The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14

ciub Is given inspiration and strength 10 the club needing direction and help.
 In spirit 1t Is the tower of strength of Federation. l plead for the cul- tivation and full development of this spirit of reciprocity. It not only moves into activity each club and each club member and makes them realize In its fullness a personal responsibll ity for the welfare of others. but lhere- by we, ourselves, are better enabled to avoid the rough places and pitfalls along life's journey and climb to the lofty plane of noble deeds. Then if perchance we can ever attain to the | high tower of strength and safety where the uplifting hand is no longer needed, we can make ourselves the more secure, stronger and nobler. by extending helping hand to those about us.
 I have spoken in detail of the edu- cational work undertaken by our Fed eration and the spirit which animates and preserves it. But is not all this more far-reaching than at first ap- pears? Rather. I should say. does 1t not come nearer home? Can we ignore ! In summing up of the educational and reciprocal work what 1t has done for you and me? In Calling on every nature for it's highest" have we, too, not been uplifted? In pledgtng our selves to better civic surroundings, bet ter laws to work together for health and happiness, to secure for our chill dren better educational facilities in helping the helpless and caring for the weak, do we not go back into our own homes with higher ideals. remem- bering we are first of all wives and homemakers and mothers and we must l endeavor to live our individual lives in that rarified atmosphere to which we are trying to elevate others?
 n Int fr NV,1l lta fnf ix. nicipal work and philanthropic mat ters, on the part of a woman, is too often condemned as hysterical desire for notorfety and excitement by a scoff- ing world. Let women keep to their sphere, lest they neglect their special duties of the wife and mother-such Is the popular view of the woman ques- tion.
 But a wider look is not incompati- ble with the highest development of the wife and mother. Woman ought not to give up her own development | and her duties to the community at large, husband, family and home are | naturally first in her regard, yet uni versal charity and love of humanity are surely as important to woman as 1 to man. For the very sake of her chill dren woman ought to develop the best 1 that Is In her. In the hands of the l wives and mothers of the country Is the welfare of the generation to come. As women are strong and practical and capable, so also will these character istics predominate in their children. Show me the women of nation, and I will tell you of its strength" say the French school of sociologists. | They seek not the germ of a nations power In its standing armies, its from clad battleships. its financial resources. not even in the creators of these stu pendous forces, a nations men. Fur ther back they press in their elemental search, and rest not until they find the women. This Is the expression of no sentimental chivalry. but of pro- | found conviction that a woman-goOd or bad, wise or foolish, true or false places the impress of her character so indelibly upon her home that beside 1t the vaunted heritage of preceding ages stand as nothing.
 Tt Is we'll for the lovers of a coun- 1 try to wage war on the vitiating forces of political corruption, industrial out rage, social crime-but the real bat ties of a nation are fought and won upon the hearthstone."
 So let our club work broaden and strengthen us that those hearthstone battles be wisely planned and bravely fought. Then as age creeps on will we grow broader, deeper and stronger, bet ter. sweeter, and each unseltish act and each reciprocal deed will become bright link in the golden chain of re- ciprocity that will bind us into a mo- ble womanhood, and we will be ena- bled to leave to our succeeding gener- ation a heritage of strength goodness and glory never yet bequeathed by a race of women.
 Our organization exists primarily for our own self development through and science, and an interchange of thought and mental experience. We | have not always studied wisely. or very seriously, perhaps and can in no sense claim to be very learned, but in the nature of things. no one can read, even superficially. the best that the world has produced without being broadened and refined and charmed. and so much enlightened by our stud les. all imperfect as they have been. 1 that we have added to our original purpose another one. and that is, to awaken other minds to the beauty and developing power of similar study and intercourse to raise the intellec- | tual standards of our womanhood, to gradually improve the substance and extend the scope of education in our State until springs of wholesome use- l ful knowledge are flowing In all the barren wastes, for nothing is more beautiful In the intellectual life than | the willingness of all cultivated peo- ple-communicate to others the result l of all their toil'
 These objects alone would seem to l offer us more to do than we could hope to accomplish successfully. and 1 yet--so closely bound to the mental is the spiritual In woman. so insistent is the trend of the time towards the betterment of humanity materially and morally as well as mentally, In ieed, so inscpa rable Is this trinity Of needs that an organization originally designed to meet the intellectual need alone cannot escape the prevailing Inn pulse towards philanthropy. therefore. we are not satisfied unless we can, from time to time point. to some more benehclent work than a mere gather 1 ing together for mutual mental stim- | ulation and advancement, however | meritorious and pleasant 1t may be | Women have been called the world s 1 hurnanItarians." and one eminent French writer says "they are the SO nius of charity" while another insists ! that there is q woman in the beSt'- ming of all great things.
 The women of Alabama have broad ened and strengthened their work so that now the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs means opportunity and responsibility for we have ever as earnest club women made and embraced every opportunity, and have pever shirked responsibility
 *