Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1905-03-22

Congress of Mothers, now holding it's
tri-ennial convention at the Metropoli-
tan M. E. church. There was an i'm
mense attendance, The President was
formally introduced to the audience by
Mrs Frederick Schoff, of Philadelphia,
the president of the congress. He read
his speech, but occasionally interjected
some extemporaneous remarks to en-
phasize point. The President spoke as
follows:
In our modern industrial civilization
there are many and grave dangers to
:ounterbalance the splendors and the
triumphs. 1t is not 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 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 if the foundation
becomes either too weak or too narrow,
the superstructure, no matter how at
tractive, is in imminent danger Of fall
ing.
But far more important than the
question of the occupation of our citi-
zens is the question of how their family
life is conducted. No matter what that
occupation may be, as long as there is a
real home and as long as those who
make up that home do their duty to one
another, to their neighbors and to the
State, it is of minor consequence
whether the mans trade is piled in the
countr, or the city, whether it calls for
the work of the hands or for the work
of the head.
"But the nation is in bad way il
there is no real home, if the family
is not of the right kind; if the man is
not~a good husband and father, if he
is brutal or cowardly or selfish, if the
woman has lost her sense of duty, if
she is sunk in vapid self-indulgence or
has let her nature be twisted so that
she prefers sterile pseudo-intellectu-
ality to that great and beautiful devel-
opment of character which comes only
to those whose lives know the fullness
of duty done, of effort made and self
sacrifice undergone.
E. HOME LIFE ALL~IMPORTANT.
TN the last analysis the welfare Of
the State depends absolutely upon
whether or not the average family, the
average man and woman and their chill
dren, represent the kind of citizen
Ship fit for the foundation of great
nation; and If We fail to appreciate
this we fail to appreciate the root NOR
ality upon which all healthy civiliza-
ton is based.
NO piled-up wealth, no splendor of
material growth, no brilliance of artis-
tic development, will permanently avail
any people unless its home life is
healthy, unless the average man pos
sesses honesty, -courag ,-cINmon Sense,
and decency.>nnless he works hard and
Is willing 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 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 nu-
merous enough so that the race will
increase and not decrease.
DIVISION OF LABOR BY SEX.
"Thre are certain old truths which
will be true as long as the world en-
dures, and which no amount of prog
ress 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 wo-
man is to be the helpmeet, the house
wife and mother. The woman should
have ample educational advantages;
but save in exceptional cases the man
must be, and she need not be. and gen
orally ought not to be trained for life
long career as the family bread-win.
ner; and, therefore. after 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 it does mean that normally there
must be dissimilarity of function. On
the whole, 1 think the duty of the wo-
man the more important, the more
difficult, and the more honorable of the
two; on the whole respect the woman
who does her duty even more than I
respect the man who does his.
WOMAN'S WORK THE NOBLER.
No Ordinary work done by man
Is either as hard or 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 vet
must by day continue to do all her
household duties as well; and if the
family means are scant she must usual
ly enjoy even her rare holidays taking
her whole brood Of children with her.
The birth pangs make all. 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 peo.
pie, and whom he SO loved and trusted:
for the lives of these women are often
led on the lonely heights of quiet, self
sacrificing heroism.
"Just as the happiest and most hon
orable and most useful task that can
be set any man is to earn enough fer
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 wise mother in a home marked
by self respect and mutual forbear-
ance, by willingness to perform duty,
and by refusal to sink into self-indul-
gence or avoid that which entails eff
fort and self-sacrafce Of course there
are, exceptional men and exceptional
women who can do and ought to do
much more than this, who can lead
and ought to lead great careers of out
side usefulness in addition to-not as
substitutes for-their home work; but
l am not speaking OF exceptions; I am
r.. 4.