The herald., 1894-06-01
INFLUENCE OF woMeNs CLUBS.
The President of One, the Most Successful
of These Organizations, Remarks.

Inc fTestuenJ OF Oncf the no1t Euccohshu
of These Organizations, Remarks.
"Club life revives the delicious sense
of sympathy and warns us Of the dan
gers of solitude and repulsion.
In describing the work of the typical
woman's club, Mrs Frances A. Good
ale, president Of the New Century club
of Utica, N. Y, says: every many are
the associations for the relief of misery,
helplessness, poverty and bodily suffer-
ing in addition to the vast amount Of
benevolent work done by organizations
within the churches These associations
enlarge the effective force Of their men,
bers, increase their social advantages
and teach them to some extent the value
that inures from union for a common
purpose But these are results second
airy to their main object. Their very
basis is limitation, sectarian, chart
table, literary or otherwise, and neces
sarily circumscribed in sympathy as
we'll as in the field and manner Of work.
'Here the woman's club steps in, and
antagonizing no conviction, neutralizing
no benefcence, but offering opportunity
for affiliations on grounds broad and
natural as womanhood and humanity.
From this ground the spontaneous har-
vest is help for every form of human
need, and knowledge CLEANED from az
many points of view as there are individ-
uals in the membership. Every branch
and method of education appeals with
vital and mighty force to women. Who
better than the mothers and the house
keepers can help along its beginning in
kindergarten and kitchen garden? And
who in the nineteenth century would
deprive woman Of her share or decline
her aid in the higher grades of science,
literature, music or art?
"The woman's club is designed to be
social, but not social on compulsion.
Those disposed to fraternize with old
friends only among club members could
be just as reserved within the club as in
the world, and one whose mood was
solitary could indulge herself unques-
toned. But there should be fine and
constant opportunities to cultivate socia-
bility, and there should be pleasant
welcoming spirit at its meetings both
formal and informal.
in order to do the best work we wish
and we need all kinds of women as
members - fashionable women and
working women, professional and liter
airy women, women active in charity
visiting and plain, quiet women who
find their own affairs all they care to
mind. The theory Of the woman's club
should be to give and take. The very
largest mental horizon, the most gener-
GUS nature, is sure to expand, to receive
new ideas and helpful suggestions now
and again, and to bless itself still more
beautifully by breadth of generous Civ
ing to the rest. This is the general
theory. Under it, in practical working,
every woman with personal sorrow
too heavy to bear alone, or with prob
lem in her own life or known to her to
be in her neighbours, should feel that
she has the right to ask and to find and
the ability to give help and good in1u-
ence in the woman's club.
The club of which Mrs. Goodale is the
efficient president is young but very
vigorous organization Only year old,
it has over 200 members and has incor-
porated into its constitutional methods
many of the best ideas for getting rid of
friction and facilitating work. 1t has
board of 30 trustees, elected for terms of
one two, three and four years The
trustees elect the officers, who are presi-
dent, three vice presidents, recording
and corresponding secretaries and treas
urer. Six of the trustees, with these Off
GERS, constitute an executive board for
the election of members and the trans
action of business of the club.