The National tribune., 1909-11-18

pItStIl great Dctuly W tIlt SCtHe
Pirkels Orchestra rendered fine music
thruout the evening, and to its strains
at 8 o'clock the ladies composing the
receiving party entered and formed in
ine. Prominent in line were Capt. Ed.
L. Swem, Commander of j. u. Cook
Post, and Mrs. Martha Coggeshall,
President of T. ]. Cook Corps. Mrs.
Berry, National President, with her hus-
band, Mr.. John A. Berry, stood next in
line, and they were supported by Mrs
| Georgia Wade Mcclellan, National Sec
retary; Mrs. Marie J.. Basham, of Des
Moines, National I. and 1. officer and
President of the Department of Iowa,
w. r. c.; Hon. E. j. G. Bealer of the
Vicksburg Monument Commission; Col.
II. c. Ring, Division Commander of the
Iowa Sons of Veterans; Mrs. Lena r.
Ring, Department Counselor; Capt. ].
Fl. Fenton, of the local Sons of Veter-
ans; Past Department Secretaries Senie
r. Rye, Katherine Farmer, Lydia Mott
and long line of Post Commanders of
T.. u. Cook Post.
Several hundred guests were enter
tained during the evening, and congrat-
uIations for Mrs. Berry were numerous
and enthusiastic. Buffet refreshments
were served thruout the evening by the
ladies of T. u. Cook Post in the supper
room, which was q bower of flowers.
| Many messages and kilograms from
| .iIeIluS HI ulSldUl pdFtS OF iowa VINO
were unable to be present were read.
Mrs. Berry, who is probably one of
| the youngest women to be elected Ma
| tional President of the Woman's Relief
| Corps, is tremendously popular every
| here. She Is young, woman of COM
| manding figure and most attractive per-
/ sonality. Being thoroly up in the work
of the Woman's Relief Corps and a
| beautiful talker, with fine stage pres
ence, there is no doubt at all that her
| administration will be eminently sue
cessful. She, like Commander-in-Ch Chief
| Van SAINT, has announced that every
thing in the shape of work not connect
ed with the Woman's Relief Corps is off
| for this year at least, and that she will
devote her whole time and all her en-
ergies to the upbuilding of the greatest
patriotic organization of women in the
world.
1t ought not to be necessary Go sug-
eest to the members of the Order that
a heart-whole allegiance to the National
| President to the end that she may
lachieve the success of her highest as
pirations is absolutely and indispensab bly,
necessary If our organization is to
prosper.
We stand to-day before the world
model in organizations and as has been
stated, by many thousand times the
| largest organization of women under
i one III tIlt WOTiu. our WOTk Is
of the proudest humanitarian character
so far as relief is concerned, and our
later work that of teaching patriotism
has caused a great wave of patriotism
to run over the country, which is tre-
mendously gratifying, when we consider
that we have been engaged in this par
ticular line of duty only very few
years. The Woman's Relief Corps was
the avaunt courier of the patriotic work
in the United States. When Capt. Wal
lace Foster took up the work that was
| laid down by Col Balch at the time of
his death in New York City, there were
not hundred school houses in the
land over which the flag fioated Now
| there are some 20 of the States that
have laws making it compulsory that
the Flag shall fly over the school every
minute of the school hours. Some 2S
or 80 of the States have laws against
the desecration of the Flag and more
and more churches and Sunday schools
are recognizing the beauty of the Flag
| for decorations of their interior, and
everywhere there is renewed interest in
the Flag and its history.
Capt. Wallace Foster induced the Wo-
mans Relief Corps to take up this work
! in 1893. We took It up so vigorously
as to excite the admiration of all pa
triotic organizations, and each of these
have taken up this splendid work, fol-
lowing in the footsteps of the Woman's
Relief Corps. Even the Grand Army of
the Republic did not see the value of
this kind of work until just few years
ago, and did not make 1t a part of its
regular routine work until the meeting
at Denver in 1905. The Daughters of
the American Revolution have also
emulated our example.
With all of this patriotic endeavor
National President Jennie Iowa Berry
has been arQentlyy Identified from, tha
beginning, and with all the zeal of her
patriotic soul she will endeavor to press
forward 10 afuller fruition OF the homes
of the organization during the coming
year. This she cannot do without the
fullest cooperation of every one of the
$4,000 members of the Woman's Re
/ lief Corps.