Look for the Woman!

Yes, look for the woman!
It is she who builds when she strives, and destroys when she neglects!

She suckles her child on the milk of strength and tenderness, and in his first years teaches him all she holds of knowledge and guidance; she accompanies man as a devoted sister and a faithful wife — she is the candle that burns to give light to others!

Man is the mirror of his mother. Upon him are reflected her nature, her character, and her energy. If you want men who will make a refined nation, then take refined mothers. Our proof of this lies in the sayings of the great men of the West, such as George Washington, the liberator of America, who said: "Were it not for my mother, I would never have reached what I have reached." Likewise Bismarck, who said with all pride and admiration: "My wife made me what I am!" And were we to leaf through history and review the lives of great men, it would be proven to us that not one of those immortal great men could have soared into the skies of glory and settled upon the summit of immortality had it not been for that hidden magic hand that spurred him to the leap and pushed him to set forth — the hand of woman, who is, in the personality of the genius, the moving spur and the well-aimed push.

Nor have woman's works been confined within her private domestic circle; she has begun founding associations to serve and aid the wretched and the poor, to console prisoners, and to bind the wounds of the sick and the stricken. The first to think of these cooperative matters and free humanitarian services was Florence Nightingale, who left her parents' house, with its comfort and security, and plunged into the midst of the sick and the needy, dressing their wounds, feeling with them, consoling them and easing their pains. She stormed the fields of death like the knights; and when the effect of her works became plain to see, her fair sisters rose up to accompany her from every quarter, following her example to support man in his arduous tasks — to lighten the woes of wars, to help the afflicted with all gentleness and tenderness, and to sustain helpless widows and ill-fated orphans.

Nor did woman content herself with this: she strove to prevent the outbreak of the recent wars, appealing to kings, great commanders, and heads of governments to avert the human slaughter — but alas, despite her continuous efforts, she did not succeed.

If such is woman's sentiment — lofty in aim, noble in purpose — the sentiment of a human being who is gentle with his fellow man, is it not fitting for us to open the way before her, so that she may grow in strength, and not to stand as a stumbling block in the path of the means she takes as her instrument for her own progress and the progress of the whole universe?

How fitting it would be for the governments of the entire world, instead of spending millions on destructive wars and human tragedies, to establish hospitals and schools for the preparation of refined peoples, sound of body and noble of character...

From the beginning, male and female, God created mankind to cooperate in this life, so that woman might be for man a companion in struggle and a partner in life — not a lowly slave of his, to be disposed of as he pleases, left at the mercy of his whims and inclinations. Woman has her personality, her being, and her influence: she is the mother, the wife, the sister, and the daughter; she accompanies man through all the stages of his life, and he is influenced by her, whatever his personality and his station.