The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-12-12
HAPPEST WOMEN
America q Paradise For Wives.
Says Dr.. Aked,

pleSt woman IN the world, according
to the Rev. DR.. Charles +. Aked,
pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist
Church. DR.. Aked has an article en-
the subject in The New Idea Nigga
zine" and makes it quite evident
therein that he does not share the
opinions of those who think that men,
Americans as we'll as foreigners, have
monopolized a good many of the good
things of life. Not content with say
ing that the American wife is the
happiest woman in the world, he as
Serts that she has the "mcs favor
ed lot which has yet fallen to a
human being" or woman, per-
sumably-with more to make her
happy than any other creature on
the face of the earth" Going into
particulars, DR.. Akei says OF the
t American woman.
"She has less drudgerv and more
leisure than any other woman. She
has more money to spend and better
! things on which to spend it. She
has more freedom, independence.
more power ct initiative and of self.
| direction She is a person OF inn
portance-and she knows it. She
quietly assumes that she is some
body The assumption is warranted
in fact and conceded in practice.
The American woman is, up to the
present moment, Gods best piece of
work. and there are no visible lndl-
Ant
on the product"
Comparing the con lit;on Of women
in foreign countries with that of the
women of America, class for class:
DR.. Aked finds that, matching the
worst OF the Old World against the
worst of the New, the New is bet
ter. He has seen a woman and a
COW yoked together to plough, the
man holding the handle. He has seen
a woman walking along the road
with a basket of firewood strapped
on her back. A man walked beside
her with his hands in his pockets,
smoking cigar! The man saw A
desirable log on the roadside. con-
descended to take his hands out OF
his pockets, picked it up, placed It
on the top of the woman's load, and
continued his lordly way. He has
seen, on a Sunday morning, woman
wearing mans trousers carrying a
hod of bricks up the ladder to the
brick setter, a man, working up
above. He has frequently seen a
woman and a dog drawing cart
along the street. He has seen a
woman and two dogs yoked to cart
containing clothes going to or from
handling the reins.
Comparing the positions OF wom-
en- in the more comfortably placed
classes, DR.. Aked paints picture |
which sounds strangely familiar. the
penniless wife of the rich man being |
not wholly unknown in this country. !
when a rich woman he says. !
cor, rather, a very poor woman. wife |
of a rich man-has to ask her hus-
band for every shilling she wants.
and must account for every penny OF
it, her lot may not seem to be quite |
as dreadful as that of the laboring |
women just cited, but 1t is not es- |
sentially different. When a woman
in a splendid position in society |
bursts into tears and in a moment |
of abandon confesses that for many |
years she has not been allowed any
money at all in greater sums than
half-crown go cents) for cab fares
and tips, her cloths and everything
else being paid for by her husband
by check, and object of the system
being to deprive her of every vestige
of freedom and keep her in servile
subsection to him. the story is in
credible and impossible-only it hap
pens to be true"
DR.. Aked thinks that Jill is as
good as Jack in this country, aKnec-
essary outcome in his mind of the
alleged equality between Jack and
his master. In other countries, he
says, where the king DULLES the
noble and the noble DULLES the squire.
where the squire DULLES the profess
sional man, the professional man bull
lies the tradesman, and the tradesman
DULLES the laborer, it may be taken
for fact that all will bully the wom-
am"
The standard of sexual morality
DR.. Aked finds to be higher in this
country than in old lands, "notwith-
the ten thousand divorce
scandals and all the readiness Of q
sensation loving press"