The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-10
THE CAUSE OF WOMAN.
one GREAT EDITORIAL CHORUS OF
PRAISE FOR "MOTHERHO0D."

suffrage, Motherhood ana some Men
MALE" Printers and Female In the Gov
.,pment Printing once In Washington.
,,ars are very few great editors In the coun-
49, Who have been able TO resist the tempta-
A., 20 write a soulful panesyric on the recent
uo,hers' Congress. lnduleins IN the usual
.,.h over "wifehood and motherhood Men
80, help IL because they are so emotional:
,.,rre made them that way. and, Just az the
.,.ht NJ water sends a hydrophooic patient
,n,o conyulslons so the contemplation OF
-,shood and motherhood throws these mo
ao,al creatures into a ft OF hysteria. Imagine
.vsrv woman In the country who has access
~ a new spaper using It to elorify husband
80 and fatherhood. II II were possible
A. gather up every line penned by the thou
.snds OF women in one year all OF IL would
10, he found TO contain as much about mems
.nbaro mems duties, mems mistakes. mems
,.ods NJ could be secured In one week from
,hs masculine writer's. There Is a prevalent
,dss rat conventions OF strong minded women
are called for the express purpose Of beratina
,bs male part OF creation. but II all the crttt-
ci.ms made on men for the past fifty years
.ouIa he collected they would be far outnum-
hsred by those made on women every month
nv VIZ tars of the other sex.
II IS the prevailing custom nowadays to
rrtirlse and lecture women. Even when
,hs ai,ror or the correspondent finds some
thing 20 commend and does It in a liberal spirit
he cannot refrain from winding up with the
s.sreotyped screed on "wifehood and mother
hood" There was a time not Iona ago when
N. stock material Of the joker and caricaturist
Vas the anxiety Of woman to act married.
and an odd maid" was the subject Of scorn.
rdirule or pity. Now, all OF a sudden, tho
whole OF the masculine contingent IL unit
ina 10 a persuasive chorus Of praise and s~lorifica-
Non Of wifehood and motherhood. Poetry
and philosophy. Bibles, aimanaos and CELSIUS
reports are drawn upon Unfortunately to
nrov. that there Is nothing on earth, In heaven
ar the other place one-half 80 nice a TO be
.. wife and mother" What has happened
that nowadays this must be continuously
d,nned into the ears Of womenf Haven't
,bev had a chance TO fnd II out during the
last hundred thousand years. And can't
they tell each other about it and let the men
utilize their valuable time and space In at
tendins to their W affairs?
There never has been a time since the alpha
bet was invented when we have not been SOL
EMMY assured that mother love Is the strong
est passion humanity IL capable OF. From
the period OF Moses down TO June, 1900. We
have been told that God and nature. the proph-
eciss. the Ten Commandments, the beati-
tudes the revelations, the Church, the Pope.
the Bishops. the elders, the editors and the
politicians. intended woman 10 be the mother
OF the race. She would have found II out
herself II nobody ever had told her. With
such an array Of authority behind her how
could she evade the eternal decree, sven II
she wanted tor Why in the nams Of common
sense are all the small fry In creation popping
up at this late day and informins her that
she has got to be what she always has been7
Can IL be possible that at this dawn Of a new
century a free womanhood is about to assert
itself and declare that, as man In all the past
ages has exercised his individual wish as to
whether he will be a husband and father, so
woman henceforth will decide for herself
whether she shall assume the relations OF wife
and motherI
Here Is a little wall from the Paciac Monthly.
published In Portland. Ore. In describing
the beautiful recognition Of Miss Anthony's
eishtieth birthday IL says. We must admit
that her work has gone far toward lettering
conditions and opening the way to hisher
EDUCATION for women. " but continues thus:
And ye, with It all there Is an element Of tragedy In
NE hel tina, she, who for over hall a century has de.
vsmen' has. willingly or othsrwi'e missed The two
things that make a woman's life worth the living
VII. and motherhood And all the honor an admir-
loss ii
Let us take, for example. three women who
have done more perhaps To help humanity than
any other women Of their time and generation
Susan B Anthony, Frances +, Willard and Clara
Barton. Neither OF them married. Will our
sentimental editor pretend TO say that their
Y each had married. brought three or four
children into the world. to make good or bad
citizens, as the case might be. and then passed
on to make room for some one elsel Wil he
back over the glorious results OF their life work
which has blessed thousands and will Be en-
!Syed BY generations to come. they feel that all
this cannot make w the loss" OF not having
had a husband and children
Miss Anthony. with the aid OF a stenographer.
has only recently finished answering over
on her >th birthday. They came from every
civilized country, from associations and clubs,
from individuals in all the walks OF life, each one
filed Win appreciation and gratitude for her
Splendid service To humanity. There were
Beautifully engrossed and Illuminated memoir
ias frow sweden and Denmark; and one from
Great Britain signed by more than a hundred OF
The nobility, statesmen. philanthrophists and
scholars Of that country. glorifying a life whose
benefcence has reached us over the seas"
Would this life have been worth more
W l' NDTlu anu 10 1llss hnluDuy QeT-
sli It's remarkable powers had been
limited to one small household? How ut
tery plierla are such utterances as this
one quoted from the Pacific Monthly and hun
drsia lke II which have been written n the past
and will continue 10 be written In the future.
The woman who marries must give the most and
the best Of herself 10 her family. but there Is q
vast amount Of the worlds work outside OF the
homr which needs TO be done by women and
only the summarized can do H. Every woman has
an absolute right to decide for herself whether
she shall bestow the services Of her life upon the
few or the many.
Here is another edltorial-this one from the
k1nsGpohs journal
IS unfortunate that Miss Anthony's seal for
xonaa suffrage has led her 70 an attempt 70 inject
Ss disturbing question in the National Mothirs'
Songe,N The subject does not pfope fly belong 10
vac NothrrS' Congress Miss Anthony Is not q
mothei herself and knows nothing about the func-
Bringing ap %tt, cSildr ,Tpes sse S.ts a : Is moi ssbblss TO 90 show sns
xhat Connection there Il between woman sun and
We dulles Of mothers What the mothers need is
Then follows a fourth OF a column of advice
= 70 tns best methods Of bringing up children.
to'toWlhE out hrs own logic We are compelled
70 oei!eye that the editor Of the polls
solrHdI i both a wife and a mother.
ihe9 there : the Ior1 state Register whose
eutor mates the thought of, woman suffrage
sula, other fellow does holy water. but who
xushed all over the editorial page every day OF
ue mothers congress.
W Al things on earth motherhood II the most
~ sG'IlI Adorable and sacred. and. OF all mothers,
Yang was managed 10 perfection and We
nlNl - g~tatulste the ladies upon the thorough and
Tsfsr, IKE manner In which they conducted
On a. The unusual and Inspiring scene TUESDAY
W. mlEsht came 10 us. what greater honor could
sS,TI,An AK tHan 10 sit In that presiding ofncers
,nolghI Of vhy should some women prefer 10 fght
FAl Y The Ststr House OF Representative or