The Savannah morning news., 1904-04-24
WOMAN'S WORLD

I sympathetic, but we never pay any
tribute. or write illustrated interviews
with Martha who is doing more than
| all OF them combined. In her we only
see a woman whose hair Is growing
gray, whose cheeks have lost their
bloom, and her voice its viVacity' ana
she seems nothing more than dull
gray background against which the
brilliancy Of her family shines out.
know such a family as this. in
which the only two that are left in
the old home are the old mother and
the old maid daughter. Sometimes l
go to see them, and the old mother al
ways points 10 a group of photographs
on the wall, of handsome prosperous,
well-dressed men and women her sons
and daughters.
They are my children" she tells me,
the top one is Tom. He is a lawyer.
A Judge in California and they say
that he is sure some day TO be put up
on the Supreme Bench. The woman
in the evening gown is my daughter
Jennie. Yes. yes. she is very beautiful
She married a rich man in the East
l have never been there myself for l
am too old 10 travel but they say she
lives in a palace and dresses like
princess. The next one is Adele. She
is a great singer. you know IN Ne"
York. She had magnIncent voice,
and we gave her every advantage al
though we were poor, and we had TO
scrimp and pinch 10 do it, but she Is
famous now. and I am proud Of her.
Martha, you must get the papers and
show her what the critics say about
Adele's voice-that she will be the
great contralto Of the day. And that
other picture-thats my baby. He is
going TO be a professor of ancient lam
guages, and he is in Greece now study
ing. All my children We're talented
and ambitious-ali but Martha, but
she is a good girl" she adds with
pity in her voice that has something
Of contempt in IT,
All we'll mother, you had to have an
ugly duckling amongst your swans"
Miss Martha will reply, smiling brave
ly. with trembling lips, and the old
woman will nod her head disconnected
ly. All the mothers heart and pride
have gone with the handsome, gay,
prosperous ones of her children who left
her without a backward glance of re-
gret when opportunity beckoned to
them. 1t seems as if she hardly re-
membered the one faithful soul who
stayed with her.
Yet the success of all the balance of
the family was built upon the wreck Of
Miss Martha's hopes and happiness.
She was the eldest, and the burden,
and the care, and the responsibility of
the others slipped upon her shoulders.
There was Tom who was so bright, and
so promising, and might do so much If
he could only be helped through coll
lege. There was Jennie, who might
shine in society if she could only have
the dress to set off her beauty. There
was Adele who only needed to have
her voice trained to win fame and for
tune. and studious Jack who must have
the opportunity to do something with
that great brain of his. Martha began
work in an office when she was pa
thetically young, and every cent of her
earnings, all her youth and beauty
were spent on her family. Once love
came her way. and she put out tremb-
ling hands and pushed it away. The
other children had all gone then, and
she felt that she could not forsake her
lonely old mother
Martha's family have never appre-
ciated her They never will. They
speak of her with tolerant affection, as
one whom you deserve credit for loving,
although she is neither successful nor
brilliant and has done nothing TO de-
mand it, and when the time comes that
she will have to live with them, the
sisters and brothers for whom she sac
rificed her life win consider her a bur
den.
There is no help for Martha. She will
go on to the end of time sacrificing her
self. but whenever l build a monument
to women, the lady who is going to be
invited to occupy the top seat is the
poor, unapprecfated, prosecuted family
martyr.
Dorothy Dix.