The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-19
SELMA AS A WARNING.


The annual session of what is known
as THE Mothers Congress- in Wash
ington is said to be attended largely by
women who have no children. but who
are deeply and unselfshly interested
in the problems that relate to woman's
work and the proper rearing of chill
dren. At the recent session President
Roosevelt, the strenuous apostle of
BLESSED is he that hath his auivers
Iull" and the special foe to race sui
eide. was invited to address the Cong
ress. After touching upon the fact
that the only sure foundation for
the Republic is the home-and how
much of blessedness a home lacks
where there are no children ?-he
spoke II the danger to society of the
new type of woman who gave her life
to society. to fashion. to fads. to the
neglect of motherhood and the care
Of home. Speaking along that line he
said
There are many good people who
are denied the supreme blessing of
children, and for these we have the
respect and sympathy always due to
those who, from no fault of their
own are, denied any of the other great
blessings of life. But the man or wo-
man who deliberately forepoes these
blessings. whether from viciousness.
GOODNESS, shallow earte6neSs. self
indulgence or mere failure to appre-
ciate Alright the difference between tho
all-important and the unimDOrtant-
why, such creature merits contempt
as hearty as any visited upon the sol
10
the man who refuses to work for the
support of those dependent upon him.
and who though abie-bodied. is yet
content to eat in idleness the bread
which others provide.
The existence of women of this
type forms one of the most unpleasant
and unwholesome features of modern
life. If anyone is so dim Of vision as
to fell to see what a thoroughly un-
lovely creature such a woman is. /
wish they would read Judge Robert
Grants novel. 'Unleavened Bread.
ponder seriously the character of Sci
ma and think of the fate that would
surely overcome any nation which de-
veloped its average and typical wo-
man along such lines.
Mr.. Roosevelt could not have illus
trated his point in any way so we'll as
using the character of Selma White
as a warning. In the creation of that
character Robert Grant made pic
ture of the unwomanly woman that
abides with all who have read that
strong novel. No character in modern
fiction has been drawn with such real
istic touch as Selma" who is type
of the half-baked. selfish woman Of
today who. affecting the love of art
or architecture or charity as a means
of entertainment tries to persuade
herself that she is unlike 9TH
er women and therefore not to
observe the common duties that de-
voIve upon wives and mothers. Selma
managed by her sham life and heart
less selfishness, which she sought to-
disguise, TO rise from a narrow horizon
in a country town to high social sta-
ton in the nations capital. But she
was mot like other women" and that
difference was in that she cared only
for self. The ending of the power
fully written story would disiIlusion
any woman who seeks her sphere by
refusing to be the woman that God
made her.
There is a tendency to fiippant criti-
oism of Mr.. Roosevelt's earnest pleas
for insistence upon the old-fashioned
duties of wifesan mother. the keep
ing the home as the fathers knew it.
and his preaching against the race
suicide evils that are affecting our
great cities. The cost of living and
false theories are tending to cause
lessening of home-making. What bet
ter service can the President render
than by barking back to 1.-The ancient
landmarks. watch the fathers have
set?"