The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-04-10


keep a secret, and of course all the
women who heard her number them
selves among those who can keep a
secret, SO of course 1t will go not fur
there Tt was a very bright, amusing
paper in which were related many
funny incidents which happen daily Ia
the life of the proof reader.
Miss Florence Headly, of Ponca City,
o. T., followed with a bright little
Message from Oklahoma" Miss Head
" is daughter of Mr.. Lew Headly,
formerly editor Of the Gaylord Herald,
and is well known in newspaper circles.
She is now engaged in newspaper work
with her father in Ponca City.
Repretorial Dignity was the sub
Jeet of an interesting paper ready by
Miss Estelle NJ. Barnes, of the Wichita
Beacon. Miss Barnes drew attention
to the different manner in which the
man reporter will write up woman's
meeting to that which he will employ
when reporting a mans meeting. The
former she says is sure to be treated
with a certain amount of leVity, while
the latter is treated with all seriousness
and dignity. She spoke of the unfair
ness of it, and then left the men re-
porters out, as she said they did not
count. Miss Barnes matter was sug-
gested to her by specimen of the flip
and frowsly-haired girl reporter who
happened to come under her notice, and
she lays special stress on the fact that
newspaper woman can never succeed
in her profession unless she has dignity
of manner as we'll as dignitX of writing.
Mrs. Emma Bailey Aldrich was to fol-
low with a paper on THE New Educa-
ton and It's Practical Value" but owing
to illness in her family she was unable
to be present Every one regretted Mrs
Aldrlch's absence as she is one of the
charter members of the association and
was its first president.
Miss Olive P. Bray came next with the
Ethical side of the question, but she
was somewhat handicapped by Mrs.
A1drichs absence as she could only
guess at her ideas of the new education.
She took it for granted that by new ed
ucation she mean the Introduction of
domestic science and manual training
into the schools. Miss Bray argued that
these are greatly needed in our schools
as they will train the girls to be more
domestic, and to become better quail
fed as home makers, and it viii to a
great extent do away with the idleness
of both sexes which is one of the vices
of the present generation.
The Next Step was the subject of an
interesting paper by Mrs. Annie l.
Diggs. In part she says:
When the logic of the public school
system was accepted as a part of the
governmental theory of the United
States its extension and application to
other phases of social development be-
came inevitable. The way was not only
cleared for a next step but that next
step became imperative.
First there came public education
Precisely the same theory as regards
the safety and the perpetuity of our
government precisely the same gospel
of human brotherhood underlies both
public education and public employ
ment.
With the public education step ev-
erybody is familiar all like it, believe in
it and would resent going back to the
crudities of private management. The
public employment step is unfamiliar.
hence there are lions in the pathway.
There are always hobgobblins and scare
crows with infancy whether in years or
in thought.
One Of the lions in the way of this
next step is personal liberty" you
have no right to require a man to labor.
says the individualist. Well, we take
that right after a man becomes a Grim
inal, why not be wiser and employ
youth before he becomes a criminal.
Idleness is the mother, and father toe,
Of crime 1t is the business of states
men to address themselves to this next
step. The business of statesmen IS not
to turn men out of this or that postofflce
or pension office not to trick and betray,
and strive to down the other fellow
that's not craftsmanship; that's nasty
politics. and it's unworthy and I'M
patriotic.
The last paper on the programme was
"A Tribute to Victor Hugo" by Mrs
J. G. Wood, of Topeka. 1t was very
strong paper, and, better still, was
original, as Mrs. Wood prides herself
upon bringing out the side that the
other fellow has not thought of. She
said THE test of the times are its
ideals. What ideals did he give to the
people? Were they benign or cruel, and
what fruit did they bear? As a poet,
and he was the poet laureate of the
revolution, he always sang for freedom.
As a dramatist he portrayed the uplift-
ing of the downtrodden. As a novelist
he probed evil to bring about good. He
closed his note book, but a few weeks
hnf 6caf bn foil ~fs,c
paragraph: Woman must have the
ballot. The twentieth century viii be
woman's century, And he did not mean
the French woman, the English woman,
the American woman; he meant all
womankind."
At the close of the programme the an
nual election of officers will take place.
The annual banquet will begin at z
o'clock at the Copeland hotel and the
programme prepared for the occasion
promises to be of especial interest.