The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-02-11

| IUlhklIdt4OA Ia JILL
triumph, or revealing in some scene
of gayety and dissipation. Her hus-
band comes to his home TO find It
empty, or occupied by one whose
heart is void of affection for him.
Then arise disputes, quarrels, re.
ordinations, arrangements, and
the last act in the drama is often di-
vorce.
I speak the sober truth when I
affirm that, for the wrecks of fami-
lies in our country, woman has a
a large share of the responsibility.
In so many instances she seems to
have entirely forg often, or purposely
avoided, the place she is called upon
to fill. She looks to material great.
ness in a man as her guiding star.
She wishes to do what men have
done, and are doing. She enters
this field, foreign to all her faculties
and her strength, and seems to think
she is living up to a higher stand
ard than was ever before permitted
to her kind. But if she stopped a
moment to consider, could she find a
mission more exalted, more noble or
more influential than Christian wife
hood and motherhood? That makes
her the helpmate of her husband,
and the guide and teacher of her
sons and daughters, rather than a
stumbling block in the way of
all.
If woman would only remember
that her influence over a child the
first few years of its lite can have
greater effect, and produce wider
and more lasting results, than her
whole life given up to walking in
the ways of menl
Where are the men that have
achieved triumphs and have not
owned the debt was largely due their
mothers? What know we of the
mothers Of the worlds greatest men,
save that most of them were faith.
full to their holy station and true to
the high privilege of motherhood
the most divinely sanctioned and the
noblest of all earthly p%ositionsP
Christianity set it's endearing seal
OF this queendom in Bethlehem cen.
turtles ago, and the woman who seeks
a higher sphere will not find it
among men, or even in earth.
But the tendency of the times is
altogether apart from such things.
Women must be independent, and
masculine. They must even indulge
in all the sports formerly olassed as
masculine. They take to these not as
occasional pleasures, but as constant
pursuits. I see no harm in a woman's
taking part Once in a while in a
game of golf, or any other outdoor
exercise that BELTS her station. She
is not to be housed like a plant, and
never allowed the bene fits derived
from fresh air and moderate exer.
else. Any proper outdoor pursuit
should be encouraged as an occasional
recreation, but as a regular avooa-
ton it must be condemned. For
pleasures that become habitusl are
no longer mere r~eoreations, but sc.
rious occupations.
Then there is the woman who must
join a club, OF per haps two or three
clubs. These will require her pres
enoe or attention several hours of the
day. How Sal she do all this and at
the same time fulfill the duties of
domestic life? After the labors of
the day the husband rightly expects
to find a comfortable home, where
peace, good order and tranquility
reign. But his heart is filed with
sadness and despair If he finds the
partner of his bosom attending a
club, or neglecting her household
duties for those of some semi-politi.
a or social organization.
There is another phase Of this
great question which presents a most
dangerous aspect. When the home
is abandoned, what follows9 The
substitution of flats and hotels as
residences, where, instead of having
a home in any n of the word,
women are merely escaping the re-
sponsibilities and the are Of do
mestic life.
But if domestic life has it's cares
and responsibilities-and what life