The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-03-11
WOMAk'S PROBLEM
The School Question is the
Woman's Question.
1t is Theirs by Inheritance and They Have
Wrest|ed With it through Years Of
Anxiety.

" think this time most suspicious to
urge a general movement of all our edu-
Cationa forces in that direction, and
therefore we appeal to all patriotic men
and women who love their State, and es-
pecially that part of their State which
is worth more than all its timber, lands,
mines and manufacturing plants, TO band
themselves together under the leadership
OF our educational Governor"
l quote the above from a recent issue
of the News and Observer, because |
believe it contains the spring which is
properly touched viii set all the machi1-
cry in motion to accomplish the grand re-
suits to which the educational movement
aspires. That spring is the patriotic
women
The Southern woman does not like to
mingle in politics. She has a strong in
clination to draw her skirts about her
and pass by on the other side" leaving
the men to manage the government in
their own way, and feeling glad to be free
from a responsibility which would Ger
tainly interfere with duties that are more
congenial to her. She hates a campaign
year, and it must be confessed that she
cannot understand how her husband, af-
ter an election, can resume friendly rela-
tionS with men with whom he has en-
gag in a series of moral gonging and bit
ter personalities. She is not made that
wa yand she does not care to try to ex-
ercise her talents in any such manner.
Nevertheless the Southern woman is a
power in politics, and the men know it:
for this reason she is invited to attend
the great political gatherings. where
clever orators tip the point of their argr-
mentS by urging the righteousness Of
their views for her sake; she attends
these meetings with reluctance and onIv
because she is urged to do SO, but when
a crisis IS at hand. and she is appealed to
in behalf Of her home and her children.
then she becomes active in every way
that her Sex and training make possible
and she throws her whole influence on
the side of the man who claims to he
lighting for her cause, and | have never
known a campaign in which the women
took especial interest that did not bring
large results, if not victory to tho cause
which she espoused; but for all that she
does not like politics.
However, there is a public question
that closely concerns the women Of North
Carolina; that is the education OF tho
children. The problem is I~egitimate1v
their own. It is theirs by Inheritance and
thus by long possession. they have
Wrestlcd with it through years of anxietv
and seif-denial, patiently struggling with
the burden as well as they could. though
they, like the Israelites Of old. know that
'hey we're required to make bricks with
out straw" Bricks to render fit tho
walls of the State. The mon of Eo~4b
carolina have never appreciated the diff
iitllIlpS IN tho Wav of DJ,D,+~-. -
have made laws which have never hecn
enforced, end they have made apDropria-
tlohS or money which have in turn toc,.
HilSapFr0prlated by ignorant and incom-
letent officials with the best Intentions.
lheY have paid their children's tuition
at private schools. If they had ANYTHING
20 pay with, and if they had not the chill
dfeh nave been allowed to pick ND what
Information they could at tho puhIic
school, with the help Of the toilinr
mother, who has filed the breach like inc
heroine that she is.
| have known mothers roenac+.b,,
"hlte women with living husbands WIN
TOOK IN washing to pay their childran,e
'hltlon at a good school, and have
known mothers who took in sewing IN oLo
OUT a living, who sat I'D half tho niyb+
ana dld extra sewing to accomplish tho
great purpose.
God alone knows what the state ouo.
70 the mothers of North Carolina. Evon
the educated father gives only . fer,
minutes % inquire into the progress and
occupation of his child's daily life then
ne turns 1t over to the mother as II no !
lan performed the whole duty Of man. /
that the work will 90 on some
now; but he never knows how close i. !
inc intercourse between the motber and
op'id. IS the doors Of learning are ppcned
= !, STANDS on the dark threshold Of
MnoWleoge calling to her to hold a light.
: III she becomes a living dictionary, q |
eiainniar' a history, a mythology, an en- |