The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-05-07


| ewtonville, we gathered as club of
| travellers. Seven of the original "Glean-
| ers" and an equal number of new men,
! bers were of the party. Our first trip
was to France, and our whole time was
spent in the delight Of travel and the
| little social functions held by the way.
| 1t is hard for me not to linger over
some of the events of that year as
| chronicled in the annual report, but l
| quote the closing paragraph. We
| reached the end of the trip and sailed
| into the harbor with favoring breeZes
| and sunny skies, having had but two OF
| three stormy days during the time and
encountering no gales, and in happy
| anticipation of another trip under as
| favorable auspices.
| The second year we visited England
| as the same congenial party, viewing
| its stately cathedrals, doing London
and other noted cities, and blending
| with our sightseeing the country's his
| tory, its authors and poets, and decld-
| ing with Hawthorne that, eff England
were all the world it still would have
| been worth while for the Creator 10
have made it and mankind would have
abode
1t was during this year that the shad-
ow of death first lowered over our party,
and our president, Miss Southworth.
she who was so alert, so much alive to
the interest of the club and so helpful
to all as leader and associate member,
passed over to the "better country"
We mourned her going and yet we love
to think of her now as living, loving,
active force with us. Our vice presi-
dent, Mrs c. A. Pilsbury, safely piloted
us the remainder of the year, but with
the succeeding season came a loss of
membership by the removal from the
city of three prominent members, the
secretary was stricken very i'll, and this
with other events cOnspired to prevent
the trip planned at the close of the
previous year.
In October, 1904, however, with the
return to town of our enthusiastic
chairman of the present topic commit
tee, Mrs. Clement, we gathered new
courage and reorganiZed, five new men,
bers were invited to join us and we
started with a party of sixteen. Much
of our time that year we spent amid
the bikes and dunes of little Holland
over the sea, and as | said to you in my
annual report of that season, certainly
the trip to Holland adds priceless gems
to the storehouse of memory of each
member of the party"
The two years following we passed
in visiting the good, clean, wholesome
cliffs and castles, it's quaint old houses,
homes of Beethoven, Goethe, Schiller
and others; Heidelberg, with its uni
versity and its famous church of St.
Peter; Strasburg, with its remarkable
astronomical clock; Leipsic, the home
of the Linden, but we fingered longest
in the little town of Weimar, Goethe's
home, finding SO much there to interest
and remind us of this prince of German
poets, whose peace as expressed in
Evening" written on the walls of the
little hermitage on the Hill in the forest
of Ilmenan, seemed even then to rest
upon us. May not quote to you the
sweet lines:
"Peace breatheS along the shade
OF every hill.
The treetOpS of the glade
Are hushed and stil
All woodland murmurS cease,
The birds to rest within the brake are
gone.
Be patient weary heart-anon, |
Thou, too, shalt be at peace!"
At the close of these two years we
missed from our number two Others !
who had travelled happily with us but |
who needs must answer the Masters |
call, and
"Tho we sigh for the touch of Il vanished |
And the sound of a'voice that is STILL"
methinks on this soft spring air comes
the whisper from them to tell us all is
well.
A side glance at this time shows some
departures that have proven of benefit |
and which were advocated by some of |
our members at the beginning. We
rest on firm foundation having adopt
ed constitution and united with the
superior body, the State Federation
Field days were established which add
ed much to our enjoyment and we dis
covered that some of our members are
the most delightful of hostesses. Most
of these special days are chronicled in
the columns of The Republican Journal
and from there transferred to our files.
While from the first our study had
been quite thoroughly and pleasantly
done it was only at the beginning of the
present year that each member was re-
luired to tell to us in her own words
The events of the side trip under her
charge. Two original papers had been
written however by the secretary previ-
)us to this-one upon French Paint
ers," in 1901, and another upon 'The
Manufactures and Com
nerce of Belgium, in 1904. The present
season has shown how ably this can be
lone by, all the members and the days
nave been thoroughly enjoyable from
The time Mrs. Clement conducted our |