Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-03
SAYS OLD MAIDS
Do NOT EXIST
WOMEN'S CLUBS HAVE ELIMI.
MATED THEM
Mrs. Sarah Platt- Decker, President
General of Federation Of Women's
Organizations, Tells Of
Metamorphosis

The old maid is n person OF the past
and the womens clubs and public work
of women has made her so. according
to Mrs. Sarah Platt-Decker. president
of the general federation of womcns
clubs, numbering half million mem-
bers
Mrs. Decker arrived i'm Los Angeles
Yesterday afternoon and n Herald rep
resentatiVc met her last evening M
the home of Mrs. Josiah Evans Cowles.
president of the state federation, whose
guest she will be during her visit in
Los Angeles.
II was i'm n conversation about the
rapid strides which women have made
in the last half century that Mrs.
Decker declared the old maid to be
obsolete.
81 can remember the time when
woman who was not married lead the
most miserable life imaginable" said
Mrs. Decker. "Why it was n disgrace
for a woman to be an old maid. She
was pointed at as something to be
pitied. She had always to depend upon
her brothers or her brothers-in-law, or
some other relative when she wanted
to stir out of the house and she was
counted a bother by all of them.
Clubs Have Changed Conditions
"The public work of women and the
women's clubs have changed all such
conditions. A mother now brings her
daughters UP to realize that If the
right man comes along the best thing
to do is to marry, but a mother does
not teach that girls should marry Just
for q home or because she wants TO
have Mrs written on her tombstone.
EVERYWHERE O woman turns she can
find something with which to fill her
life and there is no need in the world
for 1t to be a failure.
II glory i'm the army of women in
the world today who are making their
way. There is so much unnecessary
talk about men being crowded out by
women. 1t is not women who are
crowding men, It is men crowding other
men. There Is a place for women in
the public work of the world, they are
needed there. If men are to be crowded
cut by women 1t is time they were
out.
"Ihe talk about woman going into
the world to work when she does not
have to. I have known thousands of
working women and have only met two
who did not have to work for a living
who did it.
Mrs. Decker is n fine looking woman
and a clever talker Everything she
says is said with an amount Of en-
thusiasm which is convincing.
She has come to California to at
tend the meeting of the state fedora
ton of clubs to be held next week in
San Jose and will go north Tuesday
on the special train carrying one hun
dred women from Southern California.
AS the federation work is nearest
to Mrs. Decker the conversation nat
urally turned on that subject and Mrs.
Decker told many interesting things
about the rapid strides which club
women have made.
Good Done by Clubs
"I have visited many clubs in Amer
lea and have learned much Of the
good they are doing" said Mrs.
Decker. I'm some cases I have been
surprised at the improvements which
club women have made along the lines
Of civic and educational work. In In
dian Territory alone / learned that
from the forty clubs there thirty-five
libraries have been established and pic
lures have been placed in every public
school in the territory.
The household economics committee
is doing splendid work and pure food
conditions are improving as result
of it. The work has only just begun
as yet and what will be done before
we have finished may be a surprise"
During her stay in Los Angeles Mrs.
Decker will have busy time carrying
out the various plans which the local
women have made for her. This morn
ing she will be taken for an automo-
bile ride over the city and at 1 o'clock
she will be guest of honor at lunch
con which Mrs. Josiah Evans Cowles
and Mrs. Edgar German president
and vice president of the state feder-
alton, will give at the home of the
former Later in the afternoon she will
go to Alhambra to be honored guest
at a reception to be given by the Cliff
Dwellers association.
The Los Angeles district federation
of which Mrs. oliver G. Bryant is
president, will give reception in honor
of Mrs. Decker Monday afternoon at
the Ebell club house and the few re-
naming hours will be spent in general
sightseeing.