Evening star., 1897-02-17

among these was Mrs Phoebe Hearst, the
first vice president of the congress, to
" hose generosity much of the success of
the congress must necessarily be attribu-
ted. Others en- the platform were Mrs. T.
w Birney. the president of the congress;
Mrs. Stevenson one of the vice presidents
Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson of New York
Mrs. John w. Foster, Mrs. Margaret Sangs-
ter. Miss Mary Louisa Butler, the CORE
spending secr retary of the congress, and
Mrs. Ella Richardson Of Boston.
The congress is to last three days, coming
to a close at the end of the sessions Friday
evening. The program Is rich in interesting
papers on subjects that are of particular
value to women in their relation to chill
dren.
Mrs. Birney's Welcoming Address.
: The opening of the first session was de-
l&yed somewhat owing to the inability of
one of the speakers to force her way
through the crowds which thronged the
entrances to the banquet hall. 1t was about
10:13 o'clock when Mrs. Hearst the first
vice president of the congress, called the
meeting to order and introduced the presi
dent, Mrs. Theodore W. Birney of this city
who delivered the address OF welcome. In
the course of her remarks Mrs. Birney said :
In coming before you as the president
of the first national congress of mothers
1t is my pleasure and privilege to extend to
each and all OF you a heartfelt welcome
and to express the hope that this large and
gratifying audience, this more than en-
couragiug response To our. universal call
may prove an earnest of the success des-
tined to crown the work To which our best
and highest efforts are now consecrated
Doubtless each one present has some
idea, more or less definite, as TO the gen
eral objects of the congress, but still the
question recurs, How do We expect to
accomplish these ends?' AS to our OBJ
Jects l may say that the age in which
We live is an age of movements, a time
.y,ix
least, crystaized effort.
Every conceivable object from the
clothing of the Ho.tentots to the study of
occultism, has been the subject of inyesti-
2auon, of inquiry. and often of orgaEiza-
ton 1t has, therefore, seemed to US good
and fitting that that highest and holiest of
all questions, that interest upon which
rests the entire superstrucuure of human
welfare. that element which may indeed
be designated as the foundation of the
entire sociable fabric, should now claim
our attention and lie made the subject of
our earnest and reverent inquiry l refer
to what may be called in a word the child
question, that broadest and deepest of
questions. that theme most worthy IN ali
its variant phases Of our study and at
tention. because the fundamental one, that
question known in the special phraseology
of the day child-cultu
The Child Question.
This 81 a time known pre-eminently in
the history OF the world as woman's era
So much has been said and written in these
latter days about the higher education, the
extended opportunities of women, that we
have failed to hear the still. small voice
of childhood. and yet how, 1 ask can we
divorce the woman question from the child
question? Is not one the natural, logical
Corollary of the other? Let us then con-
slider for a momeat come of the needs of
childhood.
Now that reform is being effected in do
mestic science by the establishment of
schools where servants can be properly
| trained, and by the lifting of household and
kitchen work from the realm of drudgery
| TO that of science. there is a fair prospect
| of more bodily rest for mothers, more time
| for study for and with their children, and
| for outside recreation OF sort helpful to
both mind and body.
THE higher branches of book learning
| are well enough for the girl or woman who