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To the Ladies
of "The Mutual Improvement Association"
of Sandy Spring:

Having been invited to write a few lines in the way of
Dedication to the third volume of the journal of
your proceedings, I find a special pleasure in complying
with the request.

This Centennial Year, so full of memories
of the deepest interest, seems to call for something
that shall unite the idea of your Association with the
moving recollections of the great Anniversary. It invites to
reflections on your own history and the design and objects
of your organization which has held the even tenor of its
‘way’ for so many years. The first meeting was held
in the 5th month, 1857: so that your pleasant monthly
gatherings have been kept up with great regularity for
nearly nineteen years. How satusfying must be the
view with which you can look back over this long period
during which the world has been shaken with such violent
commotion, and feel that the harmony of your Association
has never been disturbed by a single break!
It may well be doubted whether as much can be said
of any other Society of its age. I may be allowed
to extract a paragraph written in “The History of the neigborhood” for 1871, referring to your Association, and its course in relation to the exciting questions of the day regarding “the sphere & duties of woman”, stating