, 1890-03-16
WoMAN,s WORLD IN PARAGRAPHS
Women Of Buslness-Ths Pro Re Nata
Club, of Washington.

Women of Buslness-The Pro Re Nata
Club, of washington.
Among the youngest of the women's
clubs is the Pro Re Nata, of Washing
ION Something more than a year ago a
class of ladies was formed to learn par
liamentary usage and extempore speak
ing. At the close of the course of in
struction the members of the class de-
termined to continue the meetings and
use the knowledge they had gained. A
society was accordingly formed, with
constitution and bylaws, and officers
were elected. The organization differs
from most ladies' clubs in that the mem
bers discuss only questions of vital inter
est In their own time. An especial feat
ure is made'of extempore speaking, in
which women are apt to be deficient. So
rapidly have the ladies gained in this re-
spect that, though the club is not yet a
year old, all the members can stand and
express themselves neatly and ~forcefully
without even notes before them. At the
last meeting the question discussed was:
How far should state education go2
Among the members are some young
ladies, not over 10 or 20, who speak adj
mirably on topics hat are now interest
ing all thinkers. The social feature is a
delightful one among the handsome and
cultivated women constituting the club.
Mrs. Lucia E. Blount is president, and
among the members are Mrs. Elliott
Coues, the wife of ex-senator Joseph
Mcdonald, of Indiana; Mrs. w. B.
Moses, Clara Barton, of the Red Gross
society, and Miss Esther De Puy. The
name Pro Re Nata was suggested by a
Boston woman, of course. Ladies, what
does it mean?
A movement to be noted is that which
led to the organization of the Woman's
National Liberal union in Washington
recently. The union itself is composed
of persons of various views on religion
n divers opinions on temperance.
Many of them are absolute teetotalers.
But all alike look with apprehension on
what they believe to be the increasing
power Of the church party in affairs of
state in this country. As one notable
evidence of it they instance the increas-
ing utilization between woman suffrage
associations and the Woman's Christian
Temperance union. Another evidence
is the wording of a clause of the Blair
bill, which declares that non-sectarian
Christianity shall be taught in all the
schools of the country. In the judgment
of the founders of the Woman's Liberal
union this provision would Cypress the
conscience of the large number of both
Jews and agnostics who are good citi-
zens and entitled to consideration. They
further declare that the inserting of the
word God" in the constitution would be
,,h-or,,-N~ 80 a. A.. F.
ders of this republic, who guaranteed
perfect liberty of conscience. The or
ganization has been started among wo-
men because those who support the
churches are women. The president Of
the Woman's National Liberal union is
Matilda Joslyn Gage, of Fayetteville,
N. Y.
am inclined TO think that men and
women have become SO differentiated by
the development of our civilization that
they no longer understand each other
thoroughly.
Mrs. L. May Wheeler has become the
manager of the National Woman's News
association of Chicago. That news asso-
citation ought to be a great success.
Mrs. T. Sheppard, of Ventura, Cal,
is a successful florist and scotsman. She
has been in the business seven years,
and now has over five acres in seeds,
plants and bulbs.
Here is n of Lucy Larcom's sayings;
"One thing we are at least beginning to
understand, which our ancestors had
not learned: that it is far more needful
for theologians to become as little chill
dren thar for little children to become
theologians."
ELIZA ARcHARD CONNER.