Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-11-26
A Danger Signal.

In these days, when women may
| choose from almost as many occupG-
tions as their brothers, there is danger
that the bread winning occupations Will
receive undue attention IN comparison
with that given the old-time occupation
of the home-making. 1t is popular
now for parents to give the girls trade
! and it is going to become more popular
year after year, unless II becomes
cause of too great a neglect of the prin-
ciples of home making, for there Il few
parents who do not want their daugh-
ters to be independent, whatever posi-
tion they may assume III the abstract
discussion of the subject.
This is especially tr1e of mothers
who have been obliged 70 feel their de-
pendence, and have been far from
happy in consequence. Men who have
so much to say against the advancement
of women would be surprised and
| chagrined If they could know how
much they were doing, 10y their often
siye attempts to assert their super;ori Y,
to make women strive still harder for
advancement.
These mothers are apt to become
over-confdeut, and carried away by the
! one idea that the daughter is to have o
business education, aud be made inde.
pendent of the duties which they hava
found SO Irksome
"My daughter will not be likely 10
marry" said lady few days ago,
because she is sbundantly able to take
care OF herself. l have not neglected
to show her something of the life which
q married woman Is compelled TO lead,
and to compare it with the freedom and
| independence of the woman who takes
care OF herself"
That may be all very well, but there
j. something of at least equal impor-
tance which this complacent mother
has neglected, and that Is the persist
ence shown by Mother Nature in the
carrying out of her plans. Girls do
not marry so early in life when given the
means of independence, and large pro-
portIen of them do not marry at all (;
but the fact remains that most of them
do marry, and no mother las any
right to delude herself with the hope
that her girl will not be one of them,
and therefore will need none of the edu-
cation which will fit her to be a true
home-maker. The adoption ofthatcourse
virtually places her in opposition TO the
true principles of independence, by
weakening the influence OF the home,
and renders il less possible for the girls
of the future to attain that independ-
ence which she Graves for her own.
She should remember that women are
held in highest respect in those cum
tries where the home is most sacred.
The principles of home making
should be considered of the greatest
Importance In the education of every
woman without regard to any anticipa-
ted future station in life. The woman
who is given a business education will
come nearest 70 being an ideal wife and
mother if her home training has not
been neglected; but it is fact that too
many mothers of the present day are
made 50 blind by the unpleasantness Of
their own lives, that they are really IN
fit to train their daughters in any but Il
one-sided way, and the greatest hope
for the homes of the next generation
lies in the amount of outside influence
which can be brought to bear upon our
semi-independent girls by those who
are broad-minded enough to see both
sides of the question, and to realize and
point oatth dangers which arise from
too close adherence 10 either side.