The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-10
KINGS DAUGHTERS DAY.
TEyTH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
OF IHE ORGANIZATION.

q Avcnue Methodist Chureh aud nis-
cu.s Their Work and Drink Ts..
From ten members to 100000 lie a pretty big
iump. When an organization can show such a
rccnri rs that in ten years II has every reason
,o feel proud OF itself. Consequently, not a soul
,e,t tempted to put Ndamper on the tenth birth
ln, celebration OF the Kings Daughters yester-
day afternoon. Everybody there. from Mr..
Jphn Ne witt, "the m evangelist" TO
DIR, David Green, who gathers In the Wander
bIiinn tithes. said nice things about the order
and wished it many happy returns Of the day.
the celebration was held In the Madison Ave
nue Methodist Episcopal Church. at Sixtieth
stree, and Madison avenue. In the afternoon
the church was filled with women OF all ages
and conditions. old and young. rioh and poor.
fashionable and countryfed. They were alike
IN but one thing. Upon each woman's cloak or
gown was conspicuously pinned the little silver
Maltese cross which Is the badge OF the order.
The cross Is suspended by a bit of purple ribbon
o,thc shade which is now called royal purple, and
which is, therefore. considered appropriate to
the circumstances. Here and there under the
galleries a lone man could be deserted. These
strays we're Kings Sons, and few as they wore
they about represented the proportion Of men in
the order. This difference In numbers is partly
explained by the fact that the Sons wero not or
panizsd until several years after the Daughters
had begun work.
It was on Jan. Is. 1886. that Mrs. Margaret
Bottome of this city formed the 1rst "%clrcle.'
She had asked nine women Of her acquaintance
to meet at her homo, and these ten banded them
selves together to do any work which their
hands found to do, and to do It " in His name"
From that small beginning tho society has
grown until It now number 400, 900, scattered
through all parts of the world. The General
Secretary says that she is in communication
-l.k ....t- "a - - -tA- "
oldest member of the order lives in Brooklyn,
and is 1o2 years old. the youngest Is . baby,
who was made q member the day she was born.
Originally the circles contained only ton
members each, but now they arc of varying
membership. some of the largest ones counting
Q hundred or two on their roll. As for the work
done. there Is probably no organisation in
the world whose members have devoted
their energies to such diverse purposes
a. have tho Kings Daughters and Sons.
One rich circle will support . day nur-
sery; another circle, not able TO do anything
in the line Of charity, except, perhaps, receive
It, takes for its work the pushing out of harms
way Of orange and banana peels, broken glass,
and 80 on. Some of the circles send trained
nurses to the poor. and others with equally
large hearts but smaller purses send old papers
70 the people in pioneer settlements, or write
bright letters to invalids or helpless people.
Yesterday afternoon unfortunately. Mrs. Bot
tome. the founder and President Of tho society,
could not be present. because she happens to be
travelling in the Holy Land. Miss Kate Bond.
the Vice-President. presided. and about her
were grouped the speakers of the afternoon. In
side Of the altar rail, and half hidden by a pro-
fusion of Towering plants, sat the member of
tho central council. Mrs. Mary Lowe Diokin-
son. Secretary. was to have read a greeting from
Mrs. Bottome, but the greeting had not arrived.
Mrs. Dickinson said that 1t would be rank i'm
rertinence for any one to attempt to improvise
a greeting from the absent President so she
read some extracts from recent letters, and that
seemed to be eminently satisfactory.
The Rev. Lyman Abbott Of Brooklyn gave the
pointed allusion to the Rev. DR.. I. Parker Morgan
and his Easter sermon, borrowed from "aQuaint
old s%th o5t ,h In t ,ai fret 81 d R1assjj RE; A ffo.t
trating, by a neat application Of the text to the
Important. life Ia stu moro necessary.
by another he said. .A'is a dead sermon. A
sermon written by a man and preached by him
self, though perhaps not so good q sermon, Is 0
live one, and a live dog is better than a dead
Mrs. Tilley of London. Ont, was introduced,
and gave the sisters they were all sisters yes
tcrday-s some points on the state OF their 5000
pathetic tale about how her circle in London
became interested in a poor sick woman and be-
This was kept up for three weeks" said Mrs.
Tilley; in G,. all seriousness and then tho poor
Some OF the more frivolous minded sisters in
the audience smiled rather audibly at this. but
Mrs; Iilley did not see d the possible joke and
a plot In the cemetery. where they. erected q
marble column surmounted by a silver cross.
In this plot were buried the poor who could not
ground s"Si% Mrs. Mrs Tiiiey said that one sime5a young
know I'm going to die" he said, but that
isn't what worries me- What fearis that my
want the medical students to get hold OF my
bodEL" y, MIND =, ,... .,or. ,h.,r ..,, ~.
properly buried" which seemed to be a great
sS%,ors such sS the a cO OoHs y0s shs. man hs lm IT Sis; ~
alive and Well. having robbed the cemetery plot
comGsreIa II TrsyelIeTs' tirOle Of 10 @s%bsTs.
that II they could all be converted we wouldn't
that he had come ali the way from Rochester to
attend the meeting. and 1t is probable that no
% 5ass r .fH% s Ms. De- WITT ct s aia. otf hs t PlaeI . T pack d %
cards out of his pocket and held them up right
o oys ,s shs S god b M %i.s9. s.I PSHlH %sIe e 81 an Il u t%snsd
variety, being adorned with texts in place of
aces fS deuees; and 50 on on: couu.rc,., T-.vs,,.r,,
Circle is a Baptist, one vice-President 70 a Pres
byterian, one q Methodist one a Congrega-
tionalist, one an Episcopalian, AND. so on
throughout the whole denominations list, The
members are scattered through twenty-six
States and Territories. II they all work as hard
as Mr.. De Witt does 1t 10 q wonder that they
have not converted the whole 4OO, 600 OF their
associates. MI. DE Witt says he sells four lines
OF goods, studies his Bible on the train. breaches
every nighs in the week, and from Ave to eight
times on sunday, and he is looking for something
more to do.
Mr.. De Witt said that among other things he
sells molasses. One time, when he was ION the
roal, 4" some one asked him what business he
was In.
Oh" said the m evangelist, I'm In
the sweetest business In the world !"
The sweetest business In the worldf why
what is that ~
Selling molasses and preaching Jesus Christ
and Him cruclfed," replied Mr.: Do witt.
The Rev. Mr.. R0ssiter VI the North Presbyte-
rian Church made n brief address, saying that
villa, many people most need Is just the comfort
which the Kings Daughters can and do give.
Mrs. James of Connecticut and Mrs. Trask
Nh Of Boston spoke OF the work In their respec-
tive states. Mrs. Hin said that their work Is
quite worthy OF the old Bay state, and that she
couldn't say more, for everything pertaining to
the Bay State Is glorious, and everything per-
tanning to Boston Is just a little move than