The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-29

NOotHs WHICH heaiIn commits
sioners, visiting nurses and settlement
workers unanimously picture as fol.
lowing in their trail, is fit not only n
shock the philanthropist, but to cause
panic among the economic philoso.
piers. Said DR.. Evans, health com
missioner of Chicago, not long since.
Nearly all our economic problems
would find solution, and many of our
hospitals and graveyards would be de-
prlYed of a large percentage of their
occupants, if women, from highest TO
lowest, were educated to do. and did
do, their duty in their homes" Scarce,
~ less to be deplored, is the loss which
comes to society in all its phases. when
the altruistic graces of womanhood.
the flower of civilization, are so blight
Led and done to death. A woman who
is experienced in the habits of thought
and action which prevail in the busi-
ness world is not thereby fitted for the
pure and unselfish labors of the home
lt0is out of such conditions as there
that much of the unrest and dissatis-
faction which characterizes our pres
ent marriage relations arise.
But the evil, dark and discouraging
as it is, is already turning a brighter
side, remedy very different from that
proposed by women suffragists, who
view with great complacency a state
of things which under their manage
ment would soon show, is indeed now
showing, signs of the disintegration of
all marriage relations. In almost every
state of the Union, women of expert
ence, intelligence and character have
taken up with great zeal and earnest
ness, the education of young rils who
would naturally fall into the ranks of
wage earners, in the housewifely arts
and sciences. The work is followed by
the opening of doors to them into wo-
mantly pursuits which are auxiliary to
the home, without being dependent up
on it. A needed relief is thus afforded
to the housekeeper, which does not de-
stroy the independent character of the
worker.
In the meantime, a deep sense of the
supreme sociological value of family
life is beginning to prevade the nation.
From a recent magazine article en-
titled, 'Is the American Family to
Die?" by Charles A. Elwood, professor
of sociology in the University of Mis-
souri,, | quote:
"The family is the most important
institution Of human society. 1t is the
function of the family in society to
al lsocial possessions and
hand them down to the next genera
tion. Not only are the material pos
sessions thus conserved, but also the
spiritual possessions of the race, Ian
guage, religion, morality, art, govern
ment and ideals. The family thus pre-
serves the social continuity from one
to another. 1t reproduces
not only the new individuals Of each
generation, but also society itself.
Moreover, in the relations of the mem
bers of the family to each other, we
have the source of altruism upon
which society depends for each upward
advance. Hence moral progress in So
ciety rests upon the family life
Many voices are being raised in both
church and state, calling attention to
The decay of family life, and in more
-han one instance the evil is emphati- |
cally traced to the false doctrines con-
,erning the emancipatio nof women, |
which are being disseminated. Col
eges and universities are coming to |
he rescue. They are establishing |
curses for women in domestic arts and |
sciences, including in some instances |
lygiene, nursing and care of children, |
drainage and the like |
With this higher education" of the
lone are naturally assimilated those
phases of moral conduct which bear
ipon the relations between mistress
Ind maid, the worthiness of household |
abor, and that sense of dignity, pro
)riety and kind feeling, which mark |
he lady whether found in the parlor
)r the kitchen.
These hopeful changes open vista
.owards a day when place of useful |
less will be found for every woman de-
pendent upon her own labor, without |
upon the domain of men as
wage earners, and to the great ad- |
of family life, and the hap
,iness of the home.
It is for reasons like these that the |
great body of American women do not |
wish to vote. They love their own |
sphere in life, they feel their own adap-
alton to it, and fifty years of relent-
ess agitation has not convinced them