The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-03
AS TO WOMEN'S CLUBS
1T is ONLY THE ABUSE OF THEM
THAT is HARMFUL
Women Have Their Minds Developed
and Broadened by Going to a Lit
erary Club Once in a WhiIe-Such
Association Is Broadening.

Women's clubs are not such a bad
thing after all. If the men-and some
women, too-who occasionally howl
about them and the time they take
from domestic duties knew the real
good they do in more ways than one
they might be willing to admit they
were mistaken about the practical
value of clubs.
Clubs, like all things. good or bad
can be carried to a harmful extreme
and become a positive evil. This hap
pens in the case of women sometimes,
and in the case of club men, too often.
Many and many a man spends his
evenings at the club when he should
spend them at home with his wife
and family. But the womans club
that has evening meetings is exceed
ingly rare anywhere. AS a rule wom-
ans club meets once in two weeks in
the afternoon, and lasts not more than
one hour and half.
Now, to come down to the practical
part of it, the woman who spends an
hour and a half once in two weeks at
her club and listens to some in
structiVe paper cannot fairly be said
to be given over to clubs, nor can 1t
interfere with her home duties. Take
st. Paul women, for instance; surely
a man will be willing to admit that
the women he meets are we'll informed
do they know about the events of the
day, but know a good deal about the
history of their own and other coun-
tries. This is entirely due to reading
which is part of their club, work, and
to papers they have listened to in the
club. The club woman is pretty sure
to be a reader; she must read if she is
going to take part Understandings in
her club work.
But it is not only that the course
at the club is intellectually good for
her; it, as WELL opens her eyes. re-
moves prejudice against other peoples
and broadens her mind on all sorts of
questions that come up in the course
of discussion. When one listens to a
club paper and to the discussion that
follows, it is surprising even to
woman herself to find out how much
other women have studied and read
All this sort of thing, when not carried
to an extreme, is good for women.
American women are the best in
formed women in the world and the
best conversationalists-y have only
to ask a foreigners about this-and it
is largely due to the development and
multiplication of literary clubs. There
is a sort of comradeship among women
who belong to clubs which is death to
the petty jealousies and rivalries sup
posed to flourish among persons of
the FEMININE persuasion. In .IdcC
good club woman is a gentleman"
and that means a great deal more
in a different way-than being a lady.
In a word-that men will understand
club woman is a good fellow" She
can be a lady. too. She can be also
wife and mother, and yet she can go
to a club once in a while and cultivate
the intellectual side of life, and when
her husband comes home at night she
can converse with him about things
in which he is interested as we'll as tell
him about the baby's new tooth, and
the result of her pickle and jelly MAX
ing.
AS to the woman who, in the course
of her club life, becomes a Carrie Ma
ton. shriel1s for reform of everything
makes a nuisance of herself and neg
lects her home, we admit the truth of
everything man may say about her,
and the real club woman despises her
as thoroughly as the most conservative
man on earth. Happily those cases of
clubitis are extremely rare and merely
go to show what has been true since
the world began-that every good
thing can be abused. The fair minded
man does not judge of a thing by the
abuses of it.
We trust we have said nothing that
will rouse the ire of Willie or other
masculine readers. If so, we regret it
now. and hope there is no bad feeling.