The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-20
THE TRUTH
Not Harmful
After All.
STEPHEN O'MEARA
Has Plain Talk for FEEDER
ated Woman's Clubs.

ZIG lduleS OIL New Bedford organized a
Woman's Club Yesterday, in posses
sion of membership of 400 and club
mousse Of its own, although it has not
YET passed it's first milestone, the New
Bedford Woman's Club entertained the
Massachusetts State Federation of
Women's Clubs, proving itself in every
way delightful and successful hostess.
Everything was done for the pleas
ure of the guests from out of town, who
numbered nearly 400, and who did not
leave the quaint old city without pass
ing unanimous vote of thanks to their
entertainers.
The rostrum of the First Christian
CHURCH, where the meeting was held.
was handsomely decorated with ported
plants and flowers, as were the tables
IN the vestry, where at noon a well APP
pointed luncheon was served.
Sensational Journalism" was the
subject for the day, and it ilicited from
the various speakers several brilliant
addresses and any number of bright,
valuable and wise remarks. Consider
1ng the peculiar nature of the topic, and
the fact that it Is one upon which most
persons have decided opinions the ut
terances were marked by a temperate
ness that was remarkable, and they had
the further charm of universally. Ex-
pert journalistic experience was oppos-
ed to the private opinion of the lay
haen and the sentimentalist, and there
was a freshness, a spontaneity and a
gatety about the session as a. whole
which made it one of the pleasantest
of recent years.
The session opened with organ selec-
tfons, after which the president, Miss
Q. M. e. Rowe, of Boston, who presided
with her customary dignity and grace,
called the assembly to order and in
troduced Mrs. Ada w. Tillinghast,
president Of the New Bedford Woman 8
Club Mrs TNinghast extended on be-
half Of her club cordial welcome to
the vfsi ting ladies, to whom she extend
ed the hospitalities of the clubs rooms.
She told in half humorous way of the
beginnings of the club and of what it
hoped to do, among other things, of its
hope of providing more suitable quar-
tsrs for the public libarary.
Miss. Rowe responded in a happy
manner on behalf of the federation,
after which she presented a very
thoughtful and suggestive report of
some of the more significant phases of
the Denver biennial. She criticised the
general federation as being an I'M
wteldy organization, in which the dis
dntegrating power is inherent" NJ
nerfcally. she said, its strength already
rests with the state declarations, and
she suggested that it be composed of
the state organizations only, which
would reduce it to a small representa-
tive body of co-equal parts.
She deplored the lack of unity and
the tendency to political methods
shown, and assured the ladies of the
loyalty which the Massachusetts feder-
alton felt for the general federation.
HI io1 eya5I d &C
a living witness to the democracy of
club organization, the altruistic spirit,
the protest against the materialism of
the times, and withal, of the honest in
tention Of standing like the university,
for the highest thinking, and like the
church, for right living"
In closing, she referred to the field for
the future work of women's clubs-the
uplifting of the poor, the lettering of
the laboring classes by the promotion
Of labor laws, the establishment of pos
tai savings banks and by various
other beneficent works all of which she
believed eminently worthy of attention
believed eminently worthy the atten-
ton of club women.
Mrs. Eva. J. Winn, an eX-president of
the Old and New Club was next intro
duced, and she introduced in a brief
speech the subject to be considered,
the different phases of it which were
to be presented and the special qualif1-
cations of the speakers. Mrs. Winn was
chairman Of the day. the other mem
bers of the committee being Annie G..
Murray J. Arabelle Punchard, Mary l..
Capen and Ada w. Tillinghast
Signora Dario Papa of Milan, widow
of the late editor and proprietor of the
Italia del Popalo, the leading republican
paper of Milan, was introduced as the
chief speaker of the morning. She was
dark, petite woman, dressed in heavy
weeds, who spoke with a, pretty Italian
accent, although she must be an Amer
lean, and who moved the audience with
the suppressed emotion of her address.
Her subject was 1.-THE effect of sup
pressed journalism in Italy" and in
part she said: Probably it is because
Americans have no conception of what
country without a free press would be.
that they sometimes say the freedom
of the press should be restricted or
the papers should not be allowed to
say half that they do. Would not the
alternative of repression be much
worse 2 II speak from experience when
I say that being gagged by censors is
a more awful moral inferno than Dante
ever imagined.
She then described the chains which
shackle journalism in Ttaly-the arbit-
rary censorship, the system of duelling
which editors cannot avoid, the subsi-
dizRtion by the government of the
newspapers, the absence of advertising
and the persistent enmity of the gov
eminent. She spoke in detail of the
outbreak in Milan last May and de-
Ecribed the inhuman treatment which
has been awarded the suspected Jour
nalists, two of whom have been con-
demned to II years Of solitary conffne-
ment. /. In conclusion, Signora Papa
made a pathetic appeal to American
Journalists and the American people to
give those prosecuted men their moral
support.
In the absence of Miss Everett. the
secretary, the roll was called by Mrs.
Colby, the assistant secretary, the ex-
pertinent being tried of having one
member from each club state the num-
Der of members of that organization
present. 1t worked well, and will prob
ably be adopted permanently. The fol-
lowing clubs were represented:
Amherst WoInan's, All Around Dick
ems Clinton Woman's, Daughters of
Maine, Somervflle, Daughters Of Yer
mont, Dedham Womans, Dorcester
Wornan's, 1881 of Lynn, Elizabeth II.
whittier Fortnightly, Winchester, Fra
lningham Woman's Haverhill Cur
rent Events Class,
Kosmos. Ladies' Aid Association of the
Maiden Hospital, Ladies' Physiological
Institute. Lothrop Club, Melrose Wom-
ans. Monday of Newton Highlands,
Monday Of Weymouth, New England
Wheaton Seminary, New England
Woman's Press Association, New Eng
land Woman s. New Hampshire Daugh-
tiers. Nuclei. octagon, Old Colony,
Plymouth Woman's Popular Authors
Literary, Social Science of Newton,
Springfield Woman's Bright Helm
STONE Chelsea Womans, Haptorean,