The Alaska citizen., 1915-02-22

family all falling to the woman
lot-an unfair burden resting upon
| her frail shoulders -frail shoulders
but always willing and faithful
Where is such beautiful. constant
devotion to be seen compared with
/ the steady lifelong devotion and
/ self-sacrifice of the mother for her
children? II is positively sacred
! And, generally speaking. who stands
most by the parents in their need
| the daughters or the sons? The
old couplet goes
! \ sons a son till he gets him a
wife
But a daughters a daughter all
her life.
We all know of so many cases
where daughters are nobly support
ing infirm and needy parents, toll
! ing at disagreeable occupations,
amid uncongenial surroundings, while
the sons forget, ignore or shirk their
obligations. And these brave girls
have a task rendered more hideously
difficult by the men who beset tteiI
business path and strive to prey
upon them.
I The Great Example to Mankind
saw and showed His contemporaries
the right Of woman to courtesy. con
sideration and mpanionship.
Through the anguish of the trial,
when all men deserted Him. good
women proved staunch and loyal.
one poet, speaking of woman, ex
presses himself thus:
Not she with traitrous kiss her
Saviour stung
Not she denied Him with unholy
tongue:
She. while apostles shrank. could
danger brave,
Last at His cross and earliest at
His grave.
All women suffer when their ma
tons are at war-endure privation
and sorrow both present and future
Furthermore. they suffer on the
battlefields. thousands Of them sac
rificing comfort and risking life it
self in order to help and save the
wounded and nurse back to life the
fallen.
Yet are there unthinking people
no deny to woman the right t;
opinion and expression as to gov
eminent and management of that
larger nursery. the nation. Nursery,
| say, for as yet men are but child
rem of a larger growth"
Those who have the right" to
suffer and to help should also have
the right to participation in manage
ment, to offer counsel in convention
whereby slaughter and suffering
shall be lessened and even prevent
ed.
Now, the dawn is breaking,
Slowly, the world is realizing the
fitness and abilities Of the gentler
sex. Woman's capabilities and quail
fications are forcing the tribute of
recognition, approval and JUSTICE
The day is passing when woman
forced into the struggle for a liveli
hood for herself and family. shall
be handicapped by lack of voice in
administration.
Her work, her influence, her merits
shall be duly recognized she shall
be honOred, she shall cease to be a
nonentity and shall walk equally wi
man, his helpmate and comrade. ful
ly appreciated and beloved.
The passing phase of struggle is
nearly ended, the silly talk of antag
onism between the sexes is known
already to be mere idle words. Sis
ter woman is about to fill the sphere
for which her God designed her, for
for which civilization is qualifying
her.
And in the warfare of business, in
what men call the battle of life,
or the struggle for existence" wo-
man shall have just consideration
and fair treatment. Too long has
she been the voiceless martyr. That
pitiful chapter of history is ending,
however, for today, no true, fair
minded man wishes to hold unfair
advantage over anyone forced into
the arena of business life or civic
warfare. We are champions Of right
now, in place Of tyrants and task
masters.
great and good work, urgently
called for at this period OF the
worlds history and progress. is to
recognize the sterling qualities OF
sister woman and to help her come
into her own and to speed the day
when the folly of war will be recog
nized as a barbarous relic and a
rough stone in the temple of evolu
tion-The Gentlewoman.