Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-05-12
WOMAN AND HOME.
A FAMOUS DAUGHTERS TRIBUTE TO
A NOBLE MOTHER.

A NOBLE MOTHER.
Women of Canada-Itemarks About Linen.
The burning of Waste Food-Work That
Wealthy Women Do-WOmen Dress Now
For Women-Points For the Stout.
Frances Willard says of her mother:
She never talked about woman's rights in
the early years of her children, but we
somehow felt and knew that she was a free
spirit. AS st. Paul says, she was Stree
horn" She went about her work with q
,ertain dignity that could not be mistaken.
A sense OF self respect, but not of self as
sertion, must have impressed all who knew
her. She accepted the circumscribed lot Of
women, but was perfectly aware that she
had in herself the ability to nave filled a
larger place in the world. Yet, as she went
about her household cares it seemed as il
she understood what good George Herbert
meant in those oft quoted lines:
A room we'll swept. as by Gods laws,
Makes that and the action fine.
Only one occasion do l recall when tho
subject of woman's rights was mentioned
between my father and my mother. About
the year 1851 my father came home from
the adjacent town which he visited almost
daily and to which the rest of the family
went but u few times n year. He was in re-
markable spirits, and as he paced up and
down the sitting room, according to his
wont, while mother busted her swift fingers
with the family mending, he said, I'VE
heard today in the city that Neal Dow has
carried out his idea beyond what anybody
supposed would ever be, and the law has
been adopted"
My father was in political life and was
one of the Ii Free Soil members in the leg
islature of Wisconsin who in 1S49 voted for
a similar law. Pausing in his swift career
up and down the room, he said to mother,
standing before her with his arms folded,
when do you suppose that our poor rum
cursed Wisconsin will ever nave a law like
that?" Whereupon mother, dropping her
needle and looking up into his face with a
sudden glow of enthusiasm, replied, Il
think, Josiah, there will be a law just like
that all over the nation some day when
women vote"
My father was q great conservative so far
as the question was concerned,
though progressive on most other subjects.
He seemed much shocked, and putting on
his look of irony which we understood so
well and dreaded not a little, he said. per
haps you will be good enough to tell me
how it is o be brought about that women
shall voter" Mothers enthusiasm was
dampened. She looked no longer into his
face, but into the glowing winter fire, and
said: II shall have to answer that question
in Scripture language, even as Paul did
when he said to his jailer: You have put
us into prison, we being Romans. You will
just have to come and take us OUT" They
spoke no more upon the subject; but, sit
ting by, a little pitcher with large ears, l
drank in and have never forgotten the suf-
frage speech made by my mother-the first
and we'll nigh the last that l ever heard un-
til ! began to make such speeches on my
WI account 20 years later.
When my mother was so and sat for her
picture, Anna Gordon, wishing to induce
that lighting up of the countcnance on
which the operator so much insists, stood
where mother could see her, and, pointing
with her playful finger, Laid off" to moth
er her full belief that, old as she was, she
would live long enough to vote. Several
pictures were taken on that occasion, but
the one in which Anna played this part has
a smile most characteristic, one that shows
how thoroughly that sunny nature loved
the beams of light that fructify the mind
and make up what we call progress.
The last time mother ever left the house
except to take a morning ride was on a
cherries day of April before her death in
August, when she, who had already taken
the trouble to register her name, although
the ballot was only permitted to women for
school officers, went with other progressive
women of Evanston, climbed the stairs to
the public room where the ballot box was
located and cast in her first and last vote.
She write to me about it quite in detail
and with great interest. That was the last
letter of the hundreds l had received and
cherished from her kind and faithful hand.
The Women of Canada.
Much comment has been made of late
about the freshness and brightness of Ca
madam matrons. The climate. their rather
regular, simple habits and various other
reasons have been given for this, but one
of the best explanations was recently
voiced by a woman, an able physician.
who has had an extended practice among
the better class of women in Canada.
She says that these people eat enough
pickles, preserves, sweets and rich food to
entirely destroy the digestion of the aver
age American. Their habits are simple in
a way. Their diet is in nan respects afro
cious, gagged by hygienic rules. The secret
of their health and strength, especially
among the matrons and younger elderly
women, according to this statement, is that
when Canadian girls marry they accept the
responsibilities that come with their new
condition not only without protest but with
q certain degree of willingness. They rarely
war against nature. but take excellent care
of themselves, and as a consequence have
better health and better times than many
of their American sisters. Being ques-
toned as to the truth of this. a Canadian
woman somewhat noted for her freshness
and youthful appearance, although the
mother of Il large family Of rollicking
youngsters. said:
when Canadian girls marry, they take
it for granted that if they are to have fam
lilies the wisest thing for them to do Is to
make the best of it, take good care Of them
selves and try to make their children and
their homes happy. When the children ars
grown or partly so, the mother has an idea
that she has earned a little recreation and
pleasure. The older OneS are taught to care