Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-19
UPLIFT TALKS
BY oRIsoN SWEET MARDEN,
Author Of Pushing to the 'front.' DtS'
Cartwright 1918.
THE oUT0RoWN WIFE

/ limited one-half of the human raco
practically to one occupation. while
the other half has the choice of
thousand.
But" many of our men readers
will say, rs there any grander pro-
fession in the world than that RI
home making? Can anything be more
stimulating, more elevating than horna
making and the rearing of children9
How can such a vocation De narrow
ing. monotonous?"
of course 1t is grand. There 10
nothing grander in the universe than
the work of a true wife, q noble
mother. But it would require the
constitution of a Hercules, an inf
nitely greater patience than that OF
a Job. to endure such work with al
most no change or outside variety.
year in and year out, as mulutudes
of wives and mothers do.
The average man does not appre-
ciate how almost devoid of incen-
tiyes to broad mindedness, to many
sidedness, to liberal growth, the home
life of many women is.
The business man and the profess
sional man are really in q perpetual
school, a great practical university.
He is continually coming in contacS
with new people, new things, being
nodded by a vast number of forces
which never touch the wife in the
quiet home.
believe in marriage, but l do
not believe in that marriage which
paralyzes self development, strangles
ambition, and discourages evolution
and self growth, which takes away
the life purpose. Nor is IL necessary
that the wife should work like
slave in order to grow. There is a
certain class of men who go to the
other extreme and make slaves or
their wives-worlS them half to death
But physical drudgery does not de-
Velop power. The slave wife is az
badly off as the doll wife.
A wife should neither be a drudge
nor a dressed up doll; she should
develop herself by self-effort, just as
her husband develops himself. She
should not put herself in a position
where her inventiveness and re-
sourcefulness and individuality, her
talent, will be paralyzed by lack Of
motive.
Everything in the whole environ
ment of tens of thousands of Ameri-
can wives is discouraging to growth
and tends to strangle broader,
fuller life.
A healthy mind must be an active
mind. Vigor and strength cannot be
built up In man or woman by mac
ton OF life of incidence or monot-
ony. There must be purpose,
vigorous, strong aim in the life, or
1t will be nerveless, insipid and stale.
For centuries women themselves
accepted mans estimate of them, and
were content to walk in his shadow.
But since the higher discovery OF
woman in the last century new or
der Of things is being brought about.
Women are becoming less and less
dependent upon men and more in
clined to live their own lives. They
are beginning to see their own pos
sibilities, that they can have careers
and ambitions as well as men. The
girl of today expects a liberal edu-
cation and looks forward to a career
of her own. Women have at last
learned that men have not monopo-
lized all the genius. that ability
knows no sex. And the wife Is be-
ginning to realize that there is one
thing she should guard as the very
jewel of her soul; that is, the deter
mination to keep pace with her hus-
band.