South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-11-13
DEF INES WOMAN s
SPHERE IN WORLD
Rev. DR.. McGinn Asserts it is
Not Confined Only to
blouse Home.

Woman's place always has been
and always will be in the home, but
in the present day she must carry
the sanctity Of the home about the
world with her This was among the
points brought out by the Rev. John
c McGinn. c. $ c.. of Notre Dame
university in his talk on The Place
and Power of Woman in Social Work"
Friday afternoon before a large au-
dience OF members of the Ladies' Aid
society OF St. Joseph hospital and
their friends in the St. Joseph hall.
Rev. DR. McGinn said in part:
1T is a mistake 10 suppose that
woman has only lately entered the
field of social service. AS the con-
server OF social forces. perpetuating
the goodness of the past, building the
hopes Of the future in her supreme
duty OF child training she fulills the
greatest of all social functions. What
has been said Of the family may with
just as much truth be said Of the
woman OF the house for it is her
function In the family to hallOw the
pain of life, sweeten it's drudgery and
cOnsecrate it's pleasure.
Woman is the heart of the home;
LdIullltS dIe the arteries u the Id
ton and when you find a hardening
of the social arteries you must look
to the heart Of the home for the
cause Of the trouble In her work OF
child training she is pre-eminently
social worker. AS a builder of home
environment she is essentially a ere
ator OF social environment. 1t is true
that woman's place IS the home and
home building her work. But the
trouble is that some people think that
home means house and would have
US believe that wOman's place is the
house.
Not Confined by House.
'Home is confined not by the walls
fof a house but by the walls Of a wom-
ans heart. Home is wherever you
find a good woman at work. AS Rus
kin has said, the stars only may be
over her head. the glow-worm in the
night-cold grass may be the only fire
at her foot: but home IS wherever
she IS: and for a noble woman 1t
stretches far round her, better than
ceiled with cedar, or painted with
Vermilion, shedding its quiet light far,
Tor those who else were homeless
''WomaIs place is the home and
her power that OF creator and con-
server. IL is when you find women
fulfilling only One-half their duty and
that half the least important that you
may find social problems arising that
battle solution. Besides the biological
function OF bringing children into the
world, woman must fulfill her social
function as well, that Of child train
ing.
1.-THE presence Of so many women
in fields outside the home proper to-
day can be justified only on the as
sumption that they are now perform
ing outside the home proper these
very functions OF child training that
in the past has characterized their
work in the home. She is really Gre
ating a new field for her world old
work, that OF generating the social
forces of respect, reverence. author
1ty, altruism, sacrifice and love. BY
perpetuatng these forces she is real
" doing the work of the mother in
the larger family Of society. She is
really creating q social motherhood
carrying into her work in the field
OF social service that spirit OF mother
illness that has always characterized
her home work.
1T is b. extending this spirit of
motherliness into the world without
taking 1t out of the home that makes
woman of such value in social serv-
ice, that makes her the living stones
that build up the structure of So
ciety.
Work of Love.
Such is the place and the power
of woman in the worlds work Hers
has always been a work OF love found
ed upon sacrifice and directed by
sympathy and it is precisely because
her work has eternally been charac-
teriZed by these wonderful Christian
virtues that L see the possibilities OF
a society of your kind, the Ladies
Aid. Ladies' aid means aid that
springs from love. is founded upon
sacrifices. and directed and measured
10y sympathy.
What the poor and the sick and
the unfortunate need today is not so
much money. food and clothing as the
gentle, enduring. affectiOnate aid that
can come only from the heart Of one
who understands the spirit OF Christ
and the power of Christianity. With
the power that resides in this society
you could care for every motherless
child in this city. you could bring joy
Into the heart OF the widowed mother