrease:
l, does IT destroy maternity, Or only put it aside
This evil is most pronounced in fashionable
life, 1t is present, however, among what are
called the better classes quite outside of s.so-
ciety"-especially in cities
Is not the cause Of it to be found in the in
creasing artinciality of modern life and the
enhanced cost of living? The cost of large
family Is fearful factor. not to be discounted
in any thoughtful consideration of this vital
subject; and it brings us (as most social uues.
tlQns DO nowadays) face to face with the great
industrial problem. Selfish people who will
live in ease and comfort cannot afford to have
many children. They prefer fine house
fashionable clothes and frequent outings to
nalt dozen cradles in the nursery, with the
confinement and drudgery and responsibility
which these would entail. Hence maternity il
relegated to our foreign-born women. who as
YET, are not sufnclently Americanized to shirk
the noblest function of their sex. The old
fashioned large families are generally found
around their hearth. Meantime our American
families are growing as Prior sings: "Fine by
degrees and beautifully less"
AT the present rate America will repeat
France, where the population is stationary. so
that tne frightened Government, anxious for
the continued existence of the nation. has
offered State bounty to the parents of more
than certain number of chidrpn-so MANY
hundred francs head for each additional one.
But the women are not alone to blame for
1his unhappy and lamentable state of affairs.
The men are equally guilty. They hold the
purse and pay the bills. Their grumbling and
luxurious selfishness goes far to cause This
feminine abdication Of the throne of maternity.
The world slowly forges ahead. In cast
iron India, % new rules of marriage reform
have been proclaimed. Three OF these are
new departures Of radical kind, viz, the cost
of marriage ceremonials has been largely re-
duced; elaborate ceremoniaIs at the time of be-
trothal are forbidden, and. most important of
all, hereafter no girl may be married under IA,
and no boy under lS-a change which rings the
death knell of the iniquitous practice of child
marriage. All this indicates resurrection of
common sense in community dead and buried
for thousand years.
HALF century ago in Turkey it was
considered disgrace for a woman to know
how to read. To-day the Sultan himself
has established two schools for girls in Con-
stanttnople. Seventy years ago Harriet Newell
went to India, to find the women shut mn in
Zenanas, ignorant and degraded. From the
very place where she landed there came to this
country, not long ago. Nine. Joshee. a highly
Brahmin woman, to study medicine
in the Woman's College in Philadelphia And
who would have believed, even 20 years ago.
that high estate Brahmin lady would address
an audience OF her own sex, in choice English,
from an American pulpit. as was the case with
Pundita Ramabia?
GEMS OF THOUGHT are always worthy of |
careful attention. Because thoughts are the
seeds of which action are the harvests. The
thoughts which are in mems minds to-day ara |
morrow. The French Revolution was in the
pages of Rousseau and Voltaire beforeit broke |
out in the streets of Paris.
Attend. then, to these gems Of thought:
No longer talk about the kind of a person a |
good man ought to be, but be such.-Aureliu,
A1ltonius.
HowThou can'st think SO well Of us
And he the God Thou art,
Is darkness to my intellect,
But sunshine TO my heart -Fuber.
The saving power j. not faith, but the Eter-
nal arms in which faith enables us to lie
The Christian is like the rirening corn. tbs
.iper he grows the more lowly he bends his
ad.-Guthrie.
If our religion is not true. We are bound tn
change it; If it is true. we are bound to prac-
ice and propagate it.-Archbishop Whatety
If we would bring holy life to Christ, we
must mind our ireside duties as well as the
lutes of the sanctuary.-Spurgeon
Resign all things unsuitable to thy aes.-Lt-
retttLs.
rhe moving finger writes: and having writ
Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit
shall lure 1t back to cancel half line
ali v0ur tears w sh ont nna vuord |