Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-20
CLUB LIPB In OKLAHOMA.
ORGANIZATIONS FOR WOMEN IN
THIS NEW LAND.
Philomathea and Sans Solci, of Okla
homa City-Clubs of Guthrie,
KinEfshef, saltwater, Per-
ry and Purcell.


Club life has a meaning to the women of
the frontier which may be quite incom-
prehensible to those who dwell in settled
communities. In the towns of Missouri
and Kansas the club is but one more in
terest crowded into days already full of
interest: but on the vast, newly peopled
plains of the Southwest, where women be-
gin by living a life of solitary confinement
at hard labor, bereft of so much that made
the old home dear. and starving for the
social and intellectual fellowships they
nave left behind-to them the club Is DIS
the bread of life.
l. seems very difficult for US to realize
that this country Is not occupied by iS-
norant peasants or rude backwoodsmen,
but by educated people, accustomed to re-
fined and gentle living. Perhaps this is
the only country in the world where men
and women of culture possess the enter
prise and the stamina to break away from
congenial surroundings and adopt the l:fe
of the pioneer-perhaps because no coun-
try offers such rewards for those who in
diligently develop its virgin resources. Be
that as 1t may, the Western dugout n
Southern hut shelter many beautiful fam
lilies. who are making the desert bud and
blossom as the rose. Here is where club
fellowship among women is most a bene-
diction.
In a country settled by a single mad
rush, as was Oklahoma, the conditions ere
SO unexampled as to afford club material
and club environment of a sort that is
altogether unique. The time will come
when the true story of the settlement Ct
Oklahoma, the opening Of the Strip"
will read like the widest OF fairy tales.
to believe that one morning the sun SHOT
its beams across a vast prairie unknown
to civilized man. and that same sun went
down upon sixty thousand citizens estab-
lished there, men and women who had
entered and taken up their abode in 1t.
not as a devastating army. but as perma-
nent home builders and heads Of families.
Such was the settlement of Oklahoma
The men found companionship in busi-
ness relations, and the women-for this
club.
b Philomathea.
The Philomathea Of Oklahoma City was
the first club organized in tine territory.
and among the twenty-five cultivated and
earnest women who formed its membership,
tho majority had been active workers in
tho clubs of older cities.
There was the woman from Boston; there
were the two from Nova Scotia, and the
remaining twenty-five represented seven
president, was a Virginian. an accomplish
ed artist and a writer of no mean repu-
taticn, and under her able leadership the
club completed its organization and set
Itself to a regular course Of study.
In this oddly assembled group, born and
matured under such ~singularly diverse in
ability. Could they be wise and %tolerent
enough to count all differences as super
fetal, and only recognize the points of I'M
ity in their progress? They could. they did;
well as Intellectual and earnest. club has
never been ounded. The first and second
years were devoted to a study Of Gre
clan history and literature: The third year
Studying Literature" by Louise Moertz.
which covered two more years of systematic
work. This year the study is Of Russia.
Germany and France in the nineteenth Gen.
present government Of each country is be-
ing considered. Two Shakespearean plays
have also been read. "As You Like tt and
THE Merchant of Venice" and Macbeth
Is now the subject of consideration.
The Philomathea has not only been an
educational factor among the members and
various active enterprises Of public bene-
fit. 1t has founded a city library and. among
other Trims, co-operates with the city in
the care Of the public cemetery.
ganization of the Philomathea, and at the
meetings. in well appointed drawing rooms,
where the club papers are now read by
electric light: where the magnificent roses
~ " SA-AA w 6oAoNAAS INV az a.
served from their own vine and fig tree, the
members sometimes fall into reminiscent
mood and speak Of the early days.
At one of the earlier meetings a lady,
whose husband was a professor in Leipsic
university. had translated French and
German stories: an actress who had played
with Dion Boucicault in Boston, gave
Portals Grafton in a way forever after to
make mercy the chief virtue Of life. and
a member who had taught music In Sidney,
Australia. played a Beethoven sonata.
One lady, Mrs. Hamilton. Of Glasgow,
Scotland, who had been called that woefui
distance to the sickbed Of a brother. spent
a day with the P~hilomatheas. and as she
left them; remarked: II shall tell my
five cultivated ladies gathered In a little
twelve by twelve room in a territory no,
two years old. They were studying Greek
literature with keen intellectual zest, and
were the contented and happy mothers OF
families"
Yesterday. March 19. the club. which is
still at work upon Macbeth" presented
cussion Of the Play and Its Teachings;
craft?"
beth Chiefly to Blame for Macbeth's
The officers of the Philomathea for the
Douglas: va. vice president ars'G Mrs. r Tfe G. Cham Cham,
berS; secretary. Mrs. A. c. Scott; treasurer,
Mrs. W. c. Brady.
L ina cluD motto Is. 'QU1 non prOnCtt, de-
ficit'-He who does not advance, goes
backward.
Sans sOuci.
In 1896. a club OF fifteen young ladies wa.
formed in Oklahoma City called the Sans
Souci. 1t is almost a part of the Philo-
mathea. being organized as ar auxiliary.
and its work would do credit to the parent
organization.
There is also the No Name Club. consist
ing of young women whose days are en-
ployed in stores, offices and schoolrooms
One of these ambitious girls says: mo
matter how weary We may be at the hour
of assembling, We &C home rested and
happy"
Scattered throughout Oklahoma Territory
| are twelve other clubs, each doing good
service for its members and the community.
The Coterie, a club Of earnest workers at
Norman. the location of the university,
has succeeded in establishing a reading
room and has the beginning of a public
library.
KinEnsher's Clubs.
Kingfisher has two clubs. both energetic
and thorough in their work. The Brown
ing Club. of Saltwater. includes in It's
membership an unusual number of clever
women. The Tuesday Afternoon Club. OF
Perry. Is another which deserves special
mentor and from which more will be heard
in the future.
Guthrie has a C~hautauqua Club and a