The Republican journal., 1904-06-02

sent to the corporation houses. Iney |
are also allowed to select their own
botanical plants for hedges.
The little town of Brimfeld, with a |
population of 1000, centered its interest
upon village library, and is type OF
town that has struggled upward and
outward under very small means. Next
to the Woman's Educational and In
dustrial Union of Boston, which is
friend to the small library, great credit
is due the librarian at Brimfield, who
carried a loan of pictures about like
knitting work, urging the need OF books
by showing the pictures and keeping
her house open for a week for the bene-
fit of teachers and pupils. The best
school drawings were kept on file, and
statues were contributed by out OF
town friends. Books were sent to out
side towns by stage and grocery team,
and the dog tax fund was donated to
its support. At last came a bequest,
and the library of 1000 volumes has
been classified and has room in the
Town Hall.
Fitchburg has a local federation COM
posed of the Teachers Association, the
Merchants Association and the Wo-
mans Club, each to hold a joint meet
ing. They utilize vacant lots for play
grounds, support vacation schools and
manual training, school gardens and
arts and crafts.
The town of Dudley appropriates
$50 each year which, with the fairs and
entertainments given by the ladies and
the help of summer people of the right
sort. enables the town to care for its
cemetery, protect the forests, to have
street lights AID better roads.
Winthrop. a bedroom of Boston, has
a young society which is an outgroWth
of the Winthrop Woman's Club. The
dues are only fifty cents per year, en-
abling whole families to become mem
bers. Their speciality is experimenting
with trees to see if they can be made
to grow at the beach. Trees set out on
Decoration Day are officially named,
the Gen Gibbons elm being more than
two centuries old.
Greenfield has a Girls Club started
eight years ago, having membership
of 235. They have classes in cooking,
millinery, dressmaking, first aid to in
jured, and settlement work in other
towns They hold socials once a
month. With the exception of fee OF
fifteen cents a year the expense is met
by the townspeople. There is no pow
erty in the town and democratic
spirit prevails.
Nantucket, nineteen miles from
shore, has the youngest society in the
conference. Its object is to promote
the prosperity of the island, provide
for the comfort of summer visitors
care for the property Of 'otf islanders, y
promote legislature to obtain jetties,
and to hold up the hands of the select
men in whom they have confidence.
Wellesley has mems club limited to
one hundred voters and tax payers
! who meet monthly in Boston hotel,
employ expert opinion and discuss
questions of interest to the town, such
as electric lighting and railway, re-
claiming low lands, etc. Politics are
prohibited The women of Wellesley
deal with the real things, clothing
poor children. supplying a maternity
box conducting a sewing school and
kindergarten. and working with the
selectmen in the management of the
town farm.
( The standard of the town of Bolton
is set by economic conditions. The
town delights III cleanliness, the church
and school doing their own work aud
enjoying a bountiful lunch afterward.
A course of free lectures is provided,
given by professors from Harvard and
Tech. AS the clergyman who reported
for Bolton said, 'All they need is a
municipal conscience that will stand
up for the town"
The town of Deerfield is noted for its
Arts and Crafts Society, which helps to
supply the aesthetic side of life, for
which the country hungers. 1t is con-
Quoted on business principles, selling
! neither their patterns nor thread, and
by so doing they keep up the quality of
the embroidery, which if not correct is
returned. The designs are adapted from
old masters or may be original with the
Mehitables and Keturas. Basket MAX
ing, weaving, and the manufacture Of
fancy lanterns and candelabra are
shared by the men.
bingham has Society of Arts and
Crafts with eleven departments of
; work, of which their ratfia work is sold
all over the world.
Specimens of basketry in reed and
palm, rag rug weaving, ratfia work,
lace making and leather work, with
photographs of improvements, were on
exhibition and sale throughout the ses-
sion. 1t was all very interesting and
hopaful and seemed to anticinata a