The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-10-24
Woman's Club Meeting.

ulio. D. - LAWS, JONI StIeeU, odUuT-
day afternoon. During the short bust
ness session, Mrs &. l.. Devereaux, one
OF the delegates TO the State Fedora
tion, gave pleasing account of some
features OF the convention, as preface
to the regular report which will be
given ia full at later meeting. Mrs.
M. j. Hamblin, the other delegate,
added few remarks.
The subjects for the afternoon, con.
tinulng the line Of thought Of the two
previous papers, were on Ruskin S
Doctrine OF Wealth" and Ruskin'S
"Art Teachings" two very excellent
papers.
The first subject was taken up very
clrefully by Mrs. M. III. Reynolds.
She said In part, that before accepting
the definition that "Wealth is to have
large stock of useful articles" Mr..
Ruskin says, 1--WE must find out first
what is the meaning Of "having;"
second the meaning OF useful" In
expanding this definition we find that
wealth becomes the possession Of
useful articles which we can use. "
Thus wealth instead Of depending
merely on have, depends also on a
can, and what we reasoned of only as
accumulation of material demands also
accumulation OF capacity. And If a
thing is to be useful, it must be not
only Of an availing nature, but in
availing hands or in accurate terms,
usefulness is value in the hands OF the
valiant. Thus we see that wealth is
the possession of the valuable by the
valiant and in considering it as a
power existing in a nation, the two
elements, the value Of the thing and
the valour OF its possessor, must be
estimated together.
Men nearly always speak as If riches
were absolute and it were possible for
everybody to be rich, whereas riches
are power like that of electricity,
acting only through inequalities or
negatives Of itself. Power overhuman
beings is attainable by other means
than money.
Since the essence of wealth consists
in power over men, will it not follow
that the nobler and the more in num-
Der the persons are over whom 1t has
power the greater the wealth?
May England as christian mother
at last attain to the virtues and treas.
ures of heathen-one, and be able to
lead forth her sons saying, "These are
my jewels!"
Miss Kanagy followed with an ably
prepared paper on !Ruskin's "Teach-
ings on Art" Among the excellent
thoughts brought out was that Ruskin
held the idea that every man should
work-that no man had a right to lead
an idle life. Also that it is due every
man that there should be an element
in his work which should develop his
creative facultieS--thoSe faculties that
lift him above the brute creation.
LhCoC~eWO iuCoo diC VI } otdliLSu Ill tllo
aphorism of Ruskin's: Life without
industry is guilt; industry without art
is brutality"
At time when men Thought that
the useful thing and the comfortable
thing were necessarily the ugly thing,
Ruskin recommended the joining to-
gether Of art and labor. He himself
was both artist and sociologist. Rus
kin taught his students that the main
business Of art Is its service in the &C.
tual uses Of daily life, and declared the
necessity of ennobling the people
through association with art, an asso-
citation to be attained by.means OF their
labor.
All good work Unjust be free hand
work, Rlskin's antagonism to the
machine is extreme. When the ma.
chine is employed In the service :of
man to relieve him,of drudgery nothing
can be said against It; but in the SER
vice Of Mammon and greed 1t is any.
thing but lovely spectacle, and in
Ruskin's eyes appeared in the guise of
a monster, not minister.
Another point In RusRin's arraign-
ment Of current industrialism is the
social wrong wrought by division Of
labor. The demand of the arts and
crafts movement is for whole man,
a rational process and valuable pro-
duct.
Ruskin contends that labor should
be its own reward, not the only one,
of course. But the essential reward
lies in the happiness which the work
engenders.
Today in nearly every instance Of
effort to better industrial conditions,
the mind Of Ruskin Is somewhere
apparent. In whatever direction one
advances it is discovered that this pio-
neer mind has gone on beforehand as
the world advances but slowly IL Will
be long before he can be passed by.
The next meeting Of the club will
be Federation Day, Nov. /, and will
be at the home Of Mrs. A. NJ. Hume.
Irelands Population Decreasing.
The recent census of Ireland shows a
vlxo1 Il, ,fo xr-1; -l