The San Francisco call., 1909-05-24
SAYS WORLDS NEED
IS BETTER MOTHERS
Rev. II. j. Vosburgh breaches
First Sermon on young
American Woman"

OAKLAND. May 23.-The world needs
better mothers, according to the Rev.
Homer J. vosburgh, pastor of the First
Baptist church, who began tonight a
series of sermons on THE Young
American Woman"
The ideals toward which the young
American girl should strive-purity
sympathy, feminine insight and the do
mestic virtues-were dwelt on by the
speaker in his sermon, which was en-
titled, THE Young American Woman in
Her Girlhood Home
Rev. Mr.. Vosburgh said in part:
America is remarkable for the attention it de-
votes to women, especially the young woman.
society seems to be organized for the purpose OF
promoting her welfare and happiness. She no
longer lives secluded life, but has a larger
freedom than woman has ever hitherto enjoyed.
With this enlargement of freedom comes greater
responsibilities and greater dangers. She needs
wisdom TO bear the one and TO avoid the others.
She begins life In the home and tonight we are
TO think Of her in relation TO the home OF her
girlhood.
The life OF girl in her early home may be
described as an ellpse and the foci In that
eiilpse TO which all her thinking should have
definite reference is the fact that she is to be
woman and that her womanhood some day is
to ind its supreme realization in home of her
own. She is TO realize then. first. that she is
" bt WouiuH NOT mefeiy n -lemaie. Inc
term female is convenient means of physio-
logical and in some respects of sociological
classification. woman is more than female;
she Is female conscious OF her character and
mission. Womanhood is a moral, spiritual and
intellectual quality. 1t affects the entire per-
sonality; it manifests itself In purity, in in
sight In sympathy, in the domestic virtues.
When the little girl instinctively plays with
her doll. while her brother plays with ball,
the divergence OF the sexes is inevitably indi-
Gated. The young woman is not. therefore, to
~ In ow ffDo man nor
is she to measure her womanhood by the extent
to which she initiate her brother. She
should cultivate the virtues that belong to
womanhood and TO measure her development by
feminine standards.
The yonng woman is, in the second place, to
her own home. She is not to think continuously
OF the boys, nor to aspire prematurely after
ma trimonr, but it is 20 be a fixed point in her
life purpose that normally she is to have her
own home and her husband. IL the young
is right in meditsting his future
career and In organizing his life with reference
thereto similarly should the young girl keep
ever in her mind her natural destination.
The world needs better mothers. We deplore
the prevalence of ignorance and crime. But when
we remember that all the dellnquents and Grim
inas were born of women it is obvious that an
improvement OF the prevalent type OF mother
love would elevate the entire level OF living.
The girl then in her early years should cherish
the ambition TO become a great woman. She
may never be president, her name may never be
heralded abroad, but 1t is possible for every
young American girl 10 become in the noblest
sense a great woman. and that is an achieve
ment worthy OF the highest intellect and within
reach OF the humblcst-
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