The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-03-22


men the debtors Of all 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 sacrtic-
ing heroism.
Just as the harpicst and most hon
orable 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 i'm
portant, the most honorable and de.
sirablc task which can be set any wo-
man is to be q good and wise mother
in home marked by self-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-sacrifice.
Of course there are exceptional men
and exceptional women, who can do,
and ought to do, much more than this,
who can lead, aud who ought to
lead, great careers of outside
usefulness in addition to-not as sub.
stitutcs for-their home work, but l
am not speaking Of exceptions; am
speaking Of the primary duties; l am
speaking Of the average citizen, the
average men and women, who make
up the nation.
lnasmuch as | am speaking to an
asSemblagc Of mothers, shall have
nothing whatever to say in praise of
an 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 expe-
rience of JOY and sorrow in exchange
for life Of cold sel6shness, which
insists upon perpetual amusement and
the avoidance of care and which often
finds its dwelling place in some fat
designed furnish with the least pos.i.
BILE expenditure Of effort the maximum
ct comfort and of luxury, but in which
there is literally 60 place for children /?
The woman who is good wife.
good mother, is entitled to our respect
nc is no one else, but she is entitled
to it oply because, and so long as she
is worth of it.
Effort and self.sacriffce are the law
of worthy life for the man as for the
woman, though neither the effort nor
the self sacrifice may be the same for
the one as for the other. I do not in
the least believe in the patient Girls
elda type of woman, in the woman who
submits to gross and long.
ill-treatment, any more than believe
in man who tamely submits to
wrongful aggression. No, wrong-do-
ing is so abhorrent as wrong, doing by
n men towards the wife end .he eh;!-
dren who should arouse every tender
feeling in his nature. Sel6shness
towards them, lack of tenderness to-
wards them, lack of consideration for
them, above all, brutality in one form
towards them, should arouse the
heartiest scorn and Indignation in
every upright soul.
believe in the woman's keeping
her self.respect just as ! believe in
the mans doing so. believe in her
rights just as much as believe in the
man 8, and indeed little more, and l
regard marriage as q partnership, in
which each partner is in honor bound
to think of the rights Of the other as
we'll as Of his or her own. But l
think that the duties are even more
important than the rights, and in the
long run I think that the reward is
ampler and greater for duty we'll done
than for the insistenoe upon individ.
ual rights, necessary though this, too,
must often be. Your duty is bard,
your responsibility groat, but the
greatestsof all is your reward. I do
|pot pity you in the least. 90 the
c0ntrary, l feel respect and admiration
forYou.
Inse the woman's keeping is COM
mittedAthe destiny Of the generations
to come after us. 10 bringing up
your children you mothers must re-
member that, while it is essential to
be loving'and tender, it is no less es.
genital to be, wise and tlrm. Foolish
ness and affeation must not be treated
as interchangeable terms, and besides
training your sons and daughters in
the softer and milder virtues, you
must seek tt give them those stern
and hardy f,uo1;t;oo xyh;oh 80 c.I