INDIANA ItORTTCULTURAL SOCIETY. .^^0 



dominates th;it we turn ;i\v;i.v from tlip dull eyes, looking stupidly out on 

 the world around, to the face of tho mother, with her baby in her arms. 

 It is here that we see the promise of that tenderness and self-effacement 

 which at lengtli came to distinguish humanity from the brutes. As one 

 studies this picture, not only does the whole story of evolution, the 

 ascent of man. which Mr. Drummond tells about so beautifully, unroll 

 itself before one, but the sympathetic eye of the imagination sees there the 

 earliest hearthstone, the tiny germ of the home of man. Another signifi- 

 cant thought, closely connected Avith this, is, that it is the woman's face 

 that is pleasing. In her, through mother-love and suffering for others, 

 did the soul first .'ippear; a very small and feeble ray, but slowly growing 

 till it communicated itself to her sons, and in time resulted in altruism, 

 with its blessings to mankind. 



But whether or not the first soul found its lodgment in a woman's 

 form, it is a fact that the condition of woman has been the gauge and 

 measure of human progress throughout the ages, and the transformation 

 of the hearth presupposes and depends upon the transformation of woman. 

 That a very marked change has taken place in the condition of woman 

 and the home during the present century is a fact much commented on 

 in our day. Whether the change is a fortunate one, to be accepted and 

 rejoiced in; or whether it is a necessary evil, out of which good will one 

 day work itself; or whether it is a real calamity, greatly to be deplored, 

 are three views held by three classes of people. 



It has become the fasliion of late in some quarters to take the view 

 that the change is a lamentable one. The passing of the cent* r-table and 

 of the old-fashioned grandmother and her cap, and the diminished birth 

 returns, have been dwelt on eloquently and at length, as signs of the 

 degeneracy of our times. Women have been arraigned for belonging to 

 too many clubs, classes and philanthropic societies; a frightful picture of 

 the home has been set before us, where the husband is an effaced sort of 

 creature, the children, if there are any, all running wild, and a general air 

 of neglect and chaos prevails. We are almost ready to express gratified 

 delight in the old Latin epitaph on the model woman, "Domum senarlt, 

 Ununn fccif'—she stayed at home and spun wool. 



The lauthitor temporis oct'i is always with her, and he is not to be 

 despised. He calls the attention of the busy, rushing world, full of its 

 own conceit, to the past, and if. in his enthusiasm, he puts a gilding on 

 the past, and touches it up so that the original is often lost sight of, he 

 nevertheless does well. 



Less enthusiastic than this critic is he who. lamenting the present 

 changed condition of tilings, yet seeks to reconcile himself by the reflec- 

 tion that great good often brings in its train some evil, which must be 

 endured patiently for the sake of the end in view. He argues thus: In 

 the old-fashioned days of domesticity it is easy to see why the home, and 

 the grandmotlior, and large families flourished. Woman knew nothing 



