The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1911-08-03

by Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke, State
President of the Federated Women s
Clubs of Indiana, was delivered at
Winona Lake at the District conven-
tion held there this month.
4.She walked yelled and sleeping,
For she knoweth not her power;
She obeyeth but the pleading
OF her heart. and the highleading
Of her soul unto this hour
Slow advancing, halting, creeping,
Comes the woman to the hour
She walketh yelled and sleeping
For she knoweth not her power"
The ninteenth century has been
called ''the woman's century," and
the present "the century of the
child Woman assurediy began to
find herself long ago, but the pro-
cess still goes on, with hesitating
steps and in the face of many dis
couragements.
1t was natural that the club move
ment should at first stand for self
culture alone. Our sex had been de-
MED the right to be educated. and
had been looked upon as an inferior
In intellectual capacity for so long
that when the gates of opportunity
In this direction began to open. and
knowledge her ample page unrolled
before us. no wonder the sight was
so alluring that many women past
the school age, Ind mothers who
had sent their daughters to college,
themselves united to form clubs for
their own mental and social culture.
Those clubs served a great end
women found that they could talk,
nd not merely gossip together They
talked and wrote papers. After
wears of consideration of such top
les as "The Women of Ancient
Greece and Rome" and "Catherine
de Medici and Her Times,' they be-
gan rather cautiously to take mod
ern themes. and today we find club
programs delightfully."- suggestive of
the life we are now leading.
Through clubs women have learned
how to conduct public meetings and
how to differ from one another with
out taking or giving offense. Grad
ually they are coming to feel an in
terest in and responsibility for So
cial conditions, and much has al
ready been accomplished by them in
influencing legislation. loc |, state
and national.
1t is due largely to the agitation
and actual work of women's clubs
that libraries have been multiplied
Juvenile courts instituted, pure food
laws enacted, and legislation benefit
cial to women and children secured.
It was just as natural that women
should outgrow the old self culture
idea. as it was that that motive
should be their starting point. Not
because their members had acquired
all the culture there was, but be-
cause their eyes were turned toward
the conditions that surrounded them
and seeing these conditions so far
from ideal, they, being women, could
not rest content.
The women felt, with DIR. Park
hurst, that though the wicked flee
when no man pursueth, thes ia;ke
better time when some one is after
them. So they began to dsmend
cleaner streets and public buildings
laws for the protsetion of women
and children who work, manual
training and medical inspection in
public schools, police and Jail mat
rons. women on hospital and other
boards. etc. In some places, where
their demands were backed by the
ballot, their work In securing these
reforms has been comparatively
easy. In others, where they have on.
" their much vaunted findirect In
fluence," it has been tardier pro
cess.
The American woman has beer
credited with a native gift of init
alive and an inherited spirit of inde'
pendence, also with faculty and
taste for organization. These consti
tute a splendid equipment for social
service.
ssWhosoever would save his life
shall Jose it ane whosoever would
lose his life for Ny sake shall fine
it.
It is only as clubs discard the ides
of a self-culture as their sole ain