A Woman Set Apart…

In one account of the courtship of Elizabeth Barrett she replied to the poet Robert Browning, that she should not marry because of her physical frailty; that if she should, as she poignantly put it, she would be “haunted by the ghosts of [his] unborn children.”

This thought has some searching meanings. There are many avenues of activity open to this generation of young women. Indeed, there seem to be few that are closed to them. But in contemplating all of the open avenues, God grant that none who have given themselves in marriage and who are able, may be so shortsighted as to close their eyes to the career of hallowed motherhood.

There are less burdensome pursuits. There are avenues of more monetary remuneration, of more independence, more freedom, more convenience; of more glamour, perhaps, of a certain kind. But where is there one so richly rewarding, so fully satisfying, so assuredly consistent with the meaning and purpose of life, so close in companionship with God; so devoutly to be wished for, so earnestly to be prayed for, so completely to be accepted, as the career of virtuous, faithful motherhood in honorable marriage?

And this we would say to young mothers who find the days heavy, the evenings weary, the chores multiplied, the problems perplexing⎯but the rewards so wonderfully rich⎯this we would say to them, in some choice quoted sentences from the pages of the poets: “There will be a singing in your heart; there will be a rapture in your eyes; you will be a woman set apart; you will be so wonderful and wise.” And “Thou, while thy babes around thee cling, shalt show us how divine a thing a woman may be made.”