Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-13


two organizations were very practically IN
terestcd. The question was. Could they
operate or would it be best to work
separately?
The points of difference seemed very
marked; even the object to be attained
seemed at times not altogether the same as
the angle from which one and another side
viewed the whole proposition gave slant
in one direction and then in another. AT
the end OF an hour, although each one pres
ent had endeavored to express herself, the
fccllng was pretty general that we were
getting nowhere!
-SOMETIMES 1t Is not SO great Il waste
~ of time as It seems TO have chaos or ap-
parent chaos In weller of expressed ideas.
There are some games where ii is allowable
to place all your cards on the table at once
ana sort them afterward.
Inc sorting in this case began after the
ilrst hour of dealing out and all the opinions
had been made the most Of. and the sorting
process was started by the woman who'
except the chairman. had said the least
during the conrse Of the arguments. She
was person who has more ard more gained
a position Of State wide responsibility be-
cause OF her quiet pose of manner and ac-
curate and Just power Of stating facts.
She gave n piece of advice. based on n
recent experience that she had had Of COM
mittec adjustment Of differences, which i'm
incdiately appealed to those present and en-.
abled the chairman to divert the stream. OF
criss' opinions into n channel that
began somewhere md led somcwhcr, and
gave promise Of ending somewhere: in short,
She suggested plan by which those who
differed could find where they also agreed. ,
She said thet in recent very momentous
discussion on another committee there had
been two vOluminous reports. ma jority
and minority report Of recommendations.
These were subjected TO a Simplifying process
OF elimination by series of compromises
wherever it was possible % make two poi !
OF view unite or fuse into a third common
point of view. She said 1t vas rcmnrkable
how two points of view apparently different
could unite in third point of view that had
the salient characteristics of both md
Scrapped the non essentials which no one
really cared to bleed and die for" or
course, aS she admitted, after all the pairing
down and pruning and accepting and "limi-
mating had been accomplished there was q
point where the difference of opinion was
irr"conrilabl", SO that the committee had 10
present Il minority and majority report. but
the minority report was reduced 10 q mini
mum. In short. they agreed about most Of
the matters that had been discussed, and
their recommendations therefore. had just
that much more weight for the community
at large.
For fond as each OF US is about having
her or his own way, we are apt to Judge
committee very hsrshly If 1t cannot agree
upon general policy.
A GOOD stand.up fight on a clean.cut
a issue does not discredt III" fighters but
pickering as 10 the way the fight IL to be
carried on bores the public and dulls en-.
thusinsm. And the type of mind that will
look for points Of agreement, instead Of ac-
centing points Of disagreement, is.a rock OF
defense and a firm foundation and n step.
ping stone TO peace and any other good
mrtaphoric boon to ami,'ablc settlement that
ono may choose to apply it to.
T AM thinking of this just now particu.
larly because IN so many ways that W"
women have 70 be active under the changing
conditions OF church government and politi-
cal government and So"iOlogical- environ:
lnent We can make an awful mess of things
by accounting our differences and hirkcrng
over what should be non essentials in grasp
ing the red tape and losing hold of the Op-
pOrtunity.
] think this IS particularly n s1nre to
women. because we are loyal creatures and
sometimes mistake partsanship for loyalty
and because we are still accustomed to look
at things personally and to illustrate our
reasons for our sentiments and even for our
convictions by personal application. We
insist on trying on the shoe ourselves or
having il tried on the person next us 10
prove that Il pincheE and il unbecOnling.
! can stll see th" offended majesty Of iAy
grandmother when a gentleman OF her hc-
fa 'a, o ri,,,, o,r,,'asivn ~
nI'STirr,, ogrcemcnt " of ,hS ustir" oF .omr
orI. 3bn, sbc Ind mod"
'''', ,'''' ,,,.....
N'r' sald snc; please d" not Illustrate
upon my person.
,e,,,, ,.r,.
N1E lLLuSltAlE 700 much upon our
w own and the other committee women's
person by the mental pictures that We insist
upon Gaining w. ~ Pto''ho t.vSc Wv
necessary and often by our perfectly uncon-
sc"us ways of voicimg our statements.
Before we even start to make our majority
or minority reports or meet n second tim"
to reconcile the differences Of the two, it
would he well if most us could eliminat"
some of the tones of our voice and inhcr-
tious and impatient inlerioclions and half
baked suggestions. Almost always it is
,ho quiet woman who has not said mu"h