The Portland daily press., 1896-02-14
WOMEN'S CLUBS.
Midwinter Meeting of the yvomen's Feder-
alton at Orono.

whit er session of the board and was h cid
in the Crono Methodist church.
Mrs. Dowst, of Bangor, president of
the Board was in the chair. She read the
passages from the Scriptures selected for
the devotional exercises. and the Lord q
Prayer was repeated by the assembly.
Mrs. Albert White of the Whittier
Club, Orono, made a very attractive ad-
dress of welcome, preceding it with this
graceful poem.
A wizard of the Merrimack,
So old ancestral legends say,
Gould call green leaf and blossom back
To frosted stem and spray.
The dry logs of the cottage wall
Beneath his touch. put out their leaves
The clay bound swallow at his call
Played round the 10y leaves.
The settler saw his oaken fail
Take bud and bloom before his eyes
From frozen pools, he saw the pale
Sweet, summer lilies rise.
The beechen platter sprouted wild
The pipin wore Its old time green.
The cradle DER the sleeping child
Became a leafy screen.
The roll call was then read by Secretary
EstabIook, of Orono, and the following
ladies responded for the various clubs
which were represented at the SESSION:
Auburn Art Club, Mrs. Alice Frye
Briggs.
Augusta Current Events and Augusta
China Decorators clubs, Mrs. Brainard.
Bangor Athene. Mrs. L. L. Paine.
Norumbega, Bangor Mrs. H. G. Rowe
Rath Enrfninhtlv lott nf n ~
from Miss Bertha L. Soule.
Saturday Club, Brunswick, Mrs. Byron
Stevens.
October Club, Bucksport, Mrs. L. F..
Tapley.
Caribou Aurora Library Club, Mrs. F.
u. Porter.
Westbrook Seminary, Deering, Miss
Hattie Russell.
Dexter Woman's Literary Club, Mrs.
Horton.
Ellsworth Woman's Club, Mrs. Georgia
Pulsifer Porter, Old Town.
Ellsworth Nineteenth Century Club
Mrs. S. d. Wiggin.
Fairfield Dial Club, letter from presi-
dent, Miss Laura Fl. Connor.
Fort Fairfield Literary Club, letter
from Mrs. Nj. G. Perry, Sec.
Lewiston Clavier Club, Mrs. Gerrish.
Lewiston Cosmos Mrs. T. R. Herbert.
Murray Club, lewiston. Mrs. Wing.
Lewiston Woman's Literary Union,
MRS Alice Frye Briggs.
Oakdale Dirigo, Mrs A. N. Hawes
Island Reading Club, Orono. Mrs.
Douglass.
Portland Beecher Club, Miss E. W.
Varnum.
George Elliot Club, Mrs. II. @. Os-
good.
Travellers Club, Portland, Mrs. Eunice
N. Frye.
Womans Literary Union, Mrs J. B.
Coyle.
Skowhegan S orosis. Mrs Treat.
Skowhegan Woman's Club. Mrs Albee.
State Club, Maine, M. Il. Holyo Ike,
Mrs. e. A. d. burlington.
Waterville, Woman's Literary Union,
Mrs Pepper.
The reports of the secretary and treas :
urer, following, were interesting features
of the session and showed satisfactory
state Of things in both departments.
After the transaction of some important
business the bureau of information and
the bureau of reciprocity reported. rs did
also the state chairman of correspondence.
After Mrs. E. H. Osgood had told about
the meeting of the directors of the Geor-
the question box was opened. and was
followed by Miss Harriet Fernald, of the
State College library, who spoke briefly
on "The Duties of the State and
Women's Clubs Toward Public Libra
rIes.''
al fhn md
lunch was served in the vestry.
In the afternoon at two o'clock the
committee on state board of education
reported and the matter was fully dis
cussed Then the question box was con-
tinued md the exercises of the pro-
gramme were closed with an admirable
paper from Miss Eleanor B. Stevens, of
the Current Events club. Gardiner; the
subject of her paper was: Reform in
Millinery, Plea for Our Feathered
Songsters. Miss Stevens informed her
hearers that the cruel custom of wearing
birds feathers on the hats originated in
a ball of the demi monde at Paris, and
this custom was copied by the women OF
high rank. 1t was shame that frivol-
GUS women and girls should wear dead
birds for ornaments when there were SO
many beautiful flowers and laces that
could take their place. The speaker
quoted Celia Thaxtsr, who claims that
if women reelizsd what they were doing
they would never wear these dead birds.
God gave us these exq uisite creatures for
delight and solaoe. A woman whose
heart would ache towards bird or beast
cannot be aware of the unmeasured
destruction of beautiful life and innocence
that Is going on With her consent.
Some varieties are now nearly extinct. At
least five million song birds are required
annually for women's hats. A statistical
account was given Of the birds killed for
that purpose. In Florida a writer in
Audubon's Magazine said he saw hun
drsds of hunters loaded down with the
bird piumes, and the shrieks and cries OF
the young for their parent birds were
most pitiful to hear. In conclusion che
urged her hearers not to wear the birds