The times., 1897-08-08
THE CONGRESS- OF MOTHERS.

Issued 1t makes book OF conSt1eFdoio
size and much interest, and contains, OF
course, all of the speeches in full. From
some paragraphs which went floating
about the country, penned by the more
or less idle and uniformed scribbieT, it
might have been supposed that these
speeches We're made principally BY men, or
unmarried women, who, Of course, could
not be supposed to know anything what
ever of the training of children In gianc-
ing over the index, however, one is
forcibIy struck with the fact that out OF
the tbirty-one speeches made at the con-
ference fnIly two-thirds were made by
women whose names began "'Mfs-" OF
the other third, three OF the unmarried
women were kindergartners, and one,
physical culture teacher, spoke on that
topic.
One OF the men who spoke was Frank
Hamilton Cushing. who related his OBJ
servations of Zuni women, and as bis
facilities for observation in this direction
probably have been better than those
of any married lady IN the United States, III
a paper on motherhood among Uneivilized
races was to be had, that was probably
the best way to get IT, Another OF the
masculine speakers was q musician OF
some prominence, who spoke OF music In
the home; another was a man who has
spent u large part of bis life in studying
children scientifically, and still another
speaker was physician.
The gathering was, in short, simply a
gigantic enlargement of the oId-fashioned
neighbOrho0d sewing society, against W hich
the most rampant opponent of women's
rights never breathed a word, and as
fol- the children OF the speakers, they were
frequently brought along TO enjoy Wash
ingtOn with their mothers, or, If they
were not, grandmothers and aunts still
exist in the world, and the child who can
not exist one week without It's mother
is something or a rarity. The mothers
congress was grand success The only
people who attempted TO find fault with
it. were people WHO proved by their inc0r-
rect remarks that they knew nothing
whatever about it except throughtheir own
fertile imaginations-
Mr.. Cusfing's paper on the Zunis, which
was a part OF the first days program,
is one OF the most beautiful as we'll as
most interesting of all the addresses, and
no woman who heard it could have failed
to feel more deeply that human nature
and mother nature are the same every
where, and that in many races known tO
US as sayages there are tender and poetic
customs and gentle traits, and deep thought
and feeling, which put many so-caIIed-
civilized nations TO shame Honorins
motherhood, as the first and most divine
relation OF the human race, the Zunis
regard the mother with a reverence which
Is part OF their very nature, not put
on as a. chivalric custom, as it is too
often done IN Anglo-Saxon civilization.
1t is a melancholy fact that about two
| Thirds of provertial Indian wickedness IS
| 'he result of contact with the white man.
/ Civilization does not consist in railways
| and machinery and printed caIicoes, but in
| high thought and kindly actions, and the
J ancient civilization of the Zunis was in
this respect very far Above the ortinary life
/ Of the American white man. So it would
/ appear, a { least. from Mr.. Cushing's de-
! scription, ard he surely ought to know for
the man who lives in peace among 2 people
! always knows them better than the man
who meets them In war
In hook so full of interesting papers,
one cannot pick and choose, but may only
| quote at random, sure that any selection
| VIII be good On the same afternoon OF
Mr.. Cushing's address came a short paper
| from Mrs Frances Harper, of Philadelphia.
on Tine Afro-A merican Mother in which
she says:
II do not ask any special favor for the
cOloTed mother. Only let US be tried by
the same rules and judged by the sams
standards as are other people But 1 do
ask you 70 give what we cannot touch
with our hands, the ideal things that cannot
be measured nor weighed just those things
which gold is too poor TO buy-kind words
and holy wishes I ask that you VIII do
| what You can do to create a public opin-
ion which will not class the worthy and
the worthless together. If you want us
to act as women, treat US as women >.
Now, il there is anything un-American
or unreasonable in this, what is il?
| Mrs Ballington Booth spoke on ''Nothera
TO the Motherless." She thinks that the
woman whose heart is large enough 10
take in some of the unmothered of the
world viii be no less the embodiment
of all tenderness and care 70 her own
little ones AS a matter of fact, if all
women could realize their duties To the
motherless little ones OF their neichbOrs there
would be no need OF herding them out
in orphan ssylums
One of the particularly earnest md well
written papers was by Mrs. Alice Lee
Moque, on Reproduction and Natural
Law She is OF the opinion that hap
hazard marriages and reckless seIf-ind ulg-
ence are responsible for much OF the sin and
weakness of the race, which is probably
true; and she insists emphaIicaIy unat IL
is the duty Of every man and woman OF
marrying age TO see that the coming race
is horn right 1t is not her idea that
God wishes human beings to come into the
world with defective bodies and mind,
and morals. Somebody is responsible fol
these happenings, and Mrs. Moque make.
her point so plain that anybody can see
it and feelit
Mrs. Cotton, OF Falkland, N. c., spoke
in most interesting way OF "A National
Training School for Women" 1t has been
d bewildered impression in the minds O
many people that the higher education oI
women was missing its mission some
where, If it did not train them to be home
Keepers and good wives and mothers
There We're people who objected to al
higher education Of women on that ac
count. But Mrs Cotton's idea is that suct
training Is possible in other ways than IL
the old. helter-skeIter fashion, in which tn.
daughter of good mother was vel
trained, and the daughter OF an incom
petent mother, or the child whose nIothe
was not living, got lao training at all.
She plans a way in which this education
shall be given scientifically, and all tn
helps which women formerly go6 from
each other, or from their husbands,
| their husbands happened to be ScientiI