The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-17

Washington, March 13.-An address
by President Roosevelt was the feature
OF the evening session Of the National
Congress of Mothers, nov holding its
ftriennial convention ait the Metropolis
tan NJ. E. church. There was an i'm
mems attendance.
The President was formally intro
dUced to the audience by Mrs. Fred
eric SchOff of Philadelphia, the Presi-
lent of the Congress. He read his
speech but occasionally interjected
some extemporaneous remarks to en-
phasize a point.
THE PRESIDENTS SPEECH.
The President spoke as follows:
In our modern industrial civilization
there are many and grave dangers to
co~unterbalance 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 mar
row, the superstructure, no matter nov
attractive, is in imminent danger of
falling.
But far more important, han the
question of the occupation of our citi-
zens is the question of how their fam
lily life is conducted. No matter what
that occupation may be, as long as
there is q real home and as long as
those who max up hat home do their
duty to n another, to their neighborS
and to the state, it is of minor conse-
quence 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.
NATION DEPENDS ON THE HOME.
Blu the Nation is in a bad way if
there is no real home, if the family
is not of the right kind; if the a is
not a good husband and father, if he
is brutal or coWardly or selfish, if the
woman has lost her ems of duty, If
she is sunk in vapid self-indulgence O.:
has let her nature be twisted SO tha-
she prefers a sterile northumberland
ity to that great and beautiful devel-
opment of character which comes only
to those whose lives know the full
ness of duty done, of effort made and
self-sacrifice undergone.
1t the a 81 analysis the welfare of the
state depends absolutely Upon whether
or not the average family, the average
man and woman and their children,
represent the kind of citizenship fit
for the foundation of a great nation;
and if we fail to appreciate this We
fail to appreciate the root morality
upon which all healthy civilization is
based.
No piled-up wealth, no sp1endor of
material growth, no brilliance of artis7
tic development, will permanently avail
any people unless it's home life is
healthy, unless the average man pos
sesseS honesty, courage, common sense,
and decency, unless he works hard n
is willing at need to fight hard; n I'M.
less the average woman is a good wife,
a good mother, able and willing to per-
form 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 numer-.
Gus enough 50 that the race shall in.
crease and not decrease.
LUTIES OF THE HUSBAND AMI
WIFE.
There are certain old truths which
will be true as long as this world en-
dures. n which no amount of prog
ress cam alter. One of these is the
truth that the primary duty OF the
husband is to be the home maker. the
lbread-winner for his wife and children,
and that the primary duty of the wom-I
an 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
generally ought not to be, raine for
a lifelong career as the family bread
winner; and, therefore, after a certainl
posat the training of the two must nor
ma1fy be different because the duties
of the two are normally different. This.
does n mean inequality of function,
but it does mean hat normally there
must be dfssimilarfty of function. On,
the whole, I min the duty of the
woman the more important, the more
difficult. and the more honorable of the,
two; ON the whole I respect the woman
who does her duty even more than I
respect h man who does his.
No ordinary work done by a man is
either as hard or as 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