El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-25
The Secret Marriage
No School Teacher Hns a Right to
Enter Into Such an
Agreement.
BY Dorothy DIX :

/
| - Ut of the weller of discussion
that has arisen over the question
as to whether or not a married
: teacher should be given a years leave
| o. absence in which TO bear and rear
] child, two facts stand out clear
and distinct
The first is that the secret marriages
/ OF women teachers must be stopped
( When a woman teacher marries she
must be frank and honorable enough
to announce the fact, and live openly
and decently with her husband.
No more demOraiizing influence
could possibly be admitted into the
schOOlrOOm than that of a teacher who
Is living the double life, who has de-
fled custom and flOuted the conven-
tiOns Of organized society, and IS
maintaining clandestine relations with
some man, even il he is her own hus-
band
Every boys first love is his teacher.
Every little girl copies teachers walk
and manner of speaking and holding
her hands. and dreams OF time when
she will have a dress like teacher s
and be able to do up her hair IN the
way teacher does hers. Teacher IS the
oracle. the incarnate wisrom OF the
universe that every child throws IN
the teeth Of its parents when its goes
home
How banefuI. then. is the influence
OF the teacher who by her own act
has put the stamp OF approval on the
secret marriage Who teaches by eX-
ample, if not by precept' that clam
destine marriages are proper!
Every thinking person knows thaI IN
the great majority of instances the
secret marriage Is the toboggan slide
to perditiOn for a girl.
This is so true that one OF the 1irst
lessons that every mother seeks 70
impress on her daughters mind is that
the man who proposes to marry her
on the sly is a villain who is merely
seeking her destruction But OF what
effect will be this warning when the
girl can retaliate by saying that her
dear and darling teacher is secretly
married to a fine man and that they
are perfectly happy?
OF course, teachers marriage is hon
orable and legal OF course teacher
has only kept her marriage secret to
protect her job, but what silly school
girl. with her head full Of romantic
notions is going to have enough dis
erection to draw the line between the
clandestine marriage that IS merely
a matter of business policy and the
one that is a cloak for betrayal and
that is bound to end IN sorrow and
shamez
When. people decided to give up be
ing merely animals and became civ
iIized human beings they united in
agreeing on certain forms and observ-
ances for the general good Of society.
One of these was what call |
marriage. which merely means that II |
is a public announcement that man !
and woman intended to live together
You cannot break this rule. which IS /
founded on hard. common sense, with !
impunity, and that is why that no mat /
ter how innocent a secret marriage |
really is. the breath Of scandal still !
hangs about it.
For the secret marriage is neEer /
secret Gossip has a hundred eyes and /
a million tongues, and no man and /!
We man can stand in the relationship OF I
husband and wife to each other with I
out people suspecting it-or worse. /
And a school teachers skirts should /
be without the suspicion Of mud upon ,
The second point that has been +
brought out by the discussion % +
whether a married woman teacher .
should be given a years leave of alb
sence in which to bear and rear a
child is that perenthOOd should be re-
garded as a privilege that is worth
working for and sacrificing for To !.
give life is Just as serious mat
greater crime. No man has a moral .
right 10 bring a child into the world
unless he is able to support it, No
woman has a right to bear child I'M
less she has made up her mind to give /
her own personal care and attention !
TO its rearing.
Therefore it seems certain that IN
til man can support his children |
and a woman can give her time and I
attention to them, they have no bust |
ness with babies. A married teacher /
needs to. take not one year off, but |
about twenty-five.