Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-08

of women to become wage-earners anu
to seek footing in employments ior-
merly open only to men do not compre-
bend this internal pressure, which 1ar
more than the supposed desire for IN
dependence inspires the movement.
Our literature our system of education,
our changing social ideals, the very at
mOsphere of our time, must bear the
responsibility.
The woman who is merely domestic,
whose first sphere is her home. who Is
content to have learning and accom-
plishments for the sweet joy of them.
Is no longer considered the highest
type of intelligence. She may be
thoroughly good or 1.-The dearest lit
tie home body" but her more worldly
sister receives credit for superior abil-
ity, and she is cOvertly regarded as
choosing a narrower field only because
she has not the capacity for anything
else. The young girl responds to this
atmosphere; If she have a talent she
makes the most of it. for. most nat
urally, she desires to fulfil the hopes OF
those who love her. She studies her
music with an eye to the choir, the
stage, to teaching, to making it pay
some way. Her literary tastes are cui-
tivated with view to their CONNER
cial value-and too often the best that
she might do is sacrificed to paying
mediocrity.
Always. whether she need it or not,
the necessity of earning something IS
before her. since the capacity of earn
ing money is the measure of success.
Her father may be amply able to sup
port her and do it cheerfully. but his
pride is in her ability to do it herself.
forgetting the strain on young hearts
and head. The husband whom she
dreams will find her some day may
know all the gentle virtues that insure
a happy home, but the brightness,
the "brains," the pluck" that win out
in the world draw him on strongly.
1t is sad to contemplate-this army
of young recruits in the industrial bat
tie. Robbed of childhood, they in turn
crowd their elders to the wall and by
their youthful energy and piiancy
create the demand for younger work.
ers to fill all positions. The little they
and the world gain by the early begin
ing is lost in the end.
Not all external are the forces that
bear against the highest ideal OF
daughterhood: the home itself has
contributed not little to its own I'M
doings The ideal of family life has
undergone the most radical changes in
the past quarter of a century, and the
relations of parents to children demand
a degree of companionship undreamed
of a generation ago. Parents and
children must grow together. instead
of the younger developing while the
adult stand still or retrograde. Merely
to have borne a girl child does not
make woman the perfect mother OF
a daughter, and many man has held
| his baby daughter in his arms yet fall
| len far short of being a father to her.
Food and raiment and physical
well-being are small things If heart
and soul be starved. II the emotional
life of the home We're richer. very few
young people would form unfortunate
attachments outside it. But EXPIRES
sions of affection are too often neglect
ed or condemned as silly, or avoided
from q fear of being sentimental. Il
do not remember that my mother ever
kissed me-" said one young friend with
pathos no word could reach. What
n memory to carry over seas TO
strange land.