Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-04-11
MOTHERS CONGRESS
Officers We're Elected Yeierdsy
For The Coming Year.

At the closing session of the Con-
gress of Mothers clubs in Wateryille
yesterday afternoon the following
officers were elected for the ensu-
ing year:
Honorary president-Mr Frances
Sheldon Bolton, New Haven.
President-Mrs Walter B. Fergu-
son, Middletown.
ice-presidents-Mrs Frederick
B. Street, East Haven; Mrs Levi G..
Taylor, Hartford; Mrs A. n. Pier
son, Cromwell; Mrs w. T. Barnum.
New Haven.
State organizer-Mrs Charles Fl.
| Reyes, Hartford.
Recording secretary-Mrs J. X.
| Guy, Middletown.
Corresponding secretary-Mrs B.
L. Mott, New Haven. ..s
| Treasurer-Mrs F. A. Bracket,
| Hartford.
Auditor-Mrs William X. Ackley,
East Hartford.
Councilors-Mrs 0. V. Coffin, Mid
| dletown; Mrs George l.. Clark, Hart
ford; Mrs Howard Turner, Rock
Vile; Mrs Julia X. Leach, Ply
mouth.
Chairmen Standing Committees.
! Ways and means-Mrs Ferdinand
| Wolf, Waterville.
Educational-Mrs J. G. Phillips.
| Waterville.
Afiliation-Mrs Frank P. Waters,
Rocky Hill.
egislation-Mrs E. S. Tilling-
hast, New Haven.
Printing and program-Mrs A. H.
Gledhill, South Glastonbury.
Press-Mrs Edward Porritt, Hart
ford.
Literary nformation-Mrs John
Ravens, East Hartford.
| Child labor--Mrs Edward Irving
| Atwater, New Haven.
| The address on Some Mistakes
of Nature" delivered by Marcus
White, principal of the New Britain
State Normal school was in part
as follows:
| Another mistake of nature is the
! fact that she is a bad creditor, al
! ways presenting bill, but seldom
until the individual has forgotten
all about it. The man who suddenly
discovers that he has indigestion
wonders what could have given It to
him, forgetting the foraging expedi-
lions some 80 years ago which led
him into mothers pantry for dough-
nuts. Even if the child should be
! told of the dangers it is doubtful II
he would care. 1t takes pretty
| sharp pain to teach the ordinary boy
| to be reasonable" he continued.
1.-THE aim of education is mechan-
ical action. Thinking Is only an in
termediate stage. Our ultimate goal
| Is so to train the nervous system
| that 1t will act without our think
ing. Let me illustrate. When |
| dress in the morning, I usually keep
on all day the clothing l then pun
| on. When I undress / usually start
by removing my collar. Occasionally
| decide to go out for the evening
and looking in the glass / decide to
put on clean collar. I start the
| process and my mind carries me to
| something else upon which | think
deeply. By and by I find myself in
some degree of dishabille-and once
went to bed Now this has hap
pened to many men. l don't mean
to say that every man is reduced to
the same state of utter idiocy, fol
they may stop themselves somewhere
| along the road. The point is here.
the mechanical process is started
and the body goes on with the pro-
cess while the mind Is free for other
| thoughts. The nervous system re-
| ceives its impressions early in life
| and We should endeavor to make
mechanical as soon as possible In
| the child's life as many useful acts
| as we can. II will be difficult to do
that in later life. Punctuality is one
of those immensely important things
to be enforced, politeness is another.
1t is utterly impossible for us to
train ourselves to these things after
passing the age of youth. The
| teacher and the mother must appre-
| ciate this law and stand between
the child and himself to make him
do the things that he does not take
seriously enough.
''The ideals of the child are I'M
portant to him, but they are not the
ideals of maturity. Successful edu-
cation is the substitution of ideals
we wish him to have for those he
may have. If any child enters school
with the grim determination to be-
come his class valedictorlan, he
should be carefully watched and
taken to a physician. Try to
strengthen that trait of character In
each child which enables him to
place before himself ideals to which
he can attain.
The two days session was one Of
the most interesting and instructive
that the clubs have ever had. The
reports 6f the delegates yesterday
afternoon showed that only in a few
| cases is there a lack of interest, and
the officers Of the association will
make a big effort the coming year
to eliminate the, defects noticed
during the past IL months.
The congress will meet at Hart
ford in April 1909. and the conven-
ton will be under the supervision OF
the Motherhood club of that city.
which has a membership Of more
than 200.