The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-08-10

woman must remain the houesmothar,
the homekeeper. and the man must r..
main the. breadwinner. the provtdsr for
the wife who bearD his children and for
the children she brings into the world.
No other work Il - valuable or as
exacting for either man or woman: Il
must always. in every healthy society.
be for both man and woman the prime
work. the most important work: nor
naily all other work II Of secondary
Importance. and must come ~ an adj
dition-to. not . substitute for. this pri-
mary work. The partnership should be
one OF equal rights, one Of love. OF SELF
respect and unselnshness, above al q
partnership for the performance Of the
most vitality. Important Of all duties. The
performance Of duty. and not an indul-
gence in vapid ease and vapid pleasure.
Ia all that makes life worth while
woman's 'sRight."
Suffrage for women should bs looked on
from this standpoint Personally feel
that It Is exactly as much right Of
women a. Of men to vote. But the i'm.
portant point with both men and women
10 to treat the exercise Of the Suffrage
as duty. which. in the long run, midst
be well performed to be Of the slightest
value. I always favored woman's suit.
frase. but only tepidly. until my ssso-
citation with women like Jane Adams
Mary Antin. and Frances Keller. who
desired II as one means Of enabling them
to render better and more efficient SER
vice. changed me into . sealous instead
of lukewarm adherent Of the cause.
A vote u like . rife; its usefulness de-
ponds upon the character Of the user.
The mere possession Of the vote will no
more benefit men and women not sur
ficiently developed to use II than the
possession OF rifles will turn unframed
Egyptian fellaheen into soldiers. This
Is as true Of woman as OF man-and no
more true Universal suffrage In Haiti
has not made the Haitians able to
govern themselves in any true sense;
and woman suffrage In Utah In NO
shape or way affected the problem Of
polygamy. ! believe In suffrage for
women In America, because I think they
are Mt for II. believe for women, a.
for men. more in the duty Of hitting ones
self to do well and wisely with the
ballot than In the naked right to cast
the ballot.
The Mans Duty to the Woman.
wish that people would read books
like the novels and stories. at once strong
and charming, Of Henry Bordeaux,
books like Kathleen Norris Mother"
and would use these. and other such
books. as tracts. now and then. Perhaps
the following correspondence win give a
better idea than can otherwise give of
the problems that in everyday life come
before men and women, and OF the need
that the man shall show himself unset
fish and considerable. and do his full
share Of the joint duty:
January 3. 1917
Col. Theodore Roosevelt:
Dear Sir-I suppose you are willing
to stand sponsor tor the assertion that
the women Of the country are not doing
their duty unless they have large fam
lilies. I wonder II you know the real rea-
son. after all? Society and clubs are
held largely to blame. but society really
takes in SO few people, after all. I
thought, when I got married at twenty.
that 1t was the proper thing to have a
family. and. as We had very little of
this worlds goods. also thought It the
thing to do all the necessary work for
them. I have had nine children. did all
my own work, including washing, iron
i'm. house-cleaning. and the care Of the
little ones as they came along. which
was about every two years; also sewed