The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-15

said in a witty speech: ''Wcmcn have grown weary of the burden of maternity They have borne 1t for 5000 years. They think it Is about time the meen LOOK a turn at It." and tnis outrageous sugges- ton was laughed at and appiauded by all the ladies present.
 My, Dr. Shrady," t1cy say, where do you live that ycu have not discovered that the world has advanced? Wifeaood and maternity are no longer the chief aim of womankind. Women have other affairs to attend to nowadays. We have our re- forms, for one thing. The most of us are very busy reforming something. The woman who doesn't get busy these days reforming some abuse Is a noaetlV We have cur leagues. our clubs, our organi- zationa cur chapters, our counciis-we have no time to bear and nurse babies. Let the women who have no brains at tend to that sort of occupation. You can't expect hrainy woman to spend her time In a nursery"
 A woman says to herself: "Why should endure untold anguish and pain? Why should I deprive myself of the pleasures of life? Why should 1 shut myself up in d nursery and become merely breed- HE H1tilnc. l NGI uO II.
 D- Parlthurst very sens5ly says that tEe life women lead in a great city make them absolutely unfit to become mothers and the one or two children they do bring in the world are likely to pay by their weakness for the nerve-racliing strain under which their mothers has lived.
 This good doctor evidently numbers so- ciety and club ladies among his acquaint- ances. Many women do not want to be bothered with children" he says. They grudge the interruption such an event would cause In their crowded social life.
 Both physician and clergyman might go further and speak piainer. They might say, and with truth. that this revolution against maternity Is a chief factor in tho mass of immortality In great cities.
 The average American wife after hay ing borne her husband two or three chill dren gives him frankly to understand that she considers she has done her duty by him and that he need expect nothing more from her. She then closes her eyes to what follows.
 Not long since a beautiful married wo- man who has had three exquisite chill dren said to me: "No more babies for me. I'm through. I've more than done my duty, and I've given my husband to understand The situation very plainly"
 The trouble about the eight or ten ten ement children Is that they are. as a rule. undesirable additions to the popula- ton. They grow up in squalor, disease and sin. to recruit the big army of crim- inals. So 1t Is question. after all, whether the mother has done we'll"
 The mothers that should bring useful, desirable. healthful children in the world are dancing at an assembly or running a State Federation. I tell you, mother hood is not In vogue. "They" are not mothers nowadays.
 Nor do I believe that women will ever voluntarily go back to the days of sweet subiection to husband and children. They have had their taste of freedom and in- dependence and they will not readily re- linquish their privileges. The camel has got his nose in the old mans hut and he will keep on squeezing in until the old man Is out in the cold. As a matter of fact. he Is pretty well out there now.
 Men are somewhat to blame. They have encouraged women in many of their pro- gressive movements. Many men like to see their wives shine socially and there are husbands-strange as 1t may seem!- who admire their wives sitting upon a platform in their best black silks with gavel in their hands.
 So they need not complain. They have helped mix their medicine. and they should take their dose and look pleasant As for the future of the country. we'll the poor country-I suppose 1t will peg along some way.
 Edith Sessions Tupper.