The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-01-24
VOMAN'S SACRHDNESS
The Rev. E. 1. stcddard in
His Pulpit Decries the
Modern Tendency to
Unsex Her.
THE DRUDGERY OF WIFEH0 Cd
Husband Should Make His Wife's
Parlor His Clubroom Female
Lodges Condemned,

80
Lodges Condemned,
The Rev. E.. L. Stoddard, Ph.D.s pastor
Of st. Johns p. +. Church. this city,
preached last evening ON THE S~acredness
of Woman. He said in part
Before Christianity. in all nations but
Israel, woman was for the most part a
slave and a plaything. Christianity has
redeemed, e~mancipated and enobled
woman. 1t seems sometimes as il these
modern times were about to transform
her SO that she should be a woman no
more. Do we wish her transformed? Is
not the sacredness of the family largely
based upon the sacredness. of women. The
modern tendency is TO make woman work
like man, TO put her into business ana
politics and give her an active interest in
the management of worldly reforms.
woman and the family? We are not going
to argue tonight, but just talk matters
over The question is not y h tsh i've we
| est of the world about them, relieved from
much of what has been household
| special place to fill where they are. Or
| dc we want to take them out of that
place to make them as much like men as
we can?
The question is, does woman or does
she not, stand for something distinct ana
men each a sphere to fill or are their
| spheres mixed up so that they can inter
| change without loss? In other words,
on the s~anctity of women or does It not?
l assume that it does, and if so then
| feel like asking women If they won't
| please stay women.
81 don't mean for her to stay necessar-
lily as she does, but to stay a woman. or,
If she must change | would rather have
1 49, -. 10 - . - 1, n~AJ II "a ~ man AH MA
have men enough, and poor things many
of us are.
THAT women is not what she ought to
be. that she is often a mere slave, bound
down to household drudgery and irritating
cares which cramp her mind and destroy
her vital energy, | suppose no one doubts.
| don't know that her life is harder than
mans. but 1t is more petty, her sphere is
narrower, more stagnant, more depress-
ing. The mans field is the world, hers
the kitchen and the nursery. Both de-
partments of labor are necessary. both
can be made MOBILES but while one is wide
and elevating, the other. is narrow and
nonotonous. A man battling with the
larger forces of the world day by day
grows strong and wise with each en-
counter. A woman feels her nerves wear
ing away and her mind suffering in petty
and tedious duties. In all this we may
weA hope that modern intelligence and
modern Inventions will make woman's lot
higher and easy. not by taking her away
from the sphere as wife, mother and
genius of the home. but by making it
] easier TO 1ulnll nef duties IlerP. ana III
this a thoughtful husband can bring
great relief even now and in a far better
way than making Of woman a worldly
rival, Let the husband do his best to
| freshen and diversity the rnonotony of
his wife's toll. Let him encourage her
to go out of herself by opening his house
social life. seeking to make her forget
her sarneness of life by such variety as
he can furnish. This course would add
to the happiness of many a home.
sNTbP husband at his business through
the day, meets new faces, hears fresh
news, is stimulated by contact with
old duties and the worn out thoughts.
when you come home to her, don't sit
down behind your paper in silence. Take
| your wife out with you, give her a chance
| at society. ask your friends home with
you, devote yourself to Frightening her
life; if you are alone at least read to
one another DOM retire to your club;
his wife's parlor is the married mans
club. If you must see your friends, see
| them there. If you are ashamed to
| have her see them, you should be asham-
ed to meet them alone. And let wives
encourage their husbands in this. Let
| them, whether they be poor or rich, be
ready to open their houses to entertain
friends-that is what houses are made
for-only don't make a fuss about it.
Do it simply. easily, it will keep your
husbands with you-it viii brighten your
separate interests and so becoming alien
ated.
"A company OF married men together
smoking and telling stories, a company
of married women together gossiping and
drinking tea is unnatural and wrong.
was coming home the other night and
twenty-five women who had been to a
woman's lodge. q Rebecca or a Susanna
lodge, and they had evidently had a fine
| evening. That same night counted I'M
| der the half door of one of our large
saloons the legs of twenty-five men IN
| their lodge. Put the two facts together.
Let women have recreation and even
strong tea by all means, but see IT you
can't invent some way for husbands and
9Th present demand is that women
shall be elevated, her sphere, OF life en-
larged, her mint strengthened, and she
freed from mere empty toll But to do
| this which Is well, we hope It is not neces.
| sary to make her the equal or rival OF
man, which is not well. Nor is IT right
through the rough, hard world of manly
fighting. ] fear we should lose the wom-
en- and gain no more SIre men NJ b M0mah n repre-
| that which is soft, graceful. tender in hui
man life. Man. harsh and depraved
ence which he pays to little or nothing
| else. He respects her purity, admires Der
grace, honors her piety, grows chivalric
| Can man afford to lose this vision of a
more tender, a purer and holier self?
Can women afford to have them lose il.
| But when once she descendsS into the
| worlds arena, how shall this subtle and
mysterious influence be retained.
LET us make woman as much of a
! woman as we can, but let us not bring
| her into competition with man. If she
| IS to be brought into political life to
| purify it, let her begin by purifying her
| husbands and sons. Let her develop all
her resources. be author, painter. teacher.
| but do not let her lose her true self; do
not let her destroy the vital distinction
between herself and man. She needs
mans sheitering arm. man needs her to
draw forth the best that is in him. The
| age of chivalry has gone. The world of
late has grown wonderfully prosy and
| practical; our very poets preach sermons
| science bids fair to turn us all into ma
| hines Let us not be turning women
| into men, destroying poetry altogether,
| and stripping all the flowers of fancy from
! the tree of life. And so the sanctity of
| marriage and the sanctity of home and
! of woman nave a great deal, / think. a
great deal to do with the keeping of the
| commandment, Thou shalt not commit
| adultery -"