662 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



read more than they do. They should be acquainted with history, 

 discoveries, inventions, religious tendencies, politics, current events 

 and all that go to make up everyday life. 1 would say to every 

 woman whose time is limited, read the newspapers. One weekly 

 or even a monthly, well read and thought over will keep her informed 

 upon the most important events. The progressive woman of to-day 

 should be equal to any emergency and still not lose her womanly 

 dignity. Her descendants then may be able to say, "She met the 

 wants of the times, and was modest enough not to exceed them." 



The farmer's wife should be an educator. She should be ;hor- 

 oughly educated herself, not only as to the needs of the home and 

 family, but of the commercial, intellectual, moral,- religious and 

 political wants of the nation of which she forms an important part, 

 if not the most important part. It is an old maxim that "the hand 

 that rocks the cradle, rules the world." If that be true the respon- 

 sibilty that rests on the farmer's wife is not to be sneered at or 

 evaded. The hand that rocks the cradle in the farmer's home 

 rules or controls 40 per cent, of the population of the United States. 

 The qualifications for her educational work cannot be obtained in 

 the ball-room, card parlor or dime novel. Neither can it be obtained 

 by a school education, no difference how thorough it may be. It 

 can only be obtained by constantly replenishing her stock of knowl- 

 edge b}' observation, reading, thought and honest discussion. It 

 is when thus educated she is the true helpmeet of man, with mutual 

 interests. She is his counsellor and friend, always in his confidence. 

 Of the two, she is undoubtedly the more spiritually inclined. She 

 will stimulate the noble qualities of their little children and guide 

 and instruct them in the path that leads to a higher life when they 

 have grown to manhood and womanhood. She needs to b? qualified 

 to be their counsellor, in their business, political and religious needs 

 when the responsibility is greater than when they were babies in 

 the cradle. If she be qualified to instruct her family, as to church 

 and state, then why not have an equal voice in saying who should 

 rule, or by what form they should be governed? Why should she 

 not enjoy equal rights with them? If she is qualified to instruct, 

 why not qualified to act? 



Perhaps some will say she is getting out of her proper sphere, 

 that it is her duty to teach her boys to plow and her girls to cook 

 and wash. Who were Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, Cal- 

 houn, Benton, Lincoln, and Garfield? Were they not the sons of 

 farmers' wives? Who first instructed them in the line of duty? 

 Certainly the one whose hand rocked the cradle preparatory to the 

 training of these boys, whose names have made an indelible mark 

 on the pages of the world's history and in the hearts of American 

 patriots. Win. Hornaday in his "Two Years in the Jungle of the 

 Dyaks," describes a native race of Borneo, untouched 1 the li";lil 

 of modern civilization, where the woman is considered the superior 

 of man except in hunting and fighting. She is treated well and her 

 advice is asked in all things of importance. Each man has but one 

 wife and infidelity in marriage is almost unknown. The marriage 

 of relatives is prohibited and great care is taken of the boys and 

 girls. Among the Persian Aryas the wife and mother is still held 

 in honor as being God's chosen instrument. She is regarded as 

 superior to man and to this day is called the transmitter of life. 



