Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/225

 the birth of a child. It would be an altogether beneficial thing if the prospective mother could be kept at home six months before and six months after the birth of a child. It would be better still if women could be kept at home altogether until their children themselves are working for money. This, of course, presupposes some scheme of State Aid or Maintenance of Mothers, the provision by society of some independent means during the child-bearing period, provided the children were well cared for, which should be sufficient in amount to compensate for the giving up of the ordinary vocation, and which should be secured for the uses of the mother as her personal, private income. If this were done, public opinion would soon condemn the woman who neglected her young children for gainful pursuits. As things are at present, public opinion is aware that poverty drives many mothers to work to provide their children with the things which they need, and which the husband's wages are inadequate to provide.

Until some scheme of compensation to mothers for the giving up of their independent work is devised, the feminist opinion of the country will be needed to control the well-meaning philanthropist, who, deploring the evils of infant mortality, is seeking by legislation to prohibit altogether the labour of Rh