USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. II > Part 25
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states. John Bright said that 'Agitation is but the marshaling of a nation's conscience to right its laws.' And a United States Senator from Kansas put the point pithily in a speech: ‘At the dawn of the twentieth century the United States will be governed by the people that live in them. When that good time comes, women will vote and men quit drinking.'"
The Chicago Inter-Ocean thus comments upon women's clubs : "There is something impressive in the fact of a federation of two hundred women's clubs, numbering a membership of 30,000, representing the manifold interests of the home, of philanthropy, of reform, of education, of art and literature, of science and philosophy, and there is something inspiringly beautiful in the spectacle of numerous delegates from these many clubs brought together by moral, intellectual and social affinities, or to confer with each other, and to strengthen, by their united sympathies, the influences of the woman's movement, that is one of the glories of the century."
Regarding American women in trade the daily press is a constant recorder of their achievements. Over three million women are earning independent incomes in the United States. Three thousand five hundred patents have been granted to women. Six thousand women act as postmistresses in the United States. In one year, the forty Women's Exchanges in the country showed a grand aggregate of $1,000,000 from sales during the year.
Regarding woman's advance in all directions in business, especially in the city of Chicago, a recent editor sums it up in the following rather sarcastic but amusing manner:
"The newest item of all to the rural or semi-rural visitor is the field into which women have entered, for the living-earning woman is a new creature in this world, who in a manner defies
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all instinct and tradition. How many thousands of her there may be here the writer does not know, but she is everywhere. The vast emporiums of trade, at the size and business and extent of which the oldest resident can never cease to wonder, are full of her. Where the clang of falling iron resounds all day long, where endless wheels dizzily and ceaselessly turn, she has her corner. In the crowded world she can no longer wait. Wind and storm must no longer delay her. Time must be to her now as it is to man. She has entered into the contest by tens of thousands. Age, misfortune, widowhood have noth- ing to do with it. And how does it affect her? Not at all. Here, then, oh stranger from green fields and umbrageous woods, is the strangest puzzle of all the city offers you. We have un- sexed the woman to whom you will offer your seat in the crowded car. It is still she whose face is unsmirched by the glare of publicity, and to whom daintiness and femininity remain as ever. You may as well confess, in your hours of calm re- flection, that Chicago and her streets and marts have taught you one more lesson, given you one new item, about that in- comprehensible creature who is your mother, your sister and your wife, but whom you will never entirely comprehend, should you live a thousand years."
The American girl of '94 embodies the best attributes of a century of American types. She has the pretty demureness of the Puritan maiden and the patriotism of the belle of Bunker Hill. She has the softness of the Florida flower, the deftness of the Yankee girl, the fearlessness and buoyant strength of the pioneer's daughter, and the imagination of the Red Rose of the Rockies, when Indian maidens were lovely Minnehahas. And withal, this girl of '94 has the independence which is not boldness, the culture which is not pedantry, the attainments
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which are not smatterings, the self-poise which is not vanity, the truthfulness which is not bluntness, the breeziness which is not brusqueness, the beauty which is not ill-health, the mod- esty which is not prudery, the benevolence which is not lip- service, the simplicity which is not inanity, the self-respect which is not pride, the dignity which is not haughtiness, the exclusiveness which is not snobbishness, the coolness which is not indifference, the cordiality which is not gushing, the faith which is not credulity, and the practical religion which is not hypocritical cant. Taken all in all, this typical American girl of '94, is the daintiest, brightest, most lovable bit of humanity of all of Eve's fair daughters. She is the living proof of the marvelous advancement of women, and the hopeful prophecy of her increasing possibilities and powers. Noting with grati- fied amazement the onward push of the American women of today, a homely little story by the well-known Olympia Brown, may be allowed here in illustration of the woman question: "A crate of puppies was standing in a baggage-room of a railway station. A traveller observed them with some interest, and fin- ally inquired where they were going. 'That's the question of it,' replied an employe, eyeing them critically; 'I dunno where they're goin', nobody don't know where they're goin', the pup- pies themselves dunno where they're goin', cause they've dun et up their directions.'"
