Arizona republican., 1901-11-24

mothers met these great demands is pent up in us and in our daughters. Surely 1t is not to be as buried treasure. It must be designed to still serve d high and holy purpose in the world. There can be no greater service than theirs, but there may be different service re- quired of the women, who, having leis- ure, have banded together and put | themselves in training for new tasks either self-improvment, rendering them more companionable in their homes and | more capable of rearing their children, | or for bettering the conditions of those | less favored than themselves. Who shall define for these women 1 their new duties, if not the still small voice. believed to speak in every soul ? In early days the funny men of brush and pen depicted members of Sorosis groping for the keyhole while the illu- minated dial of a distant tower ed 1 the small hours, and the uncurtained | chamber window disclosed the bony husband and father in night apparel and ragged slippers walking the baby
 Country editors commented seriously: "There may be enough queered women in New York city to form q club. but there will be no general movement. | Woman is not cfubbable animal"
 
 those whom we delight to honor i Those "queered women" numbering twelve, who dared call themselves i club, warranted not to run a year. have , meen multiplied a hundred thousand times in one generation. There are now upwards of 300 clubs containing more than 3O.OOO members in the New York state fedora tion. 25O clubs in the Illinois federation. The accredited membership of women's clubs ia the United States is far on in the second million.
 Let us not recall these errors in judg- i ment lest We lose confidence in those i we love most.
 Some natures tend to excess in everything. and in rare instances a ' home may have been neglected for the club, but hundreds of other homes have been enriched by the broadening and deepening of character which has come to wives and daughters through the closer association necessary to har- nonious organization, in itself an cdu- cation.
 Some ambitious and schemine woner. have come to the front, some blunders have been made. Perhaps none of us is as careful in word or deed as she should be in this age of rapid diffusion of ideas. Working through wire and
 
 today will have leavened the world in twenty-five years. Yet on the whole | good has been accomplished in many quarters.
 By their experience in house cleaning women have been able to make valu- able suggestions about street cleaning. They have formed classes in cooking and general house work to train young women for efficient domestic service r6 cess many plans for the happiness and safety of working girls.
 Some of us remember the business women's club in the Atwood building Chicago. with its artistic library where the members may have a few minutes of quiet rest during the noon hour. In the cafe a wholesome lunch con can be obtained at cost. Whether , entirely self supporting or aided by , some of the wealthier members, I am unable to say.
 As a Denver club woman says: The exclusiveness of few years ago is lost sight of in the desire to better our ann bilious. though less favored sisters. The club women of the present are pro- , verbally unselfish and the sweet com radeship which a wider sympathy has brought them appeals to all that is good in them.
 By their more intimate acquaintance with children. women have helped school boards to better adapt the build ings, instruction and general condi- tions of school life to the needs of pu- pills, and hundreds of children are now in city schools who never went to school until the women's clubs provid- ed clothing for them.
 Let few of the works of this move ment praise it. Beginning near home. notice the improvements made in our little sister city of Santa Fe by its wo- mans club of audacious name-the Womans Board of Trade-if you please. The old plaza was an alfalfa patch sunk in the middle and surround ed by a farm yard fence. and the town paid from 300 to $500 year for taking care of it. At last the city council turned it over to the Womans Board of Trade with an appropriation of $500. In due time that unsightly spot was transformed into a beautiful little park with turf, coping, fountain, trees and flowers. Within a year the enterprise was cleared from debt, and the Wo- ton to a free library, which was opened the following year with five hundred volumes, a librarian and read ing room.
 Working among her flowers has all ways been a charming role for woman. What is more feminine than for a num- Der of women to go out and make beautiful flower garden for their city. to share their posies with the people who have none of their own?
 The Columbian of Boise City, Idaho. distributed small packages of seed among the school children to encourage