Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-05-06

/ sort of a prelude to the official opening
/ last evening, when the presidents or the
various clubs held their biennial coun-
ell of peace, and discussed and asked
questions ard offered suggestions re-
garding club work
| Among the many interesting things
brought out was that in several OF the
| Iowa women's clubs the men are pelhS
| Impressed into service. CLUBS when
once had their meetings in the after
noon and whose membership was made
up exclusively of women, now hold
| their meetings in the evening, ana
| have impressed men into service. Inc
| mixed club was declared to be great
| Improvement over the "womens club
Another interesting feature of the
council OF the club presidents was that
| the city fathers are not always as
gallant as they might be. In the diff
cult task of making the city beautiful,
women are warned not to depend too
much upon the city council, as the
/ councilmen are only interested in pleas
| ing voters. There are those, however,
who came to the defense of the city
| fathers, and who claimed it is with
city councils, as it is with trusts
some are good and some are bad.
| The meeting last evening did not be-
| gin on schedule time. The club women
were too interested in meeting each
other and exchanging greetings to settle
down promptly to the formal business
| of the evening. Consequently 1t was
| long after o'clock when President
Baily called the meeting to order On
! the platform were, in addition to Mrs.
Baby, Mrs. Barley of Boone, vice
president of the federation; Mrs. Julia
| Clark Hallam of Sioux City, recording
secretary, and Mrs. Thomas f. Cooke
of Des Moines, corresponding secretary.
Lined up in front of the platform
armed for the fray, was formidable
array of newspaper women. The plat
form was decorated with palms, and an
air of festivity pervaded.
How Can the Federation Help In
dividual Clubs was discussed by Mrs.
Mary c.. Cory of Spencer. Attic the
| federation is not as necessary, perhaps,
| to the larger city clubs, Mrs. Cory
held it to be of estimable value to the
smaller clubs. In the smaller club,
tone single woman may be found to be
the ruling spirit of club. In case of
| her removal from whatever cause, the
| federation prevents the club from dis
bandment and enables it to be carried
on.
| Miss Marie II. Thompson, OF Inde-
pendence, assigned to continue the dis
cussion led by Mrs. Cory, was unable
to be present, and her paper was read
by Mrs. Cooke, corresponding sec
rotary: Miss Thompson urged the val
ue of district conventions, and also
of the official organ of the fedora
ton.
THE Making of the Club Program
was discussed by Mrs. F. S. Robinson,
of Oelwein. Mrs. w. Fl. Berry, of In
dianola, who was expected to continue
the discussion, was not present. Mrs.
Robinson thought the gravest fault of
the average small club program was its
mince pie character. In the larger
clubs, there are departments, where in
dividuaI tastes may be gratified. But
garded necessary to provide program
individual member. Mrs. Robinson
thought this mistake.
In the general discussion following
Mrs. Robinson's talk. Mrs. Culbertson,
of Carroll, and Mrs. Allison, of Mara
thon. both said that men had been
given place on their respective club
programs, something which both the
men and the women had greatly en-
joyed. Both said the mixed meetings
We're a great improvement over the
ladies only" affairs.
What One Club is Doing in Domes-
tic Science" was discussed by Mrs.
Gladys Brainard, of Boone, and Mrs.
Cora Z. Chambers of Macedonia. Prac-
teal demonstrations were in both
cases said to have followed the regular
meetings, and to have been enjoyable as
well as instructive. The popularity of
the Boone club. Mrs. Brainard said, was
testified to in the fact that in six
months the membership had increased
from twelve to forty.
THE Child" was discussed by Mrs.
Wood, of Sioux City, in one of the
most thoughtful talks of the evening.
Mrs. Wood spoke of the obligations of
the child to self, the parents, God, So
ciety and the race, and crystaliZed in
a few words the thoughts Of parents
and educators on this question. Inter-
est in Mrs. Woods talk was added later,
when Mrs. Hallam, of Sioux City, an
nounced that Mrs. Wood was the
mother of six children, therefore spoke
with authority.
What Women's Clubs Can Do for
Civic Improvement" was discussed by
Mrs. Anna V. Ericsson, of Forest City,
and Miss Edith Prouty, of Humboldt.
Mrs. Ericsson said that there was SO
much that women could do for civic
Improvement 1t could not all be enum-
Grated in a three minute talk. She
thought first of all that the children
should be enlisted to assist in keeping
the streets clean. She drew an attrac-
tive picture of the beautiful city of the
future, a picture, she said, which could
only be made real by the interest and
work of the women, who are to be the
city keepers ofsthe future, as they are
now the keepers OF the home.
Miss Prouty, a lawyer in Humboldt,
lin discussing civic improvement, said
she was reminded of what Senator In
gals used to say in regard to the re-
forming of corrupt politics: Let ey-
cry man sweep his own dooryard." Miss
Prouty did not think that women could
look for much assistance from city
councils, the fathers being more inter
Not Of ~