The South western news. (Dawson, GA.) 188?-1889, 1888-09-05
W3HGHs Refction to Society Through the
Grange.
BY Mrs. T. NJ, KmBALL

"No Grange shall be organized
or exist without woman," was the
emancipation to the women CT the
farm.
Something more than siler t
appreciation of this compliment is
demanded of us. Earnest and
cheerful work alone will bring to
us the advantages the Order has to
bastow. The pivot on which all
our interests turn is home. 1t is
the center of the worlds thought,
the leading objects of humanity's
ambition and love. The family Is
the material and moral basis of the
State, and 10 insure prosperity to
the nation the home and family
must be sacredly regarded. This
work has ever been accorded to
woman. The Grange confirms the
ol3-time theory; confers ON her
new powers, and sanctions her eff
forts in every worthy cause that
mas for its object the strengthening
Of democratic ties and the improve
ment of our dwelling places. But
the word home has broader sig.
niiicance than the four walls with>
in which we eat, sleep, and mingle
together. 1t not only includes our
houses, but our gardens, farms,
neighborhood, and is only bounded
by the outer circumference Of our
country, The preservation of our
institution through the agency of
the Grange devolvcs alike on men
aud women. The work of the Su,
bordin tie Grange is the connecting
lin < between the home duties at
the freside and the more public
dutl s Of our country. Woman's
int est in the home, the Grange,
an country are identical with
ma Is. aud can never be discovered
tr IN his. Her heart alike responds
to harmony and is panied by disc
c I'd. 1hc same beneticent laws
p eject and tie SAME cruel ones
Cypress both him and her. She
has won golden words OF praise for
her untiring devotion to her fire.
s das home, She must win it, too,
for an unselhsh devotion to the
Grange, and though concentra>
ton OF influence restrain her sons
in public as she has done in private
lie; check national sins as she has
repressed private ones. 1t is clear
that the Grange has stimulated to
intellectual activity those who have
cone within its influence. The
sllmbering genius of Il hundred
thousand women has been awakens
e |, and through the perfection of
their works have proved Themselves
the peers Of the highest lady of the
land. The papers bring us news
that from one end Of our grand re,
public to the other the pen of the
farmers wives and daughters is
busy; their voices are heard in adj
vocacy Of those principles that
made our Order a necessity; their
influence is felt in the cause often.
peranCe and moral reform. We
hear OF them in county councils
with timely words Of wisdom, and
in Grange anniversaries, with ada
dresses and poems, instilling new
life into the Order, and with a hap
Ply felicity embellishing the prqce
teal, routine duties of the hour.
Nor has womanly modesty suffered
by this pew awakening, but so far
as increased knowledge has been an.
piled to the improvement of her
home, her family and her surrounds
ings, so far has her own nature de,
veloped in all the graces of a pure
womanhood, To woman, the Grange
is an educator in a way that no
other society ever attempted. Nor
will the influence of this disci,
pline cease when they who now els
joy it shall have folded their hands
to rest, but it will reach forward
INFO the distant future, when the
girls and boys of to-day, imbibing
the enthusiasm Of their parents,
shall carry forward with ripper ex,
periences the grand work we shall
soon lay down.
The limitless opportunities tie
Grange presents to women, if seiz-
ed upon, may convert the sociaI
convent OF tbs isolated farm~houst
into charmed resting place
when youth and age may find pur,
pleasures and more satisfying en-,
/ ioyments than the husv oo,tor. -