St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-02-15
VERMONT HUMANE SOCIETY.

ne annual meeting OF the vermont
Humane Society was held in Rutland,
Feb. l. The meeting was interesting
and instructive. After the report of
the secretary and the election of Off
GERS for the year came the speeches of
the day.
The president welcomed the audi
ence and then opened the session with
few remarks on the work of the So
ciety. He brought out the fact that
there was no income in the treasury,
either from prosecution fees from the
state or from annual dues. So far as
he knew no one received money for
their services, with two exceptions.
Once Mr.. Franklin and himself had
received SIS from railroad company
for taking care of load of hogs. In
fact, there was little or nothing COM
ing to the society from any source.
Thus the officers worked for nothing,
spent their time for nothing and ex-
pected nothing. The work had how
ever, to have support. The expenses
were paid by voluntary subscriptions.
He called upon the philanthropic in.
stincts of the members present and
asked them to subscribe to the good
work by pledging certain sums on
cards that he had distributed for this
purpose.
Mrs. Ida K. Read of Shelburne,
state president of the Woman's
Christian Temperance union said she
also thought there was too much
brutality in the killing of food ami
mails. She thought Vermont was
little behind the times in regard to
this matter in particular and to the
prevention of cruelty in general. She
prayed that the state might soon
take a stepforward in the right direc-
ton, and take such stride as would
be felt throughout the country.
Short speeches were make by Rev.
Gibbs Braislin, E. n. Merriam, Presi-
dent Williams, w. G. Richardson,
Newman Weeks and w. B. Douglass.
Papers were read by Mrs. E. Bow
man, Mrs. w. G. Richardson and
Mrs. w. l.. Franklin.
In the evening short speeches were
made by L. G. Bagley, Secretary
Hazeltine and Rev. DR.. G. W. Phillips.
w. H. Tefft of Whitehall, N. Y, was
introduced as the speaker OF the even
ing. He began by pointing out the
inhuman depravity of the universities
of the present day. This was espe-
cially true with regard to football
games, where the elevens, like a
huge octopus, struggled with each
other, while clergy and laity cheer the
men. Soon the game is over" he
continued, ''either because the men
are so tired that they can't play any
longer or because so many are hurt
that they can't go on with the game.
Then the members 60 back to their
universities, where brass bands meet
them and welcome them home to
their respective colleges. The result
is that where we used to look for the
student with classic brow we now
look for the man who has muscular
development. We have Drawn and
maxilliary muscles instead Of brains.
Thus man with little brains and a
good deal of back bone can get
through with honors, while brainy
man with little muscle will be tossed
in a blanket and be lucky if he gets
off with his lite. Altogether it is a
case of strength against brains. If
these college students do these things
what can be expected of the unedu-
Gated? Certainly we could not ex-
pect much" He then spoke at some
length on the depravity of New York
city and state elections and govern
ment and the work of DR.. Parkhurst,
and drew a lesson from his work
which he applied to the endeavors of
this society.
He then branched into a temper
ance discourse and said that the at
tempt to introduce license law was
a phenomenon" in other words, it
was like a cow trying to climb an
apple tree tail foremost after apples"
In conclusion he said that in order to
progress, the organizati ton must work
hard until the movement had attain
ed footing from which there could
be no retrograde movement. This
ended the meeting.