The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-24
CLEVELAND NWOMEN'S CLUBS
SEEMS TO DOUBT IT WOMAN SUI
FRAGISTS WILL EVER REFORM.
A. 10 Less Vlrulent Club Movements lie
Considers Even They MAY He Dangerous
TO the Home, which IL Woman's Best
C1ub-The Lash for VIE Heaters.

]
10 the Home, which IL WOman's Hest
C1ub-The Lash for WIFE Heaters.
Grover Cleveland, twIce President Of the
! United States, has an article on 'WomAn's
Mission and Woman's Clubs In the current
: number Of the Ladies' Home Journal. He
says, in part
zone who can remember a mothers
| love and a mothers care in childhood, or
who has known in later days the joys
| devoted wife brings TO the life OF man,
ought to be able 70 calculate upon general
! experience 80 largely tallying with his
| own that he need not fear protest or dis
sent in treating Of the scope and character
Of womAn's mission. II Is melancholy
fact however, that our subject is actually
one Of dificult approach; and 1t Ia a more
| melancholy fact that this approach Is made
| difficult by a dislocation Of ideas and by
false perspectives on the part Of women
| themselves To those OF us who suffer
periods Of social pessimism, but who, In
the midst Of 1t ali, cling to our faith In the
saving grace Of simple and unadulterated
vomanhood, any discomfort on the part
Of woman with her ordained lot, or a rest
les desire on her part TO be and TO do some
thing not within the sphere Of her appointed
ministrations, cannot appear otherwise
than as perversions Of q gift Of God 10 the
! human race.
The restlessness and discomfort TO
which l have referred Is most strongly
manifested In a movement which has for
a long time been on foot for securing to
women the right TO vote and otherwise
participate In public Affairs. Let 1t here
be distinctly understood that no sensible
man has fears Of injury TO the country on
account OF such participation. 1t Is us
dangerous undermining effect on the
| characters Of the wives and mothers OF our
land that we fear. This particular move
ment is 30 Aggressive, and 90 extreme IN
| It's insistence, that those whom It has fully
| enlisted may well be considered as moor
! rigible. At very recent meeting OF these
radicals a high prie5tess OF the faith de-
| olared No matter how bad the crime a
woman commits, II she can't vote, and is
classed with idiots and criminals and
| lunAtios, she should not DO punished by the
same laws as those who vote obey This
was said when advocating united action
on the part Of the assembled body to pre-
vent the execution Of & woman proved
! guilty Of the deliberate and aggravated
! murder OF her husband. The speaker u
reported to have further announced as
apparently the keynote OF her address;
'II We CQulQ vote We u 10 Wiling W 10
hanged It Is a thousand pities that all
! the wives found In such company cannot
sufficiently open their minds TO see the
! complete fitness Of the homely definition
! which describes a good wife as q woman
who loves her husband and her country,
with no desire to run either; and what a
blessed thing II would be If every mother,
and every woman, whether mother wife,
spinster or maid, who either violently
demands or wildly desires for women a
greater share In the direction OF public
affairs, could realize the everlasting truth
that the hand that rocks the cradle Is the
hand that rules the world
There Is comfort in the reflection that,
even though these extremists may not be
amenable to reformation, there Is a fair
prospect that their manifest radicalsm
and their blunt avowal Of subverting pur-
poses will effectively warn against dan
Rerously wide acceptance Of their theories
THE real difficulty and delicacy OF our
topic become most apparent when we come
TO speak Of the less virulent and Inherently
directed club movements that have crossed
the even tenor Of the way OF womanhood.
! do not include those movements which
amount 10 nothing more than Woman's
association or cooperation IN charitabie,
benevolent and religious work, largely
local in It's activities and in all its qualities
and purposes entirely fitted TO a womans
highest nature and best impulses. speak
more especially Of the women's clubs OF an
entirely different sort which have grown
up In all sections Of our land, and which
have already become 40 numerous that in
the interests Of their consolidated manage
ment, a National Federation OF Noman's
Clubs has been created. ! speak also OF
the vast number Of associations less com
pletely organized. but not less exacting Of
time and attention, whose protessed pur-
poses are in many instances the intellectual
Improvement or entertainment OF the
women composing their membership.
Il h 10
DOUBTLESS IN numerous cases the OBJECTS
OF these clubs and associations are shown
in such a light and are made 70 appear 30
good, or at least 80 harmless, that con-
scientious woman, unless she makes
strong fight against self-delusion, may
quite easily persuade herself that aftiliation
with them would be certainly innocent
and perhaps even within the dictates OF
duty. The danger Of self-delusion lies
in her supposition that she Ia consulting the
need Of relaxation or the duty OF increased
opportunity for intellectual Improvement,
when in point Of fact, and perhaps imper-
cepubly TO herself, she is taking counsel
Of her discomfort with the humdrum OF
her home life
After considering the woman's club as a
weapon OF retaliation upon man for neglect
Of his home and suggesting that the retalia-
don may fall upon the innocent as well as
the guilty, Mr.. Cleveland says 1T may
safely be assumed that among those who
are most disturbed by the growth Of
NAublhiH AlN hoANAllAohb N uul~
versal that mans neglect OF woman Is a
dastardly ofense and that the whipping
post for wifebeaters would be a whole
some feature Of our criminal law He
goes on:
Il am persuaded that without exaggera-
ton Of statement we may assume that there
are wom6n's clubs whose objects and intents
are not only harmful, but harmful In a
way that directly menaces the integrity
Of our homes and the benig n disposition
and character Of our wifehood and mother
hood; that there are others harmless in
intent but whose tendency 10 toward waste
OF time and perversion Of effort, az well
aA toward the formation Of the club habit
and the liberation or active patronage Of
less Innocent organizations; that there are
alec associations Of women whose purposes
Of charity, religious enterprise or intellectual
Improvement are altogether laudable and
worthy. Leaving this latter class out Of
account and treating the subject on the
theory that only the other organizations
mentioned are under confederation, believe
that Il should be boldly declared that the
best and safest club for woman 10 patronine
u her home
COPS TO TREAD THE BOARDS.