The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-03-11
CAUSE OF THE DIVORCE EVIL.
a Bright Correspondent EffectuaIly
Refutes Mrs. Newell Dwight
Hills Ideas and Areu-
nents on the Subject.
To the Editor of The Gate City:

To the Editor of The Gate City:
The extract from Mrs. Newell
Dwight Hills interview on the Di-
vorce Evil, as published in yester-
days Gate City, was indeed enlight-
ening to the average mind. For ex-
ample, hat the selfishness of women
is potent cause of the evil Most
people will have to take issue with
her on this, for selfishness is not a
woman's characteristic. AS you look
back on the home of your childhood
didn't your mother have monopoly
on all the unselfishness, and isn't it
true in your home today that far and
away the most unselfish person in it
is the woman? There are blue roses
in the world yet we would not call
that a characteristic color of the rose,
and SO there are selfish women but
there aren't enough of them to cause
the large number of divorces which
result from unhappiness in the home.
She further says that the women do
not have enough responsibility; that
IhS DEdi UuC lSSpOHSiDlliIy III
America, and that this is cause for
the divorce evil. The men do bear
the responsibility in the business
world, but divorces come from con-
dition in the home, and who bears the
responsibility there? Again, there
may be blue roses and there may
be women who do not bear the
responsibility of the home, its welfare
and its safety, but they are few.
Then again Mrs. Hills cites the fact
that the women haven't enough to en-
ploy their time in tht home Recent
~ in one of the most widely read
magazines was series of articles
on the servant problem Statistics
we're printed showing that small
per cent of all the women in America
keep one maid and much smaller
Per cent more than one. Since this is
true we'll take issue again with Mrs.
Hills as to this being cause for the
divorce evil. A woman doing all the
work about the house alone, Or with
one helper, certainly has all the ex
ercise necessary to occupy her mind
and her body as we'll
Then, lastly, she says the girls
lack training to make them efficient
housekeepers and homemakers. Well
grant that there's truth in this. Yet
there are very few girls who are not
taught daily by their mothers many
useful things to help them as future
homemakers. How many mothers are
there, or fathers either, who set about
to teach their boys anything which
would help them in this same future
avocation of homemaking? Robt. j.
Burdette once gave advice to young
man who said he wished "a domestic,
useful woman" as his wife. Burdette
said to him; Let US just examine
your qualifications as a model hus-
band after your own matrimonial
ideas, my boy. Can you shoulder a
barrel of -four and carry it down eel
lar? Can you saw and split ter cords
of hickory in the fall so as to have
ready fuel all winter? Can you spade
up kitchen garden? Do you know
what will take the lime taste out of
The new cistern? Can you bring home
pane of glass and wad of putty and
repair damages in the sitting room
window? Can you fix the front gate
SO it won't sag? Can you do anything
about the house? You expect to hire
a man TO do all these things and yet
you expect your wife to do, or to
know how to do, everything any wom-
an can do. And believe me she'll
nave learned all her duties before
you've learned half your lesson
Good and wise woman as Mrs. Hill
lis Is, she'll have to look further for
the cause of unhappiness in the home
and its result, divorce
A READER. |