Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-06-10
THE CLUB AND SALON.
ARE THE WOMEN OF TO-DAY TAKING
TOO MUCH INTEREST IN THEMl

Mrs. Amelia Gere Mason Thinks American
Women, with Their Splendid Initiative
and Boundless Aspirations, Are Assur,s
ing Too Much Responsibility.
In the Century there is an article on
Club and Salon." by Mrs. Amelia Gere
Mason, author of Women of the
French Salon." Mrs. Mason says:
OF women's clubs there is literally
no end, and they are yet in their Wig
orous youth. We have literary clubs,
and art clubs, and musical clubs; clubs
for science, and clubs for philan-
thropy; parliamentary clubs, and suf-
frage clubs, and anti-suffrage clubs
clubs of every variety and every grade,
from the luncheon club, with its diet
tante menu, and the more pretentious
chartered club, that aims at mastering
a scheme of the world, to the simple
workinggirls' club, which is content
with something less; and all in the
sacred name of culture. They multi
ply, federate, hold conventions, organ
ize congresses, and really form a vast
educational system that is fast chang
ing old ideals and opening possibili-
ties of which no prophetic eye can see
the end. That they have marvelously
raised the average standard of intelli-
gence cannot be questioned, nor that
they have brought out a large number
of able and interesting women who
have generously taken upon them
selves not only their own share of the
work of the world, but a great deal
more.
One can hardly overrate the value of
an institution which has given light
and an upward impulse to so many
lives, and changed the complexion Of
society so distinctly for the better.
But it may be worth while to ask if
the women of to-day, with their splen-
did initiative and boundless aspira-
lions, are not going a little too fast,
getting entangled in too much machin-
cry, losing their individuality in
masses, assuming more responsibility
than they can well carry. Why is it
that lines too deep for harmonious
thought are so early writing them
selves on the strong, tense, mobile, and
delicate faces of American women?
Why is it that the pure joy of life
seems to be lost in the restless and
Unsuitable passion for multitudes, so
often thinly disguised as love for
knowledge, which is not seldom little
more than the shell and husk Of
things?
Is the pursuit of culture degenerating
into a pursuit of clubs, and are We
taking for ourselves new taskmasters
more pitiless than the old? The
emancipation of woman is fast becOm-
ing her slavery" said one who was
caught in the whirl of the social ma
chinery and could find no point of re-
pose. We pride ourselves ON our lib
erty; but the true value of liberty is
to leave people free from a pressure
that prevents their fullest growth.
What do we gain if we simply ex-
change one tyranny for another?
Apart from the fact that the finest
flowers of culture do not spring from
a soil that is constantly turned any
more than they do from a soil that is
not turned at all. it is a question Of
human limitations, of living so as to
continue to live, of growing so as to
continue to grow. Nor is it simply
matter of individuals. Societies, too,
exhaust themselves; and those which
reach an exaggerated growth in a day
are apt to perish in a day. 1t is not
the first time in the history Of the
world that there has been brilliant
reign of intelligence among women,
though perhaps there was never one so
widely spread as now. Why have they
ended in more or less violent reac-
tons? We may not be able to answer
the question satisfactorily, but it gives
re food for reflection