The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-18
Club Women and Schools.

vacation schools for children In the crowd
ed districts seem at first sight a useless
waste Of energy and money, and to St. Paul
people, under the present stress Of school
difficulties the very suggestion is of such a
nature as to have an irritating effect But
the work, as 1t exists in Chicago, is car
ried on by the clubs, the city organizations
cooperating with the suburban clubs and
all turning their winters theoretical study
INTO practical application in these vacation
schoois. The facts which led the women Of
Chicago to this mammoth undertaking are
these: During the regular school year the
schools OF the slum districts could accommo-
date but half the children while In the more
prosperous districts there were several hun
dred more sittings than were needed; that
juvenile crime increased GO per cent during
could be traced to suppressed activity The
condition of these children in the overcrowd-
ed, unwholesome districts was brought to
the attention Of the larger clubs, among them
to enc whose president said that 1t had al.
ways been the boast of the club that its
members had never troubled about phiIan-
clubs addressed, would look into the matte
The result: Five schools are now carried ON
BY BY =, the J., Chicago wome1's clubs. which are
aided In their efforts by fifty mems clubs
Inc children are not kept in a hot school
house; on the contrary, they are divided
into classes, and conducted into the coun-
try on pedagogical excursions" each club
providing instruction and material for one OF
these trips. The success of the enterprise
has been astonishing; the children plead for
admission and the decrease in juvenile crime
in the districts covered by the vacation
schools has been a revelation to the authori-
ties.
The vacation school movement has a.
ethical Importance which is not easily over
rated. 1t has led the women engaged in Il
to know the limits Of their own knowledge
IN educational matters. and also made them
conscious Of their own strength when organ
lied with wisdom Many clubs programmes
Tor next year show much greater maturity
n &c H.
disposition to concentrate on something to be
done than to attempt to get smattering of
the literary education many club women
hc1ent, however, to say that the reflex infu-
ence of the vacation schools is likely to be "a
great as the direct influence. 1t is a move
ment which has met with practically no op-
position and which carries in its wake edu-
cational reform, new Social spirit and deep
er civic self-conSciousness
The first volume Of poetry written bv a
Turkish woman recently made its appear
ance. and the poet Is said to be the only
Moslem of her sex who has had the courage
to enter into print. The volume called, Eff
sus." or "Sighs," has excited much comment
among the male followers of Mohammed
Nygis Hanum is the name OF the author
Her father, a Hungarian by birth. fed after
the revolution of 1S4S to the o lent, wi b
many of his countrymen. He embraced the
faith Of Islam, married a Turkish woman.
and, under the name of Osman Pasha, hi te-
a teacher of foreign languages at the
military academy of Galata-Serail.
The Woman's Home Companion says that
the bellies of Cuba in lieu of precious stones
wear f1reflies about their persons, Imprisoned
in the gauzy folds of their summerland COS
tunes and enmeshed in the hair in mock
coronets.' The New York Evening Tele-
gram, commenting thereon, says: Let US try
to do better than that for Cuba. Bugs in the
hair are not nice We imported 70 lrteen mill
lion dollars worth of diamonds last year.
Let us dress up our newly-acquired Senoritas
with something substantial than fire.
flies. They seem snappy and fiestingl'
Turkish censorship, it is needless to saw
is extreme. The superior of the Jesuit col
lege, in Pera, showed British traveller some
newly-imported books just rescued from the
clutches of the custom house Officials One
half of the printed matter was e1aced-an
illusions to Christ, to Turkish history to the
French revolution lad been oblitsra.e1 A
gentleman connected with the British embas-
sy at Constantinople had q number of chdl-
dren's books sent out from London. One.
which contained the story Of Bluebeard, was
coniiscated because thu cruel husband was
represented as wearing turban, and because
his wife was called Fatima
Queen Victoria possesses the most expensive
bonnet in the world. She has never worn It,
however. 1t is not one through which hat
pin can be thrust very easily. 1t is made of
a whole tortoise SHE'LL exQuisitely carved, and
presented by the natives of the Navigator
Islands. 1t has been sent to the British
museum.
An interesting form of waterproof, and
Innp hafn
of Mr.. Mackintosh, is that used by thu
Alaska Eskimos 1t is made of the entrails
of the walrus, is quite imperv.ous to wet,
and light as feather. The same sub lance
is used to make windows for their dwellings
instead Of glass.