A WORD FROM MRS< WILLIAMS 



MRS. Lydia Adams-Williams, the 

 writer and lecturer on conserva- 

 tion, and the first woman to take 

 up this work, says : 



"From time immemorial when any 

 great Avork is to be accomplished — any 

 achievement which vitally concerns the 

 life and welfare of humanity, any uplift 

 of the children of men in the home or 

 in the broader field, the world — to 

 woman's integrity, resourcefulness, 

 genius, and capacity for endurance has 

 the final triumph been due. 



"To Isabella of Spain, to her intui- 

 tive grasp of a great idea, to her fore- 

 sight and her divine sympathy the 

 world is indebted for the discovery of 

 a great continent, for the civilization 

 we enjoy to-day and for the great 

 wealth of resources, the development of 

 which has made us the most powerful 

 nation on the face of the earth. 



"As it was the intuitive foresight of 

 a woman which brought the light of 

 civilization to a great continent, so, in 

 large measure, will it fall to woman, in 

 her power to educate public sentiment, 

 to save from complete exhaustion the 

 natural resources upon which depend 

 the welfare of the home, the children 

 and the children's children. 



'"Unless immediate, concerted and de- 

 termined action be taken by the women, 

 the forests will be gone and the watei 

 power with them ; the mothers and 

 housewives of the next generation who 

 will have to depend upon electricity 

 generated by water power for heating 



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and lighting their homes, for cooking 

 food and for other domestic purposes, 

 as well as for transportation, will face 

 a scarcity of natural resources and a 

 monopoly of what remains which will 

 threaten the comfort, the life, the very 

 existence, even, of those they love and 

 care for. 



"Let all women throughout the coun- 

 try who have at heart the interest of the 

 child and the economic welfare of the 

 home and the homes that will be made 

 by their children, immediately, before 

 it is too late, use their utmost efforts to 

 save the forests and to conserve the 

 natural resources. 



"Far-reaching results may be accom- 

 plished speedily by women educating 

 the men of their families to work for 

 conservation and to support those who 

 favor it. Then by inculcating in their 

 children the precepts of economy in re- 

 lation to natural resources, and by im- 

 pressing them with the unselfish aim 

 and the patriotic duty of elevating the 

 Nation to the highest plane of civiliza- 

 tion, the motherhood of the country, 

 in a single generation, may change the 

 entire sentiment of the Nation, and con- 

 vert this people from the most wasteful 

 and extravagant in the world to the 

 most prudent and conservative." 



In our news columns may be found 

 an interesting correspondence between 

 Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Fairbanks, 

 regarding the work of the Woman's 

 National Rivers and Harbors Congress. 