But the progressive American woman needs one word of caution. A writer in the Atlantic thus forcefully noted one danger: "The American girl will wear her life out in working for the man she loves. She forgets all about being for him in that merciless energy which always drives her into doing for him. While the professors at Harvard are rejoicing over some girl who can take in their philosophies or their mathematics,
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the newspaper editor sings the praises of her who can roast a turkey, bake bread, or make her own dresses. Neither gives the poor girl any chance to exist, but only to work with either hand or brain. Occupy yourselves steadfastly, but without strain, without hurry, and without emulation. As the Apostle said (and it must have been meant expressly for Americans), 'avoid emulation.' Find out first what you can do best, and even if it does not come up to somebody else's standard, learn to content yourself with that."
This writer surely gives a timely word of warning, and we might perchance fasten it a little more firmly in our memories if thrown into the form of a jingle:
We're all in a national doing craze; A social cyclone, a mental maze; We rush here and there with mad, headlong speed; Electrical motors scarce meet our need; Engagements press on from morning till night, And meet us still with the dawning light.
We devour new books, by tons, as to weight; We span the globe at a fearful rate; We crane our necks to the distant stars, We do up Jupiter, fight over Mars; We pile up millions and buy up the earth, Then charter the Universe, date its birth; Measure the spaces, and weigh the clouds; Peer through the future's dim misty shrouds ! Sail down on a comet to roast a pig. Discuss a gown, or try on a wig.
The problems of ages we set in array For some Chit-Chat Club to solve in a day, We do with a vengeance from morning till night; Perchance when this craze has passed out of sight, We shall find mental gains to nothingness sink; In doing so hard, we've had no time to think. The moral from this let us all wisely learn; Only being gains that which true characters earn; All doing must cease at the Pearly Gates, He wins Heaven's Being who loves and waits.
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But another caution may not be out of place. We are no longer met by protests picturing domestic confusion, conse- quent upon woman's advancement, in the grotesque prophecies of a score of years ago, when it was suggested in tones of ap- pealing conservatism, that woman's emancipation would neces- sitate domestic cyclones, consequent upon Bridget's excitedly throwing the half-dressed chicken into one corner, and the half- peeled potatoes into another, leaving her bread burning in the oven, and with sleeves rolled to the elbow, grasping with frantic haste her shawl and bonnet and rushing to the polls to cast her vote for the next President; and fathers, meanwhile, must rock the cradles and darn the family stockings, while mothers heroically marched to the ballot box to deposit their tickets.
But we have been so dazzled for a time with Woman, with a big "W", that the desire of that member of a celebrated lit- erary club, who declared: "By this time we ought to be there if we are ever to arrive; I am half sick of womanhood! I want to be a human being," bids fair to be fully realized. Put your- self in his place, when, notwithstanding his weariness after a day of perplexing business cares, he rises politely and unselfish- ly in a street car and offers a seat to the being belonging to the big W, who, on entering, stares with self-asserting bold- ness around the car, and with disdainful nose high in the air, sinks into the offered seat without one word or look of thanks, but with a supercilious manner of implied disgust that he should even have dared to occupy the seat for an instant in her im- perial presence. The individual, even though of the feminine gender, who has not the decency to say, "thank you," scarcely deserves the very smallest "w" that can be found in type, to designate her place in the human race; for she is a disgrace to the women who have earned the big "W," even though her
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bank account reaches the millions, and her photograph is num- bered among those of the national beauties.
Put yourself in his place, when he fondly dreams that he has found his ideal woman in the fair girl whom he admires with half-worshipful adoration, but who, after playing the coquette as long as it suits her selfish pleasure, rejects his honest love with a mocking smile, and goes on her heartless way to embitter the lives of others.
