The Republican journal., 1902-03-20
WOMAN IN HER HOME AND IN
THE GRANGE.

AM, klOIHItIlN VI MOI III, me-, anu I6ttu
by her at the Goth annual convention of the
California State Grange at Petaluma, Oct.
1901.
she looketh we'll to the ways of her
household, and eateth not the bread of
ideness. "-Proverbs 31:27.
Woman in the Home and in the
Grange is the subject under considera-
ton, and my subject leads us to the
inquiry, What is Woman'S appropriate
sphere of action, and the duties which
devOlve upon her? In times past there
were complaints from even sensible
women at the narrow limits assigned
TO their education, but in recent years
woman has sufficiently vindicated both
her rights and ability to enter into COM
petition wherever she pleases, in the
department of prose or poetry, of
science or philanthrophy, with the
wisest and best of men. We need
mention but few of our writer's: Louisa
NJ. Alcott, who has written so much
for children and the young people: Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, who stirs the deepest
thought i'll our natures, as we'll as many
other writers of the past and present.
But home IS WOman'S natural sphere
of action. She is an index to her hus-
band and children: each day she is
writing unseen words on the fair pages
OF childhood Mother is the light to
which they turn she should be endoW-
ed with wisdom and good natural judg-
ment; be able to direct her children il
eye~y right path until they come to
years of discretion. Her home should
be haven of rest Her own house
hold is the kingdom in which with her
MD "a Che bpSt ,ha ma "
go out beyond it. but only as the mis-
sionary goes out from his own land, to
seek a field OF labor less pleasant, less
cOngenal to his taste. 1t constitutes
the exception TO the ordinary routine
OF her life, and in general all she can do
elsewhere is nothing, compared with
Fer home influence and her home labor.
Ii all women performed their part well
here, there would scarcely be any work
III the departments of morality and re-
lgiOn left undone. It is sphere in
which every woman can labor with sue
cess, and with the majority, it is the
only one in which success and happi-
ness can be at the same time secured.
And we may further add. that what
ever may be her success elsewhere and
however useful she may become, she is
seldom an object of admiration unless
in Ter home influence she is also bless
ed. that home may be under her
fathers or her husbands roof, just so
it is home.
Some may say Why should her in
tluence be more limited than that of
man. We answer, that our real iniu-
eEce is often stronger for being limited
IN its immediate action. The wider
diffusion of our efforts lessons their
strength, and sometimes prevents their
efficacy The greatest heat for practi-
cal purposes is produced by an inStru-
ment which concentrates the flame
upon single point: the hardest metals
cannot then resist its power. But the
same heat ditfused very little is of no
avail and so do We often see that the
concentrated influence of affection is
strong enough in the sacred precincts
Of the family relation to melt the dross
from the most stubborn heart, when all
outside influences lave had no effect
Again it must be remembered that the
home influence extends beyond home
The best way to purify stream is to
cleanse its fountain, and less effort will
accomplish the work if begun there.
The great current of society is created
by those thousands of little streams.
which are pure OF impure according to
the character of our homes. TO purify
them or keep them pure is chiefly Wo-
mans work. DO you think an anarchist
could be born and bred in a pure Amer
lean home, where Woman. the mother,
ruled by her loving influence, and taught
her children the love of home and Ma
tive land and their duty to God and
man?
Men sometimes speak contemptuous-
ly of Woman'S work, forgetting how
much their happiness depends upon its
faithful discharge, and women are apt
to admit that their employments are
unlmportant, compared with those of
men, but careful thought will show us
that our comfort, our happiness our
Improvement and our general Weil-be-
ing depend more upon what is called
Woman's work, than upon mans
Not SO much depends upon business
and the annual income at the end of
year, as upon the judicious manage
ment and Skillful ordering OF domestic
life. We may be happy with small
income if the home department is prop
erly managed, where the mother. if
necessary, can wear hat the secoud
season and be happy, where work be-
comes a pastime where her heart is
LUZ VI loNC lcI ilCl ldHlly tNOIIe Oll6
has said that the eXigencies of fashion
destroy more women than the pressure
of toll or SORROW. We believe that the
blind obedience to the behests of fash
ion which nowadays holds such power
over many, works a greater trangres-
sion than the hardships of comparative
poverty; the poor woman, who has
little to cheer her in her daily toll, often
outlives her most fashionable sisters.
The housemaid is often stronger and
more cheerful than her mistress who is
ruled by the latest fashion or fad
Home, the true woman's citadel, must
rise above these destroying influences
to higher plane We desire to magni-
fly, although we cannot exaggerate, the
Importance of Woman'S work in the in
stitution of home, the more SO because
this is the best means of elevating wo-
man in the scale of social life, to the
point which belongs to her of right 1t
is the nursery of republican simplicity
and republican virtue. 1t is the whole
some restraint upon our eagerness, an
influence greater than patriotism, and
from which the purest patriotism
springs. 1t binds us to the love of
peace. The foundations of our free
institutions are in our love, as peo-
pie, for our homes. The strength of
our country is found, not in the declara-
ton that ali men are free and equal,
but i'll the quiet influence of the re-