Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-01-11
The Observer.


The Observer has just returned from
the annual reunion of the family con-
nection to which he belongs. lnclud-
ing the husbands and wives of the
direct descendants from the common
progenitor, there are seventy-three
members of the connection, scattered
throughout Ontario, Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Illinois. AS it is not an
easy matter to get 80 many persons, SO
widely scattered, together in reunion
once in a generation, to say nothing
of once year, the Observer will ex-
plain at once that the annual reunions
of which he speaks are conducted en-
tirely by correspondence.
Some years ago the Observer con-
ceived the idea of the annual Family
Newsletter as a means OF bringing
the members of the connection into
closer touch with one another Acting
on the idea, he addressed letter to
each household in the connect
ion, announcing his experiment, and
asking the cooperation of all In due
time he received replies from every
household, and with these letters as
data, he prepared the newsletter, in
cooperating the most interesting items
ard significant paragraphs from each
one of the letters received. With the
aid of copying roll, he then made as
many clear copies of the newsletter as
he could, and mailed copy to each
household. Being mailed as printed
matter, the cost of postage was insigni.
ficant.
When the idea was first proposed it
was received with some little amaze
ment, amusement and incredulity on
the part of the various members of the
connection. Each one seems to have
thought: This is a queer notion, and
likely to prove impractical, for what
likelihood is there that all the branches
of the connection will respond? |, of
course will write, and one or two
All thinking this way, they all wrote;
and so the experiment proved sue
cess from the outset. When, year
later, the Observer again sent out not
ices that he was intending to prepare a
second newsletter, the responses were
as enthusiastic as they we're complete
and prompt. Year after year the plan
has been carried out, and is now re-
lal utah liGh
institution in the common life of the
connection. One cousin whom the
Observer has not seen since they both
were children, and who never hears
directly from more than two or three
other relatives in this particular con-
nection, says, 81 always look forward
TO your newsletter for glad tidings
from the others" A sister whom the
Observer has not seen for nearly nine
years writes that she is looking for
ward hopefully to the arrival of the
annual budget of news from the dear
old clan.
The Observer would venture to COM
mand his Family Newsletter idea to
other family connections whose mem
bers are widely scattered. Our mod
ern American tendency is to make too
little, rather than tCo much, of the ties
of kinship. When the ties of kin
ship are emphasized to the neglect of
other and wider social bonds, it results
is the vice of clannishness But, on
the other hand, to neglect the ties OF
kinship is 10 deprive ourselves of one
of the most intimate and sacred sources
of human happiness and enrichment,
and ofmoral sympathy and support. We
should remember, too that ii is through
the more intimate relations Of kinshir
that il becomes possible for Us 10 rec
ognize our huship to all human kind
lie who knows not the family in the
narrower and more literal sense viii
not be- qualified TO enter deeply int
the spirit and life of the wider socia
family.
Gable Broke.