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Show DUTIES OF MOTHERHOOD. In an interview in the Xew York World Cardinal Car-dinal Gibbons is quoted as follows: "Any woman who instructs her neighbor or friend who is a wife how to avoid the responsibilities responsibil-ities of motherhood is taking as great a responsibility responsibil-ity and committing as deadly a sin as if she became the accomplice of a murderess. In fact, this sort of thing is murder of the most cowardly kind. "Xo doubt many women thoughtlessly discuss this subject with one another. It is not unusual, in all probability, for older women to advise their younger sisters, who are about to assume the relations rela-tions of wifehood, not to bring children into the world for a few years, but to 'have a good time and travel.' This instruction that has been given the young wife is probably without the knowledge of the husband. "Such a wife will in time inevitably destroy her own happiness as well as that of her husband. She may think she is enjoying herself, during the excitement ex-citement of certain indiscretions and dissipations that seem to fascinate some of the American women within recent years, but the really 'good time will never come to the wife who establishes herself among this class of women and their male associates. asso-ciates. "The social evil (I use the term in a more general gen-eral sense than it is usually applied) is a far greater evil in this country than the drinking habit. It is true that the lower forms of the social evil and intemperance in drinking are allied evils; they go hand in hand. The social evil in all its phases is such a delicate subject to handle that it seems impossible im-possible to educate our people toward righteous living liv-ing in this regard. "We can educate regarding tuberculosis and alcoholism, al-coholism, but the people must, for obvious reasons. ; remain ignorant upon this most important of all nuestions now confronting the American people more than ever before. The very existence of the nation depends upon the personal conduct of each man and each woman. Both have responsibilities that neither can shirk. Serious living on th'e part-of part-of our people must take the place of frivolous tendencies ten-dencies if the nation is to thrive and continue to be happy. There is no influence among mortals so powerful for good or evil as the relations between be-tween the sexes." |
