Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-06-01


women will be dissolved unless men are
admitted to membership, because many
women members are reSiguiug frequent
ly and {devoting their time to otherapur-
suits.
Mrs. Frances NJ. Easily, of Baltimore
perhaps the most prominent club womal
IN Maryland, is among those who believe
the wOman's club is very decidedly on
the wane. But Mrs. Easily does not
seem to find much fault with the new
order of things. In word, she simply
thinks that these exclusive clubs have
served their purpose, and are to be
Shelved permanently. Mrs. Easily has
been prominently before the public al
her state and the east for many years,
aqd is in a position to judge fairly
whether the woman'S club has lost its
activity. The views of Mrs. Easily are
set forth in the following statement:
AS an organization devoted TO public
movements, | believe the woman's club
VIII cease to exist in the near future.
Instead III clubs exclusively for women
there VIII he clubs for men and women.
Women, unlike men, do not feel the ne
cesSlty of clinging to tradition, and be,
cause they know that they have derived
from their clubs most of the good that
is In them, they are becoming more and
moro willing to abandon club life.
hereafter men and women will work
together in clubs. This plan has been
tried by the Contemporary club of Phil
adelphia, the largest club in that city. Of
which Agnes Repplier is president. The
membership is composed of a number of
men and women. This innovation has
proved SO delightful hat other clubs are
following its lead, and ii Will not he
long before all of the clubs adopt the
same custom. But the woman's club
has been Il great institution Its good
results have been far-reachmg and the
benefit to the women themselves has
been greater than to any of the causes
they have wished to aid. 1t has taught
women the value of team work and of
concerted action. and, at the same time,
the pettiness and Intellectually of per
sonal prejudices and jealousies.
1T has shown them, TOO. that one
woman is as good as another. and thai
class distinctions are useless when real
work is to he done This good to women
is invaluable and it can not be over
estimated. They have learned to think
and act for themselves and to stand on
their own resources. They have diScov-
cred what they can accomplish and what
their capabilities are if rightly directed,
Clubs have also been Il nucleus, so to
speak, FOR many movements. When the
woman = clubs were first actively organ
lied about fifteen years ago. the prin-
'o4f7s7sasaim was TO have Il general meet
ing place, where questions of vital IN
terest could be discussed, and where
plans for improving certain existing con
ditions and doing the necessary things
that men won't bother about could be
made.
SO Mt first the purpose was general,
and since it has specialized and branched
out into many specific movements ~
terest i'll the original clubs has been lost.
For instance. it was largely through the
influence of woman's clubs that the child
labor law was passed; it was the Yom-
ans clubs that advanced the interest in
forestry, in home economies. in the Con
sumers league, and in the anti-tubercu-
losis movement. Much has been done in
all Investigations that tended to improve
the conditions Of life for women and
children.
''Snce these and many other important
movements have been SO successfully
launched the clubs have to a large extent
lost interest in it. The women. nov
that they have gone SO far, are seeking
change. They want a social club
They have not kept on forging ahead fol
new schemes, but are resting on tke
ground they have won.
ut seems to me that the social clu
is what the women really want. What
else are the clubs of the present? They
are lhuSlCaleS, lectures, receptions an1
literary afternoons, but few real effort
to project any movement. OF course
each club does a certain amount of
charitable work, and individually the
members give assistance wherever they
can. But concerted action along any
one particular public activity is rare
ly evident The reason seems to be that
the women have learned in the cluh
how and what to do, and are casting
aside the club as a support for theft
opinions and are acting individually
Many of the members are working alone
along lines formerly followed by the clul
as q body.
Women are returning more TO the
home What they have learned in the
club of the development of the home sc
as to make it a place not only of eating
and sleeping but Of real advantage t.
the members of the household. they are
putting to most excellent use. They are
bringing up their children in the right
way. This tendency among woman's
clubs is not confined to any one city OF
section, but is quite general throughout
the country. Only the small towns ap
parently. are exempt from the general
rule. The power of the woman's clubs
is only beginning to be realized. In The
large cities everywhere. however. re-
ports show that the woman's club Of old
is passing. The club of literary and so
cial pleasures for men and women viii
be the w0mans club of the future -
Washington dispatch.