FAKMEES' INSTITUTES. 621 



WOMAN'S CONFERENCE. 



A Conference of Women Institute Workers was held at Purdue Uni- 

 versity, Lafayette, Indiana, August 16, 1901. This Conference was in- 

 formal in character. The following are the subjects considered by the 

 Conference: 



PROGRAM. 



10:00 a. m.— Needs of Farmers' Wives and Daughters. 



2:00 p. m.— What