The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-03-14
MOTHERS LISTEN
TO ROOSEVELT.
Magnificent Address Made on
SaOctiB Of Home
CITES MANS HIGHEST DUTY
Woman's Work In Life Is Diff
but Nothing ls Worth Dolnr' =
Which is Not
Difficult.
CITES MANS HIGHEST DUTY

Difficult,
washington. March 1s.-An address by
President Roosevelt was the feature of
the evening session OF the National Con-
gress of mothers, now holding its trien-
nial convention at the Metropolitan Meth
odist Episcopal church. Anticipating the
Presidents appearance there was an i'm
mense crowd at the church, composed
largely of women, and when Mr. Roose-
welt. accompanied by Secretary Loeb, ar
rived, he was given a cordial reception.
The President was formally introduced
to the audience by Mrs. Frederick Schoff
Of Philadelphia, the president of the con-
gress.
He read his speech from copy which
he held in his .land. but now and then
departed from the text, and interjected
some extemporaneous remarks when he
wished to emphasize a particular phrase
President Roosevelt spoke as follows:
In our modern Industrial civilization
there are many grave dangers to counter
balance the splendors and the triumphs.
1t is not a good thing to see cities grow
at disproportionate 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 farms, the men of the soil, have
hitherto made the foundation of lasting
national life In every state; and, IL the
foundation becomes either too weak or
too narrow, the superstructi re, no mat
ter how attractive, Is in imminent dam
ger 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 matter what that oc-
cupation may be. as long as there Is
real home and as long as those who make
up that home do their duty to one an
other. to their neighbors and to the
state, 1t is of minor consequence whether
the mans trade is piled in the country
or the city, whether 1t calls for the
work of the hands or for the work Of
the head
Must be Real Homes.
But the nation is in bad way if
there is no real home If the man is not
good husband and father, Il he Is bru-
tai or cowardly or selfish, If the woman
has lost her sense of duty, If sne is sunk
in vapid self-indulgence or has let her
nature be twisted so that she prefers
sterile pseudo-intellectuality to that great
and beautiful development of character
which comes only to those whose lives
know the fullness of duty done, OF effort
made and self-sacrifice undergone.
'In the last analysis the welfar or the
state depends absolutely upon whether
or not the average family, the average
man and woman and their children, rep
resent the kind of citizenship fit for the
foundation of great nation; and if we
fail to appreciate this we fail to appreci-
ate the root morality upon which all
healthy civilization is based.
Average Must be High.
mo 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 hon
esty, courage, common sense and de-
cency; unless he works hard and is will
ing at need to fight hard; and unless
the average woman is a good wife,
good mother able and willing to perform
the first and greatest duty of woman
hood able and willing to bear and bring
up as they should be brought up.
healthy children, sound In body, mind
and character, and numerous enough so
that the race shall increase and not de-
crease.
There are certain truths which will be
true as long az the 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
tic woman is to be the helpmeet, the
housewife and mother. The woman should
have ample educational advantages; but
save in exceptional cases the man must
be, and she need not be, and generally
ought not to be, trained for lifelong
career as the family breadwinner; and,
therefore, after certain point the train
ing of the two must normally be different
because the duties of the two are nor
mally different. This does not mean Inc
quality of function, but 1t does mean
TINT normally there must be dissmilarity
of function. On the whole, I think the
duty of the woman the more important.
the more difficult. and the more honora-
BILE of the two on the whole I respect the
woman who does her duty even more
than I respect the man who does his.
Woman's Work Is Difficult.
mo ordinary WORK done by a man Is
either as hard or as responsible as the
work of a woman who is bringing up
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 right to take care
of sick child. and yet must by day con-
tinue to do ill her household duties as
well; and II the family means are scant
she must usually enjoy even her rare
holidays taking her whole brood Of chill
dren with her. The birth panCs make all
men the debtor of women. Above all our
sympathy and regard are due to the
struggling wives among those whom
Abraham Lincoln 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 sacri-
fcing heroism.
Most Important Work.
"Just as the happiest and most honora-
bic and most useful task that can be set
any man is to earn enough for the sup
port of his wife and family. for the bring
ing up and starring in life Of his children,
so the most important, the most honor
aLlc and desirable task which can be set
any woman Is to be a good and wise
mother in a home marked by self-re-
spect and mutual forbearance, by willing
| ness to perform duty, and by refusal to
| sink into self-indulgence or avoid that
Which entails effort and self-sacri1ce. OF
course there are exceptional men and ex-
| ceptionaI women who can and ought to
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