Sociul Science and Woman Suffrage. 75 



The cry of tlie mother from an average home now is of 

 over work. Grant that this comes from the ignorance and sin 

 of man, yet woman's assumption of the right of suffrage will 

 not put the millenium in his heart. It will not take an ounce 

 from the burdens already pressing. It will simply add the 

 distraction of one more. The great source of misery to a 

 married woman now is that her maternity is regarded as only 

 an incident in her life, while during the months and years in 

 which her vitality is consumed by it, it should be regarded as 

 the sole end. Maternity is duty assigned and enough of duty. 

 Instead of asking if woman cannot assume some other duty, 

 the attention of society should be directed to devising meth- 

 ods of relief from the necessities that now press upon her. 

 Beyond what natu^re imposes, a mother's duties should be op- 

 tional. And yet she is asked to assume another duty which 

 ought to be inexorable wherever it falls. 



We see often 'in the high quarters of the advocacy of suf- 

 frage for woman an ignorance or an ignoring of the physiologic- 

 al bearing of the question that is astonishing. A far-famed 

 and much respected supporter of the so-called reform hails the 

 good time coming when " marriage and motherhood no more 

 complete a woman's mission to the world than marriage and 

 fatherhood complete a man's." We grant that a married wo- 

 man may have other aims in view besides what maternity im- 

 poses, hut she cannot have such aims on equal footing ivith man. 

 If she is to be a mother, these other aims must be held by her 

 in a comparatively subordinate position to that in which they 

 may be held by man. Mamage and motherhood do complete 

 a woman's mission to the world more than marriage and 

 fatherhood can complete the mission of a man. It would be 

 impossible to secure equality between the sexes here, even 

 with "just men made perfect." God has drawn the fiber of 

 woman around motherhood with a tension he has not pat upon 

 the paternity of man. Marriage assigns function and destiny 

 to woman as it does not to man. What kind of wild reason- 



