The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-05

standard The infidelity suggested Is ono
of the main breakers of home ties hui
man hearts and homes. 1t is a shame
that American mon who set such a high
standard OF honor and morality for their
wives and daughters believe themselves
exempt from any code and privilege 10
do as their desires demand. The double
standard Of morality is one of the CHIEF
causes Of all divorces and the breaking
of homes.
The Economic Problem
1.-THE greatest home breaker and neg
lector is possibly the economic problem.
The cost of living is ever mounting
higher and wages of the honest workers
getting lower. A $40 a month salary to
meet o $50 a month living expense VIII
drive the duliest mind to revolt and
desperation against such a system or
greed This poverty this rotten eco
nomic system is the greatest destroyer
of homes and of marriage. Nowadays,
no young man wishes to risk marriage
when the chances are so heavily against
him The dark room homes. the hell
holes Of tenements in the slums of cities
are insanitary and breeders of disease.
social and physical. Uncertain employ
ment and the high cost of food worry
those already married to desperation and
even suicide Yet what is worse is the
children that are reared up I'm these sor-
did SURROUNDINGS with no family life and
who only see the darkness and no hope
for light. The influence OF such homes
on the children Is that as they grow
up to be men and women they cannot
and will not enter into the proper spirit
of home life.
"There are only 80 per cent of the peo-
pls of the United States who cwn their
homes and only g per cent of them un-
mortgaged These are appalling figures
for a country that boasts of Its democ-
racy and liberty Too much money is also
home breaker. Some men are rich and
have many houses, but none OF them
can he call home. All his riches can
not furnish him the love and comfort
that may be the poor laborer in the
next block enjoys in his hovel.
Intemperance Another Cause
'Intemperance is another home
breaker and a heart-crusher 1t is a
great crime that men should come
home with foul breath to the wife and
to the innocence and purity of child
hood This intoxication leads to bru-
tally and to disgust and entities the
drunkard to the disrespect of his wife
and children. and is the cause of many
divorces. Selfishness in one or other
of Its forms is at the bottom of all
home troubles. The pressed violet and
impossible dream of some unhoiy al
lance washes all the rose from the
| cheeks of thousands of honest. sacri-
ficng folk. Men can't, stay out late
Wives don't fail to live within the in
come. Don't let your husband rent a
house and buy furniture and undertake
to furnish you with luxuries he cannot
afford and which will involve him.
Share with him the trials and tribu-
lations of earning your home a little
at time as you can AFFORD It, And
when YOU have attained 1t you Will
feel a Just pride in its inception.
"A homo without children Is not an
honest home. You wives, don't allow
all the children to be born of the poor
| of the foreign element to be brought
| in sordid surroundings. Your modest
little garden, or your stone mansion
will look more like heaven with chill
dren, the flowers of youth.
! Homes not merely four square walls,
! Though With pictures hung and gilded;
Horne is where affection calls
Filled with shrines the heart hath builded.
Home, go watch the faithful dove,
Sailing meath the heaven above us.
Home is where there's one to love
Home is where there's one to love us.
Homes not merely roof and room.
1t needs something to endear It;
Home Is where the heart can bloom,
Where there's some kind lin to cheer IT,
What is home with none to meet
None TO welcome. none to greet usc
Home is sweet and only sweet,
Where there's one we love to meet u.s.