Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-02-04
w. G. T. U. COLUMN.
About Women.
BY H. K. BAKER.

YORK city reformer, has pronounced bis
Judgment against women suffrage. The
most radical men are conservative in
somc things, and often the most conser
yatiye are radical in spots. We all draw
line somewhere | have have seen in
the Daily Journal report fno doubt i'm
perfect) of Rev. Mr. Cummings lecture
on this and collateral subjects. Mr.. C. is
captivating speaker and bis opinions
are entitled to weight But the last word
mas not yet been said on the topic of his
lecture Judges and legislators and great
men nave resisted and rejected the suf-
rage movement Of the women But it
Goes not follow that the humblest indi
Vidual shall have nothing to say.
Mr.. Cummings says that Moses was a
great man, but his mother was slave.
What does he mean us to inter from
that Is it that it is no matter what the
mother of a great man was, and that an
she has to do is to bear son, and leave
the rest to Providence or fatcs I have no
doubt that Moses mother was a woman
Of high principle and intelligence and
that it was by her shrewdncss his life was
saved; and furthermore that in the early
years when she had the care and control of
the boy, she instillcd into his mind the seeds
OF godiinfss, that all the arts of Pharaoh
daughter and Egyptian teachers could not
afterwards eradicate. Some one has said,
When God means to have a great man,
He first makes a great woman for his
mother
But Mr.. Cummings says the entrance
Of women into the various occupations
las reduced the wages Of men. The diff
Guilty of this assertion is, that the wages
Of men have not been reduced, but are
higher now than they were 30 years ago
when women filled none of these occupa-
tions. And this although we have opened
wide our doors TO Irishmen, Canadians,
Italians, Poles, Hungarans, Russians,
Jews, etc, who compete with onr own
workers o. ~
Then we have the old stock argument
that women were intended for wives
Let that be admitted; but were they made
for nothing else? In the states of Massa-
chusetts and New York, each, there are
about 100, 900 more women than men
What shall we do with them? 1t will
hardly do to take a census of them, and
kill Off the surplus. In some heather coun-
tries they drown the female infants as
soon as they are born but to massacre
100, 900 adults would be worse than the
massacre of St. Bartholomew. They
must support themselves, or some one
must support them.
Complaint is made that girls are not
educated to do homework and make
homes When were they so educated? In
our old school laws female teachers We're
only to be examined in reading, writing
and the elements of arithmetic. Many never
got as far as that. They learned to spin,
and perhaps to weave. AS to cooking in
those days, it was an art that was little
known, and the teaching and facilities
for doing it are now much improved
But are boys educated to be good hus-
bands? Mr. Cummings gives the number
of divorces, and he says the majority Of
these arc on complaints of the wives.
What does this prove? The fair inference
is that there are SO many idle, careless,
unloving and brutal husbands, who are
either unfaithful. incorporate, or abuse
and desert their wives.
The opponents of women'S progress
seem to attribute the numerous divorces
to the education of women. little re-
Election win correct this error. Lock
about you Are the divorces usually found
amongst the men and women well cdu-
Gated? There are some in the wealthy
Families, but mostly arising from dissipa
ton But most of the divorces are found
amongst those not educated, or very i'm
perfectly SO. The better woman educa-
ton the better wife and mother she will
make If her husband is man of culture
and intelligence, she is his companion,
his counselor, his bosom friend; and she
win train up her children in the way they
should &C.
Think of the influence Of such wife
and mother 1t is pervadipg and lasting,
The sons and daughters of an amiablr
igonorant mother may love her. but she
cannot be the power for good TO them as
she could and will be if cultured and well
educated The influence of an Intelligent
mother especially if pious. will be life
long over her children.
As TO women voting that will come in
time. and the world will be astonished
that It was ever otherwise.