El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-07
The Career Of Marriage
Whether Marriage Is = blessing or a
Crime Depends Entirely on
What Sort Of Marriage 1t Is.
-By Dorothy DiL

~ speaking to 800 women graduates

-By Dorothy D11
TN speaking to 800 women graduates
who had trained themselves for
- different professions, president Ed
ward j. James, Of the University Of
Illinois, said:
The women who choose the career
of marriage when the opportunity OF
fers itself, or when she makes II for
herself as every woman can, Is cnOos-
ing a highway to social service when
is far ahead of all teaching or legal
or medical service she can possibly
render TO society
dent. If you were a woman you would
know that the opportunity TO marry
the kind Of a man you would IKE 10
have for a husband and for the father
of your children doesn't always present {.
itself Likewise that there are tens OF
thousands of women who have not
been able to capture a husband Of any
sort, although they have done their
level best
Undoubtedly a good wife and mother
is the uObIesU work of God, and Sucn
a one performs a great service to so
clety. on the other hand, a mean VIE
and mother is the deviIs first leu
tenant, and the harm that such one
does to the world is incalculable.
The Product.
If we have mad mothers who have
Eiyen US a George Washington ana
fleet that we have mothers who give
US our Gyp the BlOOds and Ltfty
Louies, so there's no use IN raising
any monuments TO motherhood until
we find out what sort Of producI IL
has turned out
As for there being anything partlcu-
larry meritOriOus in a woman marry ing,
that also depends upon the spirit IN
which she does IL, and the sort Of
wife she makes.
What of the young girl wOh
marries an old man for his money
who sells herself for the Inery ne
can give her. w nat OF the woman
who marrieS because II IS easier 10
work a husband than to work type
writer2 What of the woman who mar
ries to escape being an old maldz w nat
of the woman who marrles man 10
curse him with her extravaganza, ner
temper, her naSgluS tongueE
Is anything noble in such mar
riages2 Anything worthy Isn't the
honest little working girl who earns
her own bread and butter million
times higher type Of woman than the
one who marries just for a living.
Isn't a home that is a place Of dlSc0ru
a plague spot in the world that IN
fects every life that touches IL!
Need Reforming.
As a matter of fact there are no two
other things on earth that need re
forming so much as WllehOOd ana
motherhood. and instead OF handing
married we should be cOunSelllnS
them TO so slow about it. 10 cOnslC-
er whether they are fit to be wives
and mothers, and If they are going 10
be better wives and mothers than the
present generation Of women are
Our asylums are crowded with the
insane and the neurOuC that never
should have been born Our penlten-
tiaries are overlooking with criminals
who are there because they had not
o.
No one is more filled with reverence
for a good mother than / am, but
see too many women bringing up their
children to be curses to the world 70
shed any tears over flubdub sentiments
over abstract motherhood. Also 1 have
seen too many men thankfully paving
their wives expenses in Reno to LOOK
upon wifehOOd as grand career un-
less a woman makes II noble by ner
unSelfish devotion
In the meantime while We cOncede
the worth to society Of the good VIE
and mother, why ignore the service
that has been done by unmarried Wo-
men2 Has any woman done more Tor
her fellow creatures than Jane Adams,
who has mOthered a city instead Of
brood of hex OWn2 Are not Miss Helen
GOuld's philanthrODies apt to be les
sened instead of increased by her mar
riage2
IF!
Had Dorothea Dix and Florence
Nightingale and Clara barton ana
their many old maid associates mar
ried and stayed in their own homes,
might not the insane still be chained
to the floors and the sick and wounded
be not properly cared fOrZ
And in private life is it not almost
always the unmarried daughter who
takes care Of the old parents and helps
educate the nieCes and nepheWSE Is
It not the unmarried women in every
community who are at the head ana
front Of every good work. VINO can
5udge Of the relative value Of their
service and that Of the shiftless mother
Of commonplace children
The truth is that whether marriage
is a blessing or a crime depends al
together upon the sort Of a marriage
it is
--ozzTTv nOrTUu1rAr