Put yourself in his place, and recognize the chivalrous courtesy which the advancing woman meets in every avenue where she has shown her ability and skill. Let her not squan- der, like the nouveau riche, with ignorant and lavish extrava- gance, her golden hoard of man-conceded equality of rights, in impracticable investments of time and labor, nor receive with selfish arrogance his genuine acknowledgment of her success- ful efforts. Let her often put herself in his place, that she may with equal generosity appreciate his chivalry, and that she may beware, lest, in her onward rush, she becomes the iconoclast of those lovely ideals of womanhood which noble men have always enshrined in their hearts as objects of their most devoted adoration.
THE PROVINCE OF ART IN GREATER CLEVELAND
Response to a Toast Given at Annual Banquet of Sorosis, April 30, 1894, by Prof. Chas. F. Olney Mrs. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Since receiving the honor of being invited to respond to the sentiment just named by the fair Toast Mistress at the Annual Banquet of this famed organization, I have visited Greater Cleveland on the wings of imagination, and returned with bright memories of a city almost rivaling our brightest
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visions of the Golden City. Although I am expected to con- fine my remarks mainly to the sphere of art in Greater Cleve- land, I deem it probable that you will be happy to know some- thing of her other charms, and I therefore sketch a few pen pictures reflecting the public sentiment and presenting some of the attractive features of that not far away city.
Somewhat to my astonishment and greatly to my pleasure, I found that most of the undesirable land-marks of old Cleve- land have passed away. The hideous, uncared-for sand-bluffs of the West and South Sides, the dingy Union Depot smoke house, the unsightly lake front, etc., etc., are gone, and in their places flowery slopes, model railway stations, substantial quays, etc., etc., impress the eye of the stranger and meet the require- ments of public tastes and convenience.
Though the boundaries of Greater Cleveland are greatly enlarged, embracing as they now do all the towns within a radius of twenty-five miles from the Sorosis headquarters, thus affording exceptional municipal advantages to more than a mil- lion people, her greatness is not limited to area, but she is great, truly great, in all the elements that afford happiness and pros- perity to her inhabitants.
It is perhaps natural that my attention was early called to the pure atmospheric conditions of the great city. No longer are the breezes of heaven, the beneficent messengers of life and health, charged with poison and hurled upon both the innocent and the guilty, defacing, defiling, begriming, destroying; but faithful to their mission, they go about doing good and fill the soul with cheer. How much more sunlight means to the people of Greater Cleveland than to us. Their sunshine is not filtered through carbon.
Inspecting certain power-houses, manufactories, rolling
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mills, etc., in the greater city, I was pleased to find devices, the conscientious use of which permit the use of soft coal with- out the violation of the spirit of the precious Golden Rule. Said one of the officials to me, "The time was when smudge clouds covered our city like a pall. Public and private property was wantonly sacrificed and discomfort reigned. Disease and death came, borne on the wings of the destroying angel; but, at last, public spirit could bear the disgrace no longer. The entire community resolved itself into a vigilance committee, and you see the result." I thanked him for his earnest words and strolled into one of the parks, which was a revelation of rare beauty. No blighting smudge-blasts destroying the foliage of Greater Cleveland, every tree, shrub and flower, suited to the climate, is found in her beautiful parks and gardens. Nature is at her best. Under the supervision of a competent Park and Boule- vard Commission the various sections of the city are brought within easy access of each other, and a comprehensive system of parks and boulevards and avenues utilizing every natural feature is the pride of all the people, and to none are the changed conditions a greater blessing than to the poor. The paved roads and walks are equal to the best that France, Switzerland, Germany and England can exhibit, and it afforded me peculiar pleasure to see the "grand boulevards" dedicated as recreation grounds free from commercial traffic to the whole people.
As I flew from point to point in my electric coach, and noticed how the dangers of travel have been minimized, the city railroads occupying an enclosed greensward, and elevated roads and tunnels relieving crowded thoroughfares, I thought of our Superior street, Prospect street, etc., and wondered.
