The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-15

meets the doctor, the grocer meets the
architect, and they all find recreation
in it,"
And there were many other members
of the club who agreed with DR.. Julia
Holmes Smith. Some Of the unmar-
ried members. who hope to have hus-
bands and homes of their own some
day, expressed themselves as favorable
to lodges and clubs and evenings out
for men. How many evenings out per
week would be about right, nobody
undertook to say. and that point was
left open to individual selection. But
the main point, that the man Of the
house ought to get out and circulate
among his fellows, seems to have met
with no opposition worth noticing. is
this unexpected leniency on the part
of the advanced woman based, after
all, on Reconsideration? Were DR..
Smith and her followers arguing for
the liberty of the male sex because
they, themselves, desire to take their
evenings away from home for the
purpose Of attending lodges and clubs?
SOCIABILTTY AND THE CHURCHES.
Mr. John d. Rockefeller says that
he and his wife attended a church for
eighteen years without a soul ever
saying word of welcome to them.
liability in the churches, if more
cordially were shown towards strang-
ers and they were made to feel that
they were welcome, it would be better
for all parties concerned.
The lack of sociability in church con-
gregations is most to be noticed in the
cities. 1t hardly exists in the country
districts. At the country church the
stranger is morally certain to receive
attention, whether he or she be a casu-
al visitor or a newly arrived resident
of the community. Introductions all
around and invitations to dinner are
the common order at the country
church, and the pastor usually makes
it a point to shake hands with as
many persons as possible after the
service is over. In the cities things
are somewhat different. Still, there
are city churches that have their regu-
lar corps of hand-shakers whose bust
ness it is to give the glad palm to
every stranger that comes within the
doors. But often it occurs that the
stranger doesn't care for the hand
shake and the assurance of welcome.
There are men and women of the
buttoned-up kind who are distinctly
averse to being "patronzed," as they
call 1t, even to the extent of being as
sured that they are welcome. They
prefer to have their circle of church
acquaintances develop out of circum-
chose with whom they will be on so
much as church-friendly terms. For
this reason it is somewhat difficult to
foretell how a stranger will be i'm
pressed with the approaches of the
hand-shakers on behalf of the church,
whether they will be repealed or drawn
closer. AS great a variety of human
nature attends at church as at the
theater.
Meanwhile the question arises, why
should one especially desire to be as
sured of a welcome at church? The
services are religious and devotional.
They are in no sense social functions.
Their purpose is the worship of God,
not the making of acquaintance and
friendships. They are held in Gods
house, and He has extended His well
come to the whole world. That ought
to be sufficient for the devout wor-
shipper who goes to the house of God
with a heart lifted above the conven-
tionalities of earth and filled with love
of and gratitude towards the great
Master of the universe.