Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-06-10
THE FLowER FESTIVAL SOCIETY,
rhe Annual Reports OF the Various
0fficcrs.


The Annual Reports OF the Various
Officers.
The following reports Of the President
of the Flower Festival Society and Mrs.
Jocelyn, of the Woman's Exchange.
were, through lack Of space, crowded out
in last Thursdays HERALp,' Following
is the report of Mrs. r. NJ. Widney,
President OF the Society:
Some one has said eve should
never forget the good received, nor re-
member the good done.' In presenting
our third annual report to the Flower
Festival Society, its friends, and possibly
its enemies, 1t seems necessary TO say
some things in regard to our work which
We sincerely hope will not be construed
as desire to talk OF ourselves or our SER
vices. think il is safe to say that the
true spirit OF no philantrophic move
ment in Los Angeles has ever been so
persistently misunderstood and so un-
justly criticised, not by select few, but
by many, as has the establish
ing and maintaining Of this boarding
Home for respected and self-respecting
young women, by the Flower Festival
Society. Patiently, faithfully and re-
peatedly by voice and by pen, have we
told and are stilltelling the necessity, the
origin and the aim OF our work, and yet
if you will keep your ears open you will
probably hear that beauty, good dress
and position unlock our doors for ad-
mission-that the poor have no part nor
lot with us. From others that the Flower
Festival ladies are very foolish in giving
their time and strength to encourage
young girls in idleness. Others again
may inform you that there is no necessi-
ty for this Home, and that they say:
Let them come and fill our Kitchens"
Again that the Society is simply educat-
ing employers to reduce the wages of
their employees.
Well, we can sit and smile serenely at
all this, for we know that our work has
been owned and blessed by Him who is
the worlds great burden-bearer. We
know that our home is a reality, yes,
real home, built, furnished and paid for;
filled with pleasant faces and plain faces,
with young girls from drygoods stores,
dressmaking and millinery establish
ments, offices, laundries, restaurants,
Kitchens, ETC.. with those who are sick,
ailing and well with those who by ma
ture may be idle, but certainly not by
practice; with those whom we think far
better fitted for domestic work than for
clerkships with many who can truly
say, 81 slept and dreamed that life was
beauty, awoke and found that life was
duty" who, alas! have wakened with
unskilled hand, unframed eye and unde-
veloped muscle, to face life's real battle
alone; 80 helpless, because neither men
tally nor physically fitted to meet the
contest, the struggle, the battle.
In the worlds great network
Of reformatory and philanthropic organ
izations to-day, many are the measures
taken for redressing wrongs and woes,
few for penetrating and removing the
causes which produced them. When a
plea goes up from the Nation which shall
demand universal, compulsory, intellec-
tual and industrial education, then shall
this great army of the unframed be fitted
in mind and body, not alone to do what
the hands find to do, but to find some
thing for those hands to do and willingly
do whatever they are sent to do. We
shall then have laid the "axe at the root
of the tree" We declare ourselves free
from any sickly sentimentalism in regard
to the conduct of our Home; we aim in
all cases to have our sympathies and i'm
pulses under the control of common
sense, to have our helpfulness a tonic
rather than weakening in effect, seeking
always to cultivate independence rather
than dependence; but we reserve to our
selves the right after conscientious
investigation, to maintain entirely, to
help more or less, or not at all, as the
case may be; the prices paid to us in no
way affecting the standing, consideration
or attention paid to any. At any rate,
until we shall have done something to
advance this higher, helpful education,
something to help the regulation of the
true standard OF responsibility in labor,
until the girls in our kitchen are edu.
Gated by us to know that their social
position is quite equal to that of the
young ladies who preside over the lace
or kid-glove departments in dry-goods
store, l say until we shall have done
to accomplish this, I, atleast,
shall respect and not censure young
lady for accepting what she has been
educated to believe socially far better
position than we can offer her. Some Of
us are mothers, and should to-morrow's
sun find our daughters suddenly brought
face to face with life as a duty, / wonder
under the present order of things
how many of us would rush out to
place them in ''the kitchensn Of even
our dearest friends. Our Home is
filed with daughters, motherless, home
less, stranger daughters, and we as a
Society wish for them the best and
highest positions that industry, aspira-
ton and true worth shall make for them,
and we shall aid and abet by our help in
all that elevates, refines and cheers on
to success. This hour closes the third
year of our existence as an organized
Society. The years gone have their his
tory, ''the handwriting is on the WALL"
and the story reads something like this:
The number of members at present en-
rolled is sixty-three; the net value of
money earned by the Flower Festivals
and an exhibit of curios is $22, 900; the
number of persons who have found
home with us is one hundred and seven
ty-six. OF the temptations removed,
hopes frightened, fears allayed, and
souls uplifted, the Great Shepherd alone
has the true record. For grievous rea-
sons four have been compelled to know
our doors were closed upon them; that
fundamental principle underlying all
government, "the greatest good to the
greatest number" making this extreme
measure necessary. The number of con-
signors to our Exchange is 244, and the
value of the goods in the Exchange to-
lay is 81 800, every article of which is
the work of our consignors. Since its in
,eption the Exchange work has aggregat-
I'd $2,6S2.35; little flavor that of senti-
but a very ring of true hope
iulness. With the faithful assistance of
the ladies. Of the Orphans Home Society
and an army of other true workers, "a 800
nave passed into the funds of that
society, help for hands and hearts al
ready overtaxed. Love (that something
greater than tongues or prophecies can
ltter) for those who know nothing of
mothers tender care, or fathers con-
slant watchfulness.
Some months ago we thought to en-