The water supply of Greater Cleveland is free from defile- ments, the mere mention of which brings the crimson of reproach
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to our cheeks. Lake Erie, crystal, generous, perennial, washes her shores as it reaches us, but it is permitted to leave the city as pure as it comes. The Cuyahoga-no longer a pool of cor- ruption-flows into the lake as clear and pearly as when born on yonder Buckeye hills. Fish frolic once more in its puri- fied depth and reward the angler, and the picturesque stream is again one of the attractive pleasure resorts of the people. Its channel being widened, yachts move hither and thither during the summer season, and, within the greatly extended breakwater repose the merchantmen of the lakes. The flats are no longer dedicated to lumber yards and saw mills but in their places extensive basins and docks accommodate the com- merce of the metropolis of the inland oceans. The cremation of garbage and the entire sewerage of the city solves many puzzling problems in sanitary ethics, and removes one of the greatest evils and dangers associated with municipal life.
It gladdened my heart to ascertain that the officials of Greater Cleveland abjure partisan politics, and devote their entire attention to the promotion of the public welfare. In- temperance is almost unknown. Inquiring of the Mayor at the magnificent City Hall, through what agency the great reforms were accomplished, he replied, "Through the influence of women at the polls. Woman," said this noble type of public official, "is the natural ally of man in the reformation of society. The lords of creation studied certain sociological problems nearly 2,000 years without success. Men and women have now solved them. Not a saloon can be found in Greater Cleveland, and our young men have learned that life means more than loafing, profanity and tobacco. Visit our libraries, lecture halls, pic- ture galleries and museums, and see what a beneficent influ- ence they exert upon the intellectual and social life of the
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entire population. Our amusements are all of a high order, and no longer is it necessary for a parent to insure the life of his son before he engages in athletic sports," etc. I left the Mayor, thankful for the inspiring interview.
Though the schools of our city are among the best in the world, medals having been bestowed upon them at both the Centennial and Columbian Exhibitions, the schools of Greater Cleveland are placed beyond the reach of partisan politics, and therefore the feeling of unrest which characterizes our present educational system is there unknown. The sphere of the true teacher, so important and highly appreciated here, is there invested with even a higher potency, all agreeing that the entire social fabric rests upon foundations laid by educators. Therefore, when incapacitated by reason of long and faithful service to the state, the commonwealth pensions them for life, no military or other service equaling in importance that ren- dered by progressive teachers.
It will not surprise you to hear that religious bigotry and sectarian differences are rarely felt in Greater Cleveland, the Master's spirit having leavened the whole lump. "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" has settled all dispute between em- ployer and employee, labor and capital, and society is emanci- pated from industrial ills. No Coxeyism or anarchism there disturbs. The principles of Christianity, properly applied, solve all human problems.
It may be safely assumed that in a city occupying the proud position of Greater Cleveland, art is a potent factor. No one can enter her ample borders without abundant evidence that the spirit of the fine arts has taken full possession. Good taste is seen on either hand. Harmony reigns, and the great city seems to illustrate the highest municipal possibilities. Given a proper public spirit, freedom from partisan politics, a due ap-
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preciation of the influence of art, definite plans on the part of the officials for the elevation of the public tastes and the promotion of virtue, why should not examples of the blessings of popular government be greatly multiplied?
Standing in one of the finest neighborhoods of Greater Cleveland, on a site seemingly designated by nature for such a beautiful Greek Temple, I found the famed Kelley Art Gal- lery-no longer a "Castle in the Air," something to be still hoped and prayed for, but a delightful reality. I mingled with the happy crowd who surged along the well-shaded avenues leading to the spacious entrances, and was soon standing with hundreds of other art lovers viewing the treasures in the main hall. As I looked and enjoyed the masterpieces on canvas and in bronze and marble, the uplifting power of genius was em- phasized as never before. Throngs of men and women, cap- tivated by the magic touch of the master, often stood like stat- ues before a single canvas upon which was depicted so truth- fully some notable landscape, some great event, some touching human experience, something that appeals directly to each hu- man heart. Passing from room to room, the same evidence of interest was seen and felt, and on leaving the temple, I thanked heaven for the beneficent influences of the fine arts, which, like sunlight upon the waiting earth, cheer and illumine the aspiring soul. It was also my pleasure to visit other art galleries in this great city, and to become acquainted with some of the lead- ing artists, who, believing with Pope, that "All nature is but art," are doing their part to create in the minds of the people of Greater Cleveland "a greater reverence for what is pure and noble-a reverence for all that is gracious among the liv- ing, great among the dead, and marvelous in the powers that cannot die."
