The Washington herald., 1912-02-10
THE HEROISM OF WOMEN
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

Dy oSSAsN SAAf
am more convinced every day that
live Of the heroic qualities that so to
make up the character OF woman, and
the more evidence I have Of these quali-
ties the prouder 1 am that / am wom-
an.
Proofs OF feminine heroism is brought
% me every day in the week, and they
come usually from women 10 whom life
has given few advantages; women who
have struggled through a dwarfed child
hood to q hard womanhood, and to a
late awakening to the fact that within
them slumbered resources with which
they might work out their own saliva
tiOn.
The other day a stranger found me
at my desk, and told me Just such
story. Married young and il-advised she
fOunde herself the wife OF dissolute,
drunken beast, ana the mother of nine
children. before the latent herotsm with
In her sprang to life.
With food and clothing and shelter and
school books 10 furnish such a brood
Oor those were the days when the schools
did not furnish booEls), she set herself
10 the task of preparing herself to earn
enough money to do II all She studied
medicine, and, to put II in her own words,
came out OF her medical college with
a baby in her arms and a diploma in her
hands"
Then. through the years she worked
and fougAk for the nine young lives.
taking thei4 away from the influence of
far State to live.
What 1t Cost Her.
The woman who has never seen her
little ones trudge away to school insult
fciently protected from the cold; who has
never feared that they might be hungry;
who has never known whether or not
she would have enough money to keep
a roof over their heads another month.
nor a fire in the furnace another week
will have no conception of what il cost
this woman to gather them all to her
heart with brave smile. and undertake
TO meet their needs without help rather
Than have them live in abject poverty
with a man whose influence would have
been peTnicious.
But wait a moment, This is not the
height Of this wOman's herosm! We
are not yet at the end of the story!
An awakening came also TO the man,
when il was too late to do her any good.
BY the time one Of the little girls was
a grown woman the man had reformed
And this mother gave her oldest daugh-
ter up, at the time when she might have
had her help with the younger children,
to go TO her father in the distant State
and make a home for him.
And when this girl was married, an
Other went from her mother 10 make
the fathers home, and another, and an
other, until to-day there is not one left
to the mother, who gave them life; who
rose up against well-nigh impossible odds
and fought the wolf from their childhood
door; who educated them, and surround
cd them with the comforts or life.
When their father came into his man
hood ne asked mis- wife TO join him. The
rsdation to which he had brought
her couldn't be forgotten. but she for
gave with a forgiveness that was touched
with divinity. foT all her treasures she
gave him, one by one-he who would
have left them to rot in squalor had he
had HIS way when they were little babies!
have known many men with good and
generous hearts and noble qualities OF
character. but in all my life I have never
met one to whom such height OF hero
Ism was possible.
Divine Quality.
Heroism is the quality in womanhood
that lifts motherhood to the hight OF
angels.
The man looks at the child whom he is
not properly equipPing for life and says:
i am doing the best 1 can"
The woman says, Il do not see now
how l can do more, but there is a way,
and / must find it,
And she does find it and follow it at
any sacrifice TO herself.
I had a letter the other day from
mother who wanted me to tell her how
she might use talent for practical gain.
She said that she had enough money
only to cover the actual wants OF her
children, which seemed to be quite a
satisfactory condition to their father. but
which brought her continuous unrest and
dissatisfaction
The mother eyes see ahead into the
future years Of her children. She looks
on the rocks against which their ship OF
life will beat, ano she knows that she
must make the ship good and strong
that it may weather the storms so she
weaves into the shipbuilding the best
material she can obtain. and makes a
personal struggle to get II.
On every hand. every day in the week,
We have but TO turn our heads to see
the splendid herUism of women. Thou
sands Of them are to-day both bread
winners for families and home-makers
ss well. rising with the dawn. going TO