Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-09
GLORY OF A GOOD WOMAN

1
California gold fields, sat beside the
bedside of his dying wife and sorrow
fully watched her pass out beyond the
bar" His grief was intense; his sorrow
so heartbreaking that within five days
he sickened and died. He had fire.
quently expressed his sadness by the
declaration that he cared no longer to
live, since his good wife had gone.
1t is customary nowadays to-sneer at
sentiment; to speak coarsely and
harshly of affection, and to use the
most sarcastic and bitter words in all
references to the unity of man and
wife, The money-mad, ease-loving
passion of some people has passed the
bounds of decency and in nearly all
circles, from highest to lowest, there is
said to exist in married life only the
one purpose, to "do each other or the
other will do you.'
1t isn't true, of course, in large
majority of cases, but there are so
many exceptional instances that young
men and young women have acquired
the habit of protesting to believe that
married life consists of a man whose
nose is. always at the grindstone" to
get money to supply the inordinate de-
mands of the up-to-date woman. Or a
woman becomes the slave and house,
hold drudge of a man too poor to give
her assistance, or else man too mean
to appreciate a good woman,
This old man who died, up in Shasta
county, from grief over the loss of his
wife, is a monument to the radiantly
beautiful existence Of a true husband
and wife. In his younger days he was
just an ordinary California miner. He
worked hard, Of course, and she helped
and encouraged him. BY study and
application he became so expert in min
ing that he raised himself to the posi-
ton of superintendent of the Comstock,
in the days when that world-famous
lode was making millionaires of many
Californians. His compensation was
great, but he didn't run to automobiles
and chorus girls and wild nights at the
roadhouses. On the contrary he pur-
sued the even tenor of his way, lived
decently and happily, built home
within the cooling shadows of Mount
Shasta and enjoyed to the full tho
closing years of life made happy and
beautiful by the companionship of the
woman who had shared his hopes and
fears and tolls along every step of his
! journey to the extreme limit of the
Psalmists three score years and ten.
Whose fault is it if the present gen
Grafton sneers at marriage, laughs at
| love and scorns all sentiment? The
young man may say: "Oh, yes, father
and mother are different. They have
always led prosaic, humdrum lives, and
don't care for the present whirl of
gayeties. Mother is the last of her
kind. There are no girls today who
could ever equal her in devotion and
truth and goodness-and martyrdom."
And the young woman may say 1.-THE
present generation of young men is all
| bad-weak, commonplace, profiigate
and false. Father is the only manly
man have yet seen, and there are no
more like him."
And the worst of is that each pro-
ceeds to make the assumption good, to
the best of his or her ability-the young
man sneering, profiigate and false, and
the young woman shallow, grasping and
equally false. Whose fault is it?
The answer is not at hand, but it
may safely be asserted that the refor-
| nation is wholly in the hands of
woman. Men and boys are precisely
what women make then-mother, sister
and sweetheart. If these be true and
faithful, scorning those things which
are impure, extravagant and indecent,
men and boys will be pure, wholesome
and prosperous Without the restrain,
ing hand of woman not many genera
tions can follow until men degenerate
into savages; and if woman would
maintain the leadership OF mems lives,
the control of their destinies for good,
she must keep herself true, steadfast
and above reproach.
Young women" said Cardinal Glib
bons the other day, addressing class
of graduates, you have great mis-
sion before you. You must save this,
country from irreparable injury"-he
might we'll have said ruin-"by sancti-
flying and making pure the home. Most
womens mission upon this earth is to
become wives and mothers, and when
they take up their new life they become
the Erulers of the home. Without
home circle, pure and sacred, no nation
can become great. So, young ladies,
say that this countrys future lies in
your hands and the hands of those like
you"
So, stop the free and easy manners,
the flippant speech and vulgar conduct
of young men, and insist upon the
respect due to womanhood. Maintain
your own self-respect so that none will
dare the scorn of honor and purity
and in the years to come there will be
a marked change in the attitude of the
sexes-a quick barking back to the
sweetness of wifehood and the glory of
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