My dear friends, do you longer doubt the sphere of Art in Greater Cleveland?
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UNITY IN CHRISTIAN WORK Address at Sorosis Banquet, by Mrs. Clara T. Pomeroy, April 30, 1894
My subject, as assigned, takes properly for granted that there will be work wherever there is anything Christian. This is what might reasonably be expected. If God has always been working, and Christ, too, as he said they had-the fashion is well set for all who follow them-work is Godlike. Indolence and selfish grasping have no place in the list of Christian graces. Our Maker wanted no loungers, even in Eden. The first thing God did after creating Adam was to put work into his hands. The record says, he put man in the garden to dress it and keep it. We may be sure that when Eve came upon the stage she helped him in some way, as she has been doing ever since. Then, too, the idea of work is further narrowed down to Christian work. Not the selfish efforts of mere self- support, of money-making greed, or business ambitions, or scientific struggle, or professional devotion-work that has been turned over to every good man and woman on earth to help make mankind better, souls holier, minds wiser, homes happier. The Christian church has been largely constructed upon that basis, like its Master, not to be ministered to but to minister to others. This is the theoretical idea. We shall all hang our heads when we have to confess how far the reality comes short. No other motives than Christian ones reach, as a rule, the springs of unselfish action towards humanity. Wipe out the churches with their hallowed worship, their supernatural truths and facts, their motives of obedience and gratitude heaven- ward, and you wipe out nine-tenths of the benevolent efficien- cies on earth. This was what Christianity was for in all its great purposes. So far and so fast as people were evangel-
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ized they were to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, the leaven for the lump. But not at all for themselves alone. The light must strike something. The salt must enter the food, or it might as well as not have lost its savor. The yeast must not be in a separate bowl from the meal. However strong it may be, it is wasted there. Contact is essential, if good is going to overcome evil. You must mix it somehow with what you would influence.
Jesus loved His disciples, but He would not ask that they be taken out of the world. There was just the place for them. In spite of all the wickedness and vexation and social abomina- tions and private sins in it, there they were to stay-not mere passive witnesses who did nothing but protest. But as people who represented a mighty active principle of grace and good- ness that in time was going to revolutionize all this; people who were to use themselves, by example, by speech, by gift, as men would launch a life-boat through the surf to save the wrecked. Such brave fellows would not be thinking of them- selves as they put their muscle to the oars. They would be thinking of the suffering ones whose forms are tied fast among the rigging and whose lessening cries for help ring through the storm. The real spirit of Christian work is of the self- denying sort like that. The power and glory of it are not self-denying sort like that. The power and glory of it are not in selfish enjoyment, or stately decorum, or orthodox precision, or stagnant respectability, but in talents devoted, wealth con- secrated, powerful to work for the world's salvation, the cure of its evils, the quickening of public virtue. Christianity is for the world, whether the world be against it or for it.
Now, it is work of this description, around which the ques- tion of unity arises. What does such a thing mean in that con-
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nection? Is it possible? Is it wise and worthy? When Christ started His following among men, He began not with one dis- ciple but with two. Christianity commenced in human com- radeship, accepting divine friendship. Christianity is social by necessity.
Robinson Crusoe on his desert island may be a Christian, but he cannot be a whole developed Christian without, at least, his man Friday. The Christian work begins, helping to gather from all ages and climes, the perfect society of the kingdom of heaven. Occupying your pew and letting the rest of man- kind find God and hope if they can, is not the Christianity of Christ. It only needs to remember the deepest relationships of Christians, to impress the fact of unseen ties that bind them to each other.
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