The age-herald., 1899-01-27
MASS MEETING
 OF LEADING WOMEN

ductfon of machinery. The influence CT general education in the advancement CT women is potent; the introduction of ma chinery brought many women from the seclusion of the home into the factory and the shop, and association and organization were the results. The factory rls paved the way for the literary club.
 The chief obstacles to the advancement of women have been tradition and custom. The ideas of the past became crystallized in the institutions of the present, and instl- tutions are not easily changed. Another ob- stacle to the progress of woman has been the traditional curriculum of study pre- scribed for woman in the past. The edu- cation of the sexes has been along diverg- ent lines. Man was educated in the classics and mathematics, in science and in pro fessional lines, while woman's education was largely ornamental. Woman will not be enfranchised until the idea of sex in edu- cation is elimina ted. There is no sex in culture in truth or in the realm of ethical and spiritual life.
 The club movement among our women presents three stages of progress or phases of evolution. In the first stage the question asked is, What will the club do for me?' In the second, What can l do for the club?" and in the third, What can ], through the club, do for the race? The first stage is represented by the strictly H. erary club, and is egos;ic. The purpose IS O individual through knowledge. The second stage aims at the development Of the ciup' and the third stage is altruistic, ana aims at the development of society.
 Broad culture is essential to an enriched personality Women must not only nave more knowledge, but more knowledge ot life: the individual must touch life at as many points as possible; this is culture. Then this culture must be applied for the ameloration of the condition of society ana of the race; this is practical philanthropy. No. knowledge but personality, is the force that tells.
 The mission of woman though the power | of organization is the uplifting Of human society and the redemption of the race rom | the chains of ignorance and vice. The prin- | ciple underlying the present phase oi the club movement is simple one: hVery | member of society is responsible for every | other member The method by which this | principle is to be applied to achieve the l objects in view is not by radical retorma- | tion hut by the process of formation. ne | first field of operation is, naturally, euuca- ton. Already much has been done ana much remains yet to be done in securing | better school facilities, establishing kinaer- gartens organizing mothers meetings, pro | noting public libraries and establishing va | ation and industrial schools Tor the chli- | dren of the poor in our large cities.
 | Another important field entered upon by | the women's clubs Is that of civic tralnlng
 If woman does not vote, she mas Ill nei | hands the training of the voter. me ohii' W
 is the chief object upon which the activities | of women should be exercised. The chlio \ | the center of our civilization.
 The field of philanthropy needs a closel | study of sociology-of the nature and struc | ture of society, a study of what IS norma | and of what is abnormal-of the patholos
 ical conditions of society. Phllanthropy + | too often blind, too often ignorant and to' | often mischievous. It is the mission O. | woman through the agency of the clul | to apply the principles of sociology to, ex | isting conditions, that society collectively | and individually may be benefited.
 But by far the most important field O | operation for woman is the domestic held | The home is the foundation of society," an'
 the laboratory wherein knowledge is teste
 and transformed into culture and conduct
 Only in the well-ordered, restful home, doe | earth reach it's earthly best. But it 1 | asked, why not let woman stay at home
 This is her place, let her cultivate it. Tn | home me-sceker who stays at home and a W
 nothing beyond the home circle can lleve
 be model wife or mother. We have ha
 too much aton, too much narrownes
 in the home. Let woman go outlet he | search the domains of science and litera
 ture, of government and sociology, let he
 penetrate every avenue of culture and com
 
 and beautiful in soul Let her. like the bee
 gather in the fields and in the meadows o
 life and in the home she will elaborate he
 gathered material into the honey of life.
 In our own city our women will find fiel
 ripe for the harvest, less than 50 per cent
 of our youth of school age in an
 school public or private; we need chain c
 kindergartens encircling the city, as is tn | case today in many cities of this country | The chief of police of San Francisco sai l recently that if in the next ten years tn | kindergartens do as much as they have i
 the past ten, that city will have to abolisf
 or at least, largely reduce its police force
 Strange, that some candidate for mayo
 does not propose this scheme of econom
 for Birmingham. We need more schools
 more kindergartens and more libraries. N
 city of the size of Birmingham in the cour
 try, has high school building so poor an | dilapidated, where 250 of our brightes
 youth required to pay tuition.
 Woman's influence is the most potent i
 the development of individual life an
 character; why should it not be equally a
 potent in the evolution of social and civi
 life. Mother and wife are the Alpha an
 Omega of woman's influence upon man
 if you can con the intervening letters o l complete analysis of the influences tha
 have moulded your life.
 | Dr. Phillips closed his address with | glowing tribute to that woman who bear
 the name of mother, to whom as he said
 every man owes eternal fealty.