Club Minutes: Mutual Improvement Association, 1912-1916

Plainfield 2-10-1915 159

On 2-10-1916 The Asso. found itself once more in Plainfield home. The present hostess in the third generation which had received us there, - Hadassah J. Moore and daughter, Mary E., in the old house for years, and then in the new, and now Margaret G. T. Moore. Guests were Kate D. and Mary M. Thomas, Florence M. Wetherald, Irene Miller, Elsie Elbrey Stabler, Margaret C. Bancroft, Beatrix and Dorothy Moore, Corrie M. Brooke, Miss Dwyer and Annie Miller. The sentiment was from Canon Farrar – “Little self-denials, little honesties, little passing words of sympathy, little nameless acts of kindness, little silent victories over favorite temptations, - these are the threads of gold which woven to-gether gleam brightly in the pattern of Life.” Our hostess also gave, -

“It Couldn’t be Done”

“Somebody said it couldn’t be done But he, with a chuckle, replied, That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he tried. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin On his face; if he worried he hid it, - He started to sing, as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it.”

Albina O. Stabler read a list of the “20 best novels” compiled long ago, but many have stood the test of time. their titles are, - “David Copperfield”, “Ivanhoe”, Kenilworth”, Adam Bede”, “Romola”, “Mill on the Floss”, Middlemarch”, Scarlet Letter”, “The House of Seven Gables”, “The Marble Faun”, “Vanity Fair”, “The Newcomes”, “Henry Esmond”, “Pendemus”, “Jane Eyre”, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, “Les Misérables”, “John Halifax, Gentleman”, “Last Days of Pompeii”, and “Hypatia”. Carl Vitz, a librarian of the Cleveland Public Library wrote, - “I would not say a student will be educated after finishing this course, but he would have dispelled a great deal of ignorance.”

Mary Scott gave “Doing One’s Bit”, - To say “I am doing my bit” is to express in capsule a whole volume of meaning; the duty that lies

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nearest may be all that is required day by day, - possibly a small thing but the aggregate is immense.

Emilie T. Massey told us some of the experiences of her daughter Gertrude in Augusta, Ga. The singing led by a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, in a Negro Baptist church was grand, equal to an opera, she thought. Then E. T. M. read a few good verses she was too modest to let us copy here, - possibly they were her own!

Margaret C. Bancroft interested us in the attempt to revive real negro music a Sharp St. School. Books had been procured from Hampton and the children are learning some of the sweet old tunes with enthusiasm.

Elizb. Moore read an amusing rhyme as follows -

“The antiseptic baby and the prophylactic pup Were playing in the garden, When a bunny gamboled up. They looked upon the creature With a loathing undisguised, It wasn’t disinfected, and it wasn’t sterilized.”

They bathed him in sulphuretted hydrogen and finally “elected him a member of the fumigated land” or as a colored woman in S. S. said, “perfumigated”.

Rebecca T. Miller read, by request, a selection from a recent article of Helen Keller’s. This talented girl is often spoken of as the most wonderful young woman in a century. She is now a warm advocate of Socialism and is as clever and original in her arguments as in all the other questions of the day she has investigated.”

Our hostess was asked to tell how she made the delicious slaw served on her table that day. We did not learn exact proportions but the abundant dressing was compounded of boiling vinegar, beaten eggs, flour and cream, with a little salt and mustard.’’

Sarah T. Miller gave extracts from a booklet by Prof. Shannon, - “Did God make women to be morally superior to men?” This essay or lecture, by a man was a terrific arraignment of his own sex which he declared “Vastly inferior to the other”. He said in part, - Men drink a barrel of whiskey, where women

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drink a pint; they use a ton of tobacco where women use a lb; they are found in far greater numbers filling penal institutions.” A double standard of morals was held responsible for many evils as it practically says to women, “Do right”, to men, “Do as you please.”

Virginia Steer brought a sketch of Athens which was termed the “The Queen City of the World”. She is still the Classic teacher as in the days of Plato, and a shrine for the preservation of art. although the Acropolis has been despoiled by nation after nation, it is yet rich in sculpture and architecture.

Mariana Miller gave an interesting sketch of Clara Barton who born in 1821, lived until 1912. From the age of 13 to 15 yrs. she was the devoted nurse of a little invalid brother injured by a fall. For the 2 yrs. she scarcely left him and afterwards said she “almost forgot there was an outside to the house”. She began teaching in Bordentown, N. J., and she soon managed to convince a rather conservative set of people that they needed and should endow, a Public School. They did her bidding and she began with 5 scholars, - in 6 wks. had 500, and an assistant teacher. From the first shot fired on Ft. Sumter to the final battel of the Civil War, she was ever as near the front as possible, and she gradually won the confidence of state and war leaders. She was furnished with transports and men to distribute the stores collected by her for the sick and wounded soldiers.

