The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-10-04
az ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

az ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.
The celebration next week of the
quarter century of a local woman's
club, the Aftermath, is an interesting
one in the history of the town, and en-
phasizes the value of this peculiar fem
anime institution to a community.
The organization, found in multiple
in every city and town, known as the
"woman's club" has been the target of
much cheap sarcasm and a good deal
of witticism, of one sort and another,
some of it clever, some of it stupid.
But the womans club cannot be
laughed down.
1t has become an integral par, Of the
social fabric and has assumed an i'm
portance in the life of the nation
which it's originators little dreamed OF.
Women's clubs have been reser-
voir into which the restlessness, the
ambitions, the pent up executive pow
ers, the genius for administration, the
intellectual acumen Of women beyond
certain age has been poured, to is
sue in a stream of varied activities
which have given color and tone to
social life, in its larger aspects, and
have not gone unnoted of political and
civic opponents.
1t has been an invaluable training in
the marshalling of forces, in the whole
machinery of organization which will
make the entrance of women into that
public life, from which they are bar
red at present by lack of the fran
| chise. an imperceptible transition
when the latter is achieved.
Did it ever occur to you, by the way,
that women have the full franchise in
five states and that we still live?
Women's clubs, first intended as
purely literary in character, have ev-
olutionized into an impressive civic
accessory and perform many of the
functions of good citizenship. 1t is
!, only necessary to read the papers to
know this.
Everywhere YOU find enlightenment
attendant upon the influence of wo-
mans organization in community or
commonwealth.
Many reforms in sanitation, in the
! administration of charitable, penal
and educational institutions, in the
preservation of the integrity of the
| landscape and the aesthetic aspects
of cities are due to the work of women
through the woman's club.
! In it's purely literary phases, the wo-
| mans club has done yoemans work.
While it's programs, frequently crowd
ed and lacking in continuity, are the
| wonder of the uninitiated in many in
ho xxyh1 iold Of h,,Y, N
| thought and activity having often been
covered, on the printed page, in one
afternoon, it has still opened a new
| world to many a cramped and cabined
life.
| 1t is not Sc much what the club &C
complishes in the presentations of the
contents of its yearbook, as in the in
! direct and more subtle influence on
the individual mentality.
The Aftermath is one of the oldest
| woman's clubs in the city and was, as
have been many good things, of Qua
ker origin, it's first manifestation hav
ing been in the literary programs of
the Women's Missionary society of the
Whitewater Monthly Meeting which
! included at that time South Eighth
Street Friends, East Main Street
Friends and Whitewater Friends
churches.
| Later it was divorced from the mis-
sionary society and became the Read
| lied into the Aftermath, it's complex
! ion becoming less restricted in
! character both in it's membership and
general activities, until it reached that
phase of it's history where it is looked
upon as a telling asset in the intellec-
tual and civic life of the town.
| It's first president was Mrs. Matte
Curl Dennis.
And to this gifted and erudite wo-
the broadcast and whose culture was
overlooking. Richmond owes much.
Benefits forgot"
This is the phrase that spells trag
| edy.
This is the knell that tolls in many a
bitter heart.
1t is the cross that marks the grave
of self sacrifice, of self-immolation, OF
kindnesses trampled on, of love cruel
fled
1t was not so with Mrs. Dennis.
But it is we'll to call renewed and
pointed attention to one whose un-
selfish devotion to the propaganda OF
aesthetic manifestations of human de-
VelOpment left an indelible im
press, and resulted in a feeling for
art-both literary and plastic-that
eliminated in institutions which have
proclaimed the town as progressive,
as progress is sometimes counted.
| Mrs. Dennis was the first person to
| arouse general interest in art in this
community.
| That is, to fan into flame the spark
of love for beauty inherent in every
| individual entity, no matter what his
environment or intellectual status.
| The History Glass owes its origin