The Model Woman by J. H. Egbert, D. D.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 11, 1902

“The Model Woman”

By J. H. Egbert, D. D.

SOLOMON’S model woman was a wife and mother, a model for all who contemplate matrimony,—sympathetic, kind, faithful, wise, and discreet, commanding the confidence and winning more and more the hearts of husband and children. She is enthroned queen in heart and home.

There is some work which can be best performed by unmarried women untrammeled with domestic cares, and the accomplishment of such work is worthy of the highest praise. The Florence Nightingales and Clara Bartons have been veritable angels of mercy to those who, had it not been for their tender ministrations, would have died unaided, with wife, mother, and sister far away and unconscious of their need; but we find no nobler type of womanhood than in the home, and there is nothing in Scripture or in reason which suggests that virginity is more holy than marriage, or that a maiden can be more saintly or useful than a wife and mother.

Solomon’s model is evidently not a “St. Agnes” (the typical bride of the church), nor even a “Virgin Mary,” but we recognize her rather in Sarah, Naomi, Hannah, Eunice, and the women whose influence in the home has molded and fashioned the character of the truly great men and women of all ages.

Another characteristic of the model woman is thrift. “She . . . worketh willingly with her hands,” she rises early to care for the interests of her household. Her claim to superiority rests not in the “blueness” of her blood, nor in languid innocuousness, passive innocence, nor even in slowness of speech (a quality much to be desired and regarded by many as one of the lost arts).

She is rather a prototype of the “New Woman” of modern times in regard to bodily activity and physical development. “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.” She had a “gymnasium,” but it was fitted up with distaff, spindle, and loom. Time has

relegated these adjuncts of a well-ordered home in B. C. 1015 to the attics of old farmhouses or the drawing rooms of the city mansion; but the spirit which once moved the model housewife to card, spin, and weave is dominant in the ideal woman of to-day. Dress, or a desire to be “in fashion,” is said to be woman’s bane. Eve, with no sweeping, dish-washing, or mending, truly dwelt in Eden. In an evil hour she became interested in “dress reform,” and applied her limited knowledge of needlework to the manufacture of fig-leaf garments; her life became a burden, second only to the “white man’s,” and it has passed into a proverb that “woman’s work is never done.” The model woman does not leave the kitchen entirely to the cook. She appreciates the fact that the gastronomic tastes of her family have much to do with the answer to the question, “Is marriage a failure?” Solomon’s model “bringeth her food from afar.” No doubt she did the marketing herself, she was “up” betimes “while it is yet night,” to prepare the morning meal. Her husband did not “get” his own breakfast.

Nothing cools the most ardent love of a new husband sooner than cold or indifferently or insufficiently cooked victuals. This wise woman understands also how important house furnishings are in regard to this great question concerning marriage. Taste in the selection and arrangement of furniture, and neatness in dress, and tidiness in the keeping of the house, are weighty factors in this great problem. The phrase, “All her household are clothed with scarlet,” conveys the idea that the wardrobe of the entire family is kept in order. Much of the prejudice existing among men against women with “literary tastes,” and many of those interested in “reform,” emanates from their experience with cold, cheerless homes and their accessories. None but bachelors enjoy sewing buttons on outer garments, or using safety pins for want of buttons on nether underwear. And the most doting father soon tires of the company of the sweetest baby when all his spare time is spent in nursing it, while the mother is either preparing or delivering her celebrated lecture on “How to Make Home Pleasant.”

On general principles, “home” is unquestionably woman’s sphere, but some have no home. Shall they be debarred the privilege of trying to secure one by earnest endeavor in any honorable sphere of work to which they are physically and mentally adapted? Surely this is no more degrading or unwomanly than to endeavor to secure a husband for the sole purpose of securing the necessary means of support. The fact that women are entering and adorning so many departments in the business world proves that “Wisdom is justified of her children;” for, as Solomon says, “Her own works praise her in the gates.”

The most prominent element, however, in this model character is charity. “In her tongue is the law of kindness.” “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” Her people praise her. “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.” “Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” Charity, the best of all graces, is the crowning glory of the model woman.—J. H. Egbert, D. D.