The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1905-03-16
President Roosevelt Made a Vigorous
and Wholesome Address
TOE GLORY OF True MOTHERHOOD
In an Address Before a National Gath
ering tire President Emphasizes the
Prime importance of Wholesome
Home Life to the Perpctuity Of the
Nation and the Happiness of the In
divicuai.


the evening session of the National
Congress of Mothers, now holding its
tri-ennial convention at the Metropoli-
tan VI. E. church. There was an i'm
nense attendance The President was
formally introduced to the audience sy
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:
I'm our modern industrial civilization
there are many and grave dangers to
counterbalance 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 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
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; if the man is
not 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 o-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.
HOME LIFE ALL-IMPORTANT.
"In 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 a great
nation; and if we fail to appreciate
this we fail to appreciate the root NOR
atty upon which all healthy civiliza-
ton is based.
mo 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, courage, common sense,
and decency, unless he works hard and
is willing at need to fight hard: and
unless the average woman is a good
wife, a 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 a life
long career as the family bread-win
ner; 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 it does mean that normally there
must be dissimflarity of function. Or
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
respect the man who does his.
WOMAN'S WORK THE NOBLER.
mo ordinary work done by a mar
| is either as hard or responsible as the
work of woman who is bringing up {
| family of small children; for upon hel
| time and strength demands are madt
not only every hour of the day bu
often every hour of the night Sh,
may have to get up night after nigh
to take care OF sick child, and We
must by day continue to do all he
household duties as we'll; and if tn,
family means are scant she must usual
ly enjoy even her rare holidays takiu.
her whole brood Of children with her
The birth pangs make all men tn
debtors of all women. Above all gu
sympathy and regard are due to tn
struggling wives among those whom
Abraham Lincoln called the plain PEG
pie, and whom he SO loved and trusted
for the lives of these women are oftel
led on the lonely heights of quiet, self
sacrificing heroism.
Just as the happiest and most hon
orable and most useful task that ca
be set any man is to earn enough fo
the support of his wife and family, fo
the bringing up and starting in life G
his children so the most important. tn
most honorable and desirable tas
which can be set any woman is to be
good wise mother in home marke
by self respect and mutual forbear
ance. by willingness to perform dut,
and by refusal to sink into self-indul
sence Or avoid that which entails ei
fort and self-sacraice. Of course Their
are exceptional men and exceptions
women who can do and ought to d
much more than this, who can lea
and ought to lead great careers of out
side usefulness in addition to-not Q