New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-14

In our modern industrial civilization there
are many and grave dangers to counterbalance
the splendors and the triumphs. It is not
good thing to see cities grow at disproporuonate
speed relatively TO the country; for the small
land owners, the men who own their little
homes and therefore to a very large extent
the men who till the farms. the men Of the SOIL
have hitherto made the foundation of lasting
national life in every State; and if the founda-
ton becomes either TOO weak or too narrow the
superstructure. no matter how attractive is IN
Imminent danger of falling.
But far more important than the question
Of the occupation of our citizens is the question
OF how their family life is conducted. No mat
ter what that occupation may be, as long as
there is real home and long those who
make up that home do their duty to one another.
to their neighbors and to the state, it is CT
minor consequence whether the mans trade IS
piled in the country or the city. whether it calls
for the work of the hands or for the work of the
head.
But the nation is in a bad way if there is no
real home if the family is not of the right
kind; il the is not a good husband and
father, If he is brutal or eowardly or selfish; II
the woman has lost her sense of duty, If she Is
sunk in vapid self-fndulgence or has let her
nature be twisted that she prefers a sterile
notwithstanding to that great and beaUti-
full development of character which comes only
to those whose lives know the fulness of duty
done, Of effort made and self-sacrihce under
gone.
II the last analysis the welfare of the state
depends absolutely upon whether or not the
and their children, represent the kind Of citi-
zenship fit for the foundation Of a great nation;
and if we fail to appreciate this we fail to APP
preciate the root morality upon which all
healthy civilization is based.
HOME LIFE MUST BE HEALTHY
No piled up wealth, no splendor Of material
growth no brilliance Of artistic development.
will permanently avail any people unless its
home life is healthy, unless the average man
| possesses honesty, courage common sense ana
| decency, unless he works hard and is willing at
| need TO fight hard; and unless the average
| woman is a good wife, good mother, able ana
| willing to perform the first and greatest duty
| Of womanhood, able and willing to bear, and to
| bring up as they should be brought up, healthy
! children, sound in body mind and character,
| and numerous enough so that the shall in
crease and not decrease.
| There are certain old truths which will be true
| as long as this world endures and which no
amount of progress can alter One of these is
| the truth that the primary duty of the husband
| is to be the home maker, the bread winner for
| his wife and children, and that the primary
duty of the woman is to be the hepmeet, the
| housewife ana mother. The woman should
| have ample educational advantages; but save
| in exceptional cases, the must be- and she
! need not be, and generally ought not to be,
trained for lifelong career as the family bread
winner; and, therefore, after a certain point the
! training of the two must normally be different
! because the duties Of the two are normally
| different. This does not mean inequality of
| function, but 1t does mean that normally there
| must be dissimilarity of function. On the
| whole, think the duty Of the woman the more
| important the more difficult end the more
honorable Of the two. On the whole, respect
! the woman who does her duty even more than
respect the man who does his
DEMANDS OF WoMENs WORK.
No ordinary work done by man is either as
hard or as responsible as the work of a woman
| who is bringing up a family of small children
| for upon her time and strength demands are
| made not only every hour of the day. but often
| every hour of the night. She may have to get
| UP night after night to take care Of a sick
| child, and yet must by day continue TO do all
| her household duties as well; and if the family
/ means are scant she must usually enjoy even
| her rare holidays taking her whole brood Of
| children nor he nth oalyo oil
| men the debtors of all women. Above all our
| sympathy and regard are due to the struggling
| called the plain people, and whom he so loved
| and trusted; for the lives of these women are
| often led on the lonely heights of quiet, self
sacrificing heroisnL
Just as the happiest and most honorable and
! most useful task that can be set any man is to
| earn enough for the support of his wife and
| family, for the bringing up and starting in life
! Of his children, so the most important, the most
| honorable and desirable task which can be set
any woman is to be a good and wise mother
| in home marked by seif-respect and mutual
| forbearance, by willingness to perform duty
| and by refusal to sink into self-indulgence or
avoid that which entails effort and self-sacrifce.
| OF course, there are exceptional men and eX-
! ceptional women who can do and ought to do
much more than this, who can lead and ought
| TO lead great careers Of outside usefulness in
| addition to-not substitutes for-their home
Work; out am not speaking OF exceptions;
| am speaking OF the primary duties, am speak
| ing of the average citizens the average men
and women who make up the nation
NO EASY LIFE FOR MOTHERS.
Inasmuch as I speaking to an assemblage
! Of mothers shall have nothing whatever to
say in praise of easy life. Yours is the
work which is never ended. No mother has an
| easy time and most mothers have very hard
| times; and yet what true mother would barter
| her experience of JOY and sorrow in exchange
| for life of cold selfshness, which insists upon
perpetual amusement and the avoidance of care.
! and which often finds it's fit dwelling place
| in some fat designed to furnish with the least
possible expenditure Of effort the maximum of
! comfort and of luxury, but in which there
! literally no place for children?
The woman who is a good wife, good mother,
| is entitled to our respect as is no else; but
| she is entitled to II only because and so long
/ as. she is worthy of 1t Effort and self-sacrihce
! are the law of worthy life for the man as for
| the woman; though neither the effort the
| self-sacrihce may be the same for the as for
/ the other I do not in the least believe in the
patient Griselda type OF woman in tho woman
| who submits 10 gross and long continued Ill
! treatment, any more than ! believe in man
| who taTcey submits TO wrongful aggression.
| No wrongdong is so abhorrent wrongdoing
/ by a toward the wife and the children who
should arouse every tender feeling in his nature
| Selfshness toward Them lack of tenderness tow
! ard them. lack Of consideration for them, above
| all brutality in any form toward them, should
| every upright soul.
MARRIAGE PARTNERSHIP.
| believe Ia the womans keeping her self-re-
| spect just as l believe in the mans doing so. I
! believe in her rights just as much 1 believe
| in the mans, and indeed a little more; and
/ regard marriage partnership. in which each
partner is in honor bound to think of the rights
! of the other well of his or her own. But
! l think that the duties are even more important
than the rights; and in the long run think that
the reward is ampler and greater for duty well
! done than for the insistence upon individual
| rights. necessary though this, too must often
be. Your duty is hard your responsibility
great; but greatest of all is your reward ] do
not pity you III the least. On the contrary.