Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-11-10


thought him. Contact and mutual inter-
est are great revelation Ct virtues. You
are not the only one astonished. The re-
suits are always good. progrecsive.
Undoubtedly you have heard the story
Of the little girl who carried on, CONVEX
sation much like this: "Mama, did God
make your "Why, yes, my dear. What
makes you ask such questions?" "Mama,
did God make met" And the mother re-
piled, "Why, yes, Ruth; of course He did. !"
The little girl looked in the mirror at
herself, then at her mother, then at her
self in the mirror, and said, "WelI, mama,
dch't you really think God is doing better
work lately7"
My friends, whether He is doing better
work lately or not depends very much up
on you and me and the other fellow, and
the question we should ask and then try
to answer is, "What can do about it?'
This is not said in any spirit as an in
structor-it is said only as one woman with
gigantic faith in women to q company OF
women, believing it is activity y-u desire,
for while we find great comfort in the
words Of Browning: mot what man does,
but what he aspires to do" still, the
greater comfort is in the "well done".
To me there is deal OF wisdom in the
doggerel:
1--WE have to swat and shoe the hy from morn
to dark,
just because Noah didn't swat the two that
roasted in the ark"
For many conditions are the result Of in
difference = letting things s'roost''. One
person, one OF your own women, said this
gave her great joy, it was 80 much more
pleasing to be doing ancestral duty than
simply swatting flies. but there is still
greater incentive than this, which Is doing
the work we should for future generations.
Organized wemanhood, nay friends, is
not without its faults, individually and
collectively-we have not solved ali the
problems, we are still Of the earth
earthly, but we are learning.
Does 1t seem strange and discouraging
to you that there are SO many different
branches CT work needing the activity Of
the women, needing realization OF our
own individual responsibility? Often
times flashes across my mind the quota
tion, 1.-THE art Of speech was given to US
in order to say pleasant things to each
other" and mentally comes the exclama-
ton, "Tll live up to it! 1t shall not an
noy me whether the world goes we'll or ill;
my children are through school; it is
strenuous to care whether the other
women's children fare as wished mine to
foro. II 10 ox ho net ,uo to u,;eb tho hova m
be educated to know the value Of right
living and the horror Of being an inebri
ate and wrecking life. Why struggle to
have the young people read the temper
ance posters?"
You know and know we cannot re-
form the world, and inwardly there is
bit of satisfaction il we can keep ourselves
and our own on the right track, and still,
is it best to "wrap the draperies" OF our
own good fortune around us and ''lie
down to pleasant dreams? We can, if we
will, as did Elizabeth b. Browning, "Hear
the children crying in the street," and
still it is easy to say with Robert Brown
ing: ~ want to be forgotten, even by
God." Then we remember the other
quotation from him: progress is the law
of life; man is not Man as yet," and with
our own Longfellow we resolve ITO be
up and doing, with heart for any fate =
if not achieving, still pursuing"
My friends, do not think organized
womanhood has reached perfection. II
it had, this would be a euloey, an obitu-
ary, but it is neither. 1t is an int roduc-
ton. There are many things needing
MANY women, there is much need of each
one of US realizing much more torcibly
our own individual responsibility.
This is said in no desire to be a preacher,
with no thought OF instructing any one OF
you. 1t is simply spoken as truth which
is in the air, and which will light upon us
with greater and sadder force the longer
we delay facing it..