The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-12-02
Bill Arp's Letter.

Copyright, 1892, by the Constitution
I'VE been watching these womcn-thcse
club women. For 2 long time | did not
like the name, but l am reconciled. |
never visited a mans club but once. II
was a gathering of very nice, we'll be-
haved social gentlemen with eataoles
auG drinkables in the back ground, but
TO body partook to excess while was
there. The excess came afterwards. II
it came at all. But a woman club has
neither eatablcs nor turntables nor
cigars. OF course il is a very social gath
ering but they mean business ard they
do it. Only a few years ago a few ladies
of this town determined 10 do something
for the town and they formed The Cher
okee Club" and soon had more membe
and went TO work. All the metEberS had
passed their teens and the married ones
had laid by their crop, They secured a
charter and then got a lease from the
city and the State for fifty years control
OF the ground betWee the hotel block
and the railroad and adorned it with
grass and gravel walks and enclosed il
with a chain fence and placed handsome
iron seats by the shade trees and plant
cd a beautiful fountain in the center ana
peopled it with gold fish. This beautiful
park is the frolicinG ground for the
children and q cheerful resting place for
their tired mothers and a trystirg place
for young men and maiders. Near by
the trains are passing at all hours, and
our new beautiful passenger depot IS
near at hand, where our people conSrc-
gate to receive their friends or bid them
goodhy. And the club did it all, for
the old depot would SILL be there If the
women had not stirred up the men to
demand another. Then these women be-
gan to plant flowers and shrubhery in
the school house grounds, and next they
started a small library in a small room.
and circulated good books among our
people and they kept OF and on until
they got a larger room and moro books,
and kept it open two days in a week and
the demand for books soon wideEed TO
the country and every week they sent
out four boxes of sixty VoluneS each
along the mail routes, and so have estab-
lished a rural circulating library that
has proven a blessing to our country
boys and girls, and the books always
com back unhurt and are sent out on
another mission. Next these good wo-
men started q sewing society among
the poorer classes in our community and
81 NIltS - - 1'>
how to cut garments and make them and
where they are very poor they give them
aid and comfort. It is all charity. But
last OF all and best Of all they have ac-
tually laid the foundation of a Gu
Library building that will hold thou
sands of books and where all the best
magazines of the country will be taken.
The city fathers gave them a beautiful
lot and if the weather permits the build
ing will be finished and paid for and
occupied in three months 1t Will not
only be a library for books but a place
for rest for the travelling man as we'll
as for our country friends and their
wives and daughters when they come to
town. Besides these uses it is intended
to have literary and musical entertain
ments there that will be far more ele-
waiting and refining than the average
shows that perform in our opera house.
These same women organized a lyccum
course for two winters and succeeded
fairly we'll, but to send afar OFF for lee
turers costs too much for a town of this
size and SO they are going to secure
homo talent and talent from Atlanta and
Rome and Dalton and have entertain
ments at popular prices, say at 10 cents
admission, as Professor Proctor, the
great astronomer did up North. He told
me he never charged more in a manu-
featuring town and always gave the
working people the preference of seats
and always had a crowded house. 1t was
a cheap and delightful school to thcm.
What these club women VIII do next |
do not know, but they mean business.
They mean to elevate their own sex first
and if the men and boys come in they
will find a welcome. l suppose that this
library building will be the first that
any club has erected in the State, and
what ! wish to remark and emphasize
is that there is not q respectable town
or village in the State but can do some
thing on this same line.
Now l hear you ask, where did you
get the money to do all this? Heaven
helps those who help themselves Our
women began with very little. The rail
read gave them $50 to start on and gave
them part of the seats in the park. Then
the club gave an oyster supper and made
a good little sum. Later IN they held
a bazaar, and later on a concert, and
after awhile another supper, and all
along at intervals they smiled at the
merchants and others and got some
more money and when they run clear
uoN.H CiIty dSotSo IIItIjSc1N to ana We nus
bands and fathers nave to shell out. No.
you don't need a Carnegie, but il you
have one great, big hearted man and
his wife in your community like we have
you will not become bankrupt. Where.
there is a viii there is a way. And my
observation is that women can do any
SoOd thing they combine on.
a thoughtful man who witnessed the
laying of the corner stone said to ne,
This is the best work that has ever
been started in this town and is doing
more to uplift and encourage our young
people than everything else. God bless
the women"
Lord Bacon said, knowledge is pow
err 1t is force. 1t is money. A good
library is better than a university. DR..
Johnson said, knowledge is the wing
with which we fly to heaven" One Of
~ W IOxr- Il