The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-10-23
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.

The following is the address delivered
Monday evening before Hypatia, by the
president of that interesting club, Mrs
Julia K Bennett:
Gentlemen and ladies. husbands and
friends of Hypatia: 1t IS with pleasure
we greet you this evening and extend to
forward with happy anticipation to our
annual meetings, when we can have the
husbands and friends Of our club members
with us to add to our pleasures by their
presence aud to increase our joys by shar
ing them.
We have existed as a club for almost
seven years aud during all that time We
have striven TO reach the standard of the
ideal club woman which Is, as some one
has truly described her to be large heart
ed, slow to take offeus., generous, govern
ed Ivy principle rather than impulse, and
all in all as being worthy to be classed
among the immortals and suited to make
life a joy to all who know her. or share her
destiny" We do not claim that we have
yet reached this standard of excellence
but We are striving toward that goal, and
we hope we have made some
progress along the line; and in
our efforts in that direction we are glad IL
think that the gentlemen have always
been our sincere and earnest friends cheer
ing US by their presence. aiding US b.
their wisdom aud assisting US by their
kindly advice.
The question has been asked, "Wbat is
the necessity of club or zauiZation. what
are its advantages and why may not the
same quality, kind and quantity Of work
be done at homer" The answer Is this
question is many sided and would lead TO
a longer disserta ton than / have either
time or inclination 10 submit 10 tonight if
l we're to attempt to answer 1t in full, but
a few points wish to call on: The princi-
pal objects of the club are social, lntellec-
tual aud moral growth and culture. Once
week or twice month we meet in our
club capacity, and there mingle with others
whose aims. ambitions, likes and disllkes
are similar to our own. A few hours are
spent in company that is congenial and to
US pleasant. and there we form many fast
and sincere friendships. While we are
thus moulding social ties the Intellectual
is perhaps chiefly drawn upon; we aim to
inspire women with high ideals and pur-
poses in life; to lift them out Of the rat
worn by the hum-drum routine of the
duties of every day life and above the
frvolities and inefficiencies of past years;
to extend and broaden their mental hori-
ION by giving them wholesome and invig-
Grating food for thought and increasing
and multiplying their sources of informa-
training them to think and express their
thoughts in collected and logical form.
The club is union of many individuals
with single and common purpose. in
union there is not only strength" but re-
source, stimulus and opportunity rs well.
The club stands AS an exponent of all
that is highest and best in modern woman
hood. 1t appeals TO all classes STIMULATING
only that lis members be pure. and with
an ambition to live better, improve, foster
aud develope more. it opens avenues for
mental growth, where previously the
door was closed by lack of opportunity or
stimulus to use it.
In the club we meet women Of all creeds
persuasions and opinions, and by personal
contact the angular corners OF self are
rounded off, while by process of mental
attrition the social surface is polished snd
smoothed and the faculties rendered more
systematic and cOsmothetic, and who will
deny that it is a wholesome process for
one who has devoted her whole time to u
single line of thought and perhaps believed
that there was none other OF equal
Importance to inject women who are
just as enthusiastic in perfectly
opposite direction. 1t breaks up mar
low, preconceived opinions, brushes
away the dust and cobwebs of intolerance
and selfishness, encourages liberality,
broadens the mind, extends the range Of
thought, cultivates the human sympathy.
Here the timid are encouraged and the
diffident upheld without the embarrass-
ing, critical gaze of an uninterested, I'M
sympathetic public to confuse the
thoughts and paralyZe the nerves, and not
only this, but in America we have over
200 clubs organized into a federation for
the same purpose, the uplifting and up
building of womankind. The housewife,
the teacher, the clerk, the sewing woman,
the lady of leisure. are all invited, and all
may come provided only they be pure in
heart and pure in deed. This federation is
to the individual club what the club is to
the individual members-an example a
help, a stay and a comforter.
We do not hope to reach perfection; that
is an attribute of duty alone, but we do
feel the consciousness of having striven TO
improve ourselves, and of having aimed to
aid In the improving Of our Sex not Only,
Tut OF mankind IN general AS well.
Neither do we claim to have covered the
whole field of usefulness; that is too
broad to be covered by one society and too
extensive to be constructed in day.
But we do hope and feel that we can claim
that we have done and are doing work
for the betterment OF womankind in our
own age and laying the foundation for
still better work for her in the years that
are to come. We hope and believe that we
are making them more fitted for the duties
of the home, The Office of wifehood, the
position of motherhood aud the response
bilities that lie beyond.
When the wounded and dying soldier
kissed the fleeting shadow on the white
washed wall OF the hospital ward, it was
conclusive evidence that Florence Night
indale had done "A noble work and had done
1t well; that her sacrifices were in meas
ure appreciated, aud that her labors and
loving kindness had not been wholly in
vain. We cannot all be Florence Nightin-
gales, nor are there war and wounded SOL
diers to call for our help; but, members of
Hypatia. there are many weak, helpless,
down-trodden women who need our exam
pie. our help. our sympathy and our
leadership. Let Us be diigent in our
efforts and earnest in the work of improv-
Ing their condition to the end that the
women of the future will look with CRATE
tul remembrance upon our club, will
pronounce "Hpyatia" in vsperation, will
greet our shadow on the walls of time and
will rise up and call us blessed.
COUNTY TEACHERS MEETING.