After the war she devoted 4 yrs. to searching for “missing men”, then she plunged into The Red Cross work of the Franco-Prussian War, and this was followed by a long spell of invalidism after which she organized the American Red Cross Asso., and affiliated it with those of Europe.

Mary E. Gilpin had a sketch of Maj. Moton, the new Principal of Tuskegee, who seems to be quite as remarkable in many respects as his predecessor Booker T. Washington.

Martha Holland brought us a few verses entitled “Never Mind”, the moral being that these few words often bring comfort to those who grieve, especially if a little love be added.

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Alice G. Stabler had a paragraph from Ruskin who said, “God always gives us strength for what he wants us to do, and unless we are happy in our work we can not perform our duty to Him and to man.”

Fanny B. Snowden read of the great canal between the Meditteranean Sea and Lyons. It is 30 miles long, 60 ft. deep, - the water is 15 ft. deep, - and it goes through one mountain a distance of 4 ½ miles.

This accomplished house-keeper and home-maker in undergoing vexation of spirit because her erstwhile shining silver has become copper-colored. She was advised by different members to use Dulin and Martin’s Silver Cream Polish, Gorham Paste, soda and Ammonia, lastly washing-soda, and special attention paid to wiping the articles dry. The Sec’y experienced a sad pleasure in finding how many present had similar forks and spoons just now. Cola fires were thought to darken everything of the kind. F. B. S. also read a beautiful poem by the sister of Watson Gilder and then exhibited a tin kitchen-prize, which mashes potatoes, mixes pie-crust and reduces sugar and butter to smooth consistency, all with little labor and the cost is but 10 cts.

Elma P. Chandlee brought a list of 100 questions given to the pupils of Balto. Friends’ School, - we, to quote Chas Dickens, were “profoundly thankful the said children and not ourselves, were thus tortured.” Her second selection was the history of a pair of baby shoes which had been placed on the feet of 200 members of the Merritt family in the 147 years since they were made by one of the name. They have traveled through 7 states, and are now to be placed in a museum.

Annie M. Chandlee’s offering was verses from “The Bentztown Bard”’s ready pen, the first upon the linen shower for the Balto. Hosp., and the second of Druid Hill Park as the children who frolic there must view it in future years.

Mary M. Thomas gave a story which seemed to prove that instantaneous obedience might be exacted too strenuously from children, - if a small boy was not permitted to tell why he did not want to shut the trap-door to a sort of roof-garden, his

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mother should have been held responsible for the fact that “poor old Aunt Mary was out in a terrific storm.”

Corrie M. Brooke told of the numbers of letters which come to the N. Y. P.O. addressed to Santa Claus, and how a kindly old gentleman had his sympathies aroused, and he bestirred himself to have them answered. A good many others volunteered assistance and the first year 600 requests were investigated, and in most cases granted. This year there were thousands, but more correspondents have been found and the work goes on –

Martha N. Vickers gave an amusing poem, “Just Her Luck”, and Sarah F. Willson ha a pithy article upon “The Uplift of Optimism”, which declared that the man who thinks the world full of good people and kindly blessings is much richer than he who thinks the contrary. You have your choice. If you would win anything, do anything or be anything, do not whine.”

The Sec’y brought a letter from her old friend, and teacher, Mary Coffin Brooke, now living in Metuchen, N. J. She told how her daughter Carrie, was managing a large mushroom hothouse, with help from an intelligent Italian. 200 lbs. are sometimes shipped in a single day. It is evident this old lady has had no mental failure, and Louisa T. Brooke informed us she has in the past year or two written her autobiography which will soon be published.

The Sec’y also gave the reply of Rebecca T. Miller to a toast, “Our School-girl Mothers”, given at the Fair Hill banquet for Phrenaskeia. We should be glad to quote in full, but must be content with the last paragraph. “By every lesson learned by our school-girl mothers, by every difficulty they overcame, by every good influence the F. H. School exerted on them, we have profited. For all these have helped in developing into the women we know, - the girls we never knew, but whom we love and honor in our hearts, - out school-girl mothers.” Sarah T. Miller made a motion 2nd by M. G. T. Moore, that a Comm. on Membership be appointed. After a brief consideration of the subject she withdrew the motion.

Adjourned to Ingleside 3-2-1916 – Mary Bentley Thomas Sec’y.