The San Francisco call., 1897-04-30

the higher education may be attained
Many man or woman has attained by
the nome fireside and in the world
lege graduates have acquired under the
more favorable conditions of the best uni
versIties.
Though our systems of higher educa-
ton but imperfectly attain the ends they
aim for. though opinions differ as TO the
best subject matter and methods, we must
ever be mindful that our higher institu.
tions of learning have ever in view the
welfare of humanity through Their inf1u.
ence on the individual. and that such as
they are they represent the conservators
of the highest ideals of our age and ma.
ton, and IN their permanence and pro-
gressive developm Mt e the highest hopes
for the future prosperity OF humanity"
Mrs. Helen Gardener was then intro
duced, and was enthusiastically received.
MRS GARDENERS PAPER
It has always been thought charming trait
in woman that she so easily "conformsb that
she thinks and believes anything that her
father. brother, lover or husband thinks and
believes or wants her TO suppose that he does.
And il is not until woman comes out from
under cover of conventional usage and says
II don't want TO do this'' and al don't belle We
in that" of her own volition and thought, not
until then will she be fl or strong enough to
I
into free men-Inen who shall be the victims
of neither their enemies nor of themselves
because of their feeble or their vicious inheri-
lance.
am far more accustomed to talk upon the
topic that has been allotted to me before
scientific bodies or 10 practical students OF
heredity, anth ropology, biology and kindred
subjects and therefore may possibly say
things that will sound dogmatic from the
point of view of those who have not made a
special study of the subject. l shall not mean
70 ri shar d0o
harsh, only earnest, and perhaps short cut
TO facts TO face.
fear shall strike less pleasant note than
has been struck by those who have preceded
me- who have so generally dealt with ideals or
who have sung the praise side of the song.
My theme Is scientific. 1t deals with demon
strable facts, and ii goes back of even the kin
dergarten.
If, therefore, 1 should say some things that
seem hars or cruel, remember that the sur.
geon's knife cuts because 1t hopes to strike
the root of the disorder. Remember that sci
entIfic facts are not always pleasant but for
all that hold that 1t is wise for Us TO face and
unders tand them.
There have been a good many kinds of con.
crosses of women in the past few years, since IT
has been gran ted that women have righ to
meet and discuss ANY topics whatever, and
since it has been recognized that woman has
the capacity to think for herself and the dignity
and the poise to express her thought IN pub
lie, without finding it necessary either tc
take ref uge behind her male relatives or tc
But in all OF these congresses. previous tc
the one held recently in Washington, q con
gress of and for mothers had never been
thought necessary. And that was the frs,
racial congress ever held, and it was the
munificence OF California woman that made
thatcongress possible 1t has been freely ad.
mitted By meI snd women alike that there Is
still much for women 10 learn from each other
through mutual effort and consultation upon
any and all subj.ct So far as have beef
able to discover. il has been taken for granted
that since the beginning OF the world all
women have known enough TO be mothers
and that 1t was, therefore, wholly superfuous
for the mothers of the race to convene. as
such, and confer with eacn other about those
topics winch are o! the first and most vital i'm.
portance 10 humanity-that is TO say, abou,
her functions. duties and moral responsible
itlcs as both the creator and the cradle o
mankind. Neither dense ignorance, deform-
ity OF body or mind, i'll health nor criminality
could disqualify her for tile one sphere
which all men joined in asserting was hers by
vine right and In calling holy and lofty
Think OF the sbsurdity OF the proposlti tion
Think of the sacrilegel Think of the uncon
scious indignity!
Poets, statesmen. novelists and artists have
for ages untold striven to eclipse eacn other
in the euIogies of motherhood. On the stage
nothing is so sure OF rspturous applause s IL
some touching Dit of sacrifice which ha,
reached its climax in mothers love
wherein she has yielded all to shield, to pro
tect or to better the condition OF husband oil
child. From the crude, sentimental song:
W0lcn aQYISa tne son 10 SUCK TO your
mother when her hair turns gray" through
the various phases of maternal love and deyo
tlon or sacrifice in the camille type o
thought on aud up 10 the loftlest touches III
art and literature, there Is alike the effort e
celebrate the power. the potentiality and tht
beauty OF motherhood, and TO stimulate tht
sentiments OF gratitude and love and edmira
ton for and emulation of the ideal depicted
But through il all. in the building and matur.
ing OF this ideal, there runs ever aud alway!
the one thread or thought, that selEsacrifi se
seif-aouegaiOn and self-effacement are IN,
grandest attributes of maternity; that il
order TO be perfect, an ideal wife snC
mother the woman must be sunk, the idi
vidual inundated, the ego subjected.
To degree and in sense that Is, of course
true, for the Willingness to go down to ths
gates of death, to face its possibilities for long
weary months, 10 know that suffering and L
fear that death stands as a sure and inevita Die
host at the end OF long journey-to know
this and 10 be willing 10 face II for The sake O
others is heroism, q bravery, self-abnega
tion so infinitely above and beyond the smaI
heroism OF camp or battIe-f field that compsri
son is almost sacrflege.
The condemned man upon whom the death
watch has been set, who cannot hope for ex
ecutive clemency, who is helpless in the
hands OF absolute power, still knows ths
although death NAV be sure physical suffering
Is unlikely, or, at the worst, will be but briei
but he alone stands in the position 10 know
even 10 degree, the nervous strain, the
mental anguish, the unthinking but uncon
trollable panics OF flesh and blood and nerv.
winch woman faces Il the DeDeSts OF love and
maternity and-alas that it can be true!-s
the behests of sex power and financial de
pendence.
But when we study authropology and her
edity we come to realize the indisputs BILE fact,
that her love. her physical heroism. and hel
bravery, linked with her political and
financially subject status, have cast .
physical blight, moral shadow and
a mental threat upon the world
Then we cease TO clap quite so vigorously Al
the theater, and our Tears smiles are
mingled with mental reservations. and a sigt
ior loitier ideal for the meaning and the pur.
pose of maternity than the merely physical
one that has been depicted material sacri
fee TO the child and self-sbnegation and self
subiecton. We begin TO wonder if much o.
the vice, the crime, the wrong, the insanity
the disease, the incompetence and the woe O
the world is not the direct lineal descendant
OF this very selfdebasement OF the
individual character of women in ma
ternity. We begin to wonder II ar
unwilling. a forced. or supInely yield
ing land therefore not self-con trolled) a sub
ject motherhood, in short, is not respon
sible 10 the race ior the weak. the de
formed, the depraved. the double-deal.
ing. pretense-soaKed natures which curse
the world with failures, with disease