The herald., 1894-07-04
INFLUENCE OF woMEMs CLUBS.


=
OF These Organizations, Remarks.
"Club life reviyes the delicious sense
of sympathy and warns us of the dan
gers of solitude and repulsion.
IN describing tho work of the typical
woman's club, Mrs. Frances A. Good
ale, president of the New Century club
Of Utica, N. Y, says: VERY many are
the associations fer tho relief of misery,
helplessncss, poverty and bodily suffer
ing in addition TO tho vast amount o.
benevolent work done By organization
within the churches These associations
enlarge the effective force Of their mem
bers, increase their social advantage
and teach them to some extent the value
that inures from union for q common
purpose. Bus these are results second
airy to their main object. Their very
basis is limitation. sectarian, chart
table, literary or otherwise, and noces
sarily circumscribed in sympathy as
we'll as in tho field and manner OF work.
Here tho woman S club steps il, ard
antagouizing no conviction, ncutralizire
no benc1icence, but offering opportunity
for affiliations on grounds broad and
natural as wonanhood and humanity.
From this ground the spontaneous har-
vest is help for every form Of human
need, and. knowledge CLEANED from as
many points Of view as there are indivld-
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?
1.-THE wolnan'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 bo fine and
constant opportunities to cultivate socia-
bility, and there should be pleasant
welcoming spirit at its meetings both
formal and informal
I'm 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, aud to bless itself still more
bountifully 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 OF 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 inhu'
ence in the woman's club
The club of which Mrs. Goodale is the
/ efficient president is a young but very
vigorous organization. Only year old
it has over 200 members and has incor
porated into its constitutional method:
many Of the best ideas for getting rid o.
friction and facilitating work. 1t has {
board of 20 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 fol-
the election Of members and the trans
action of business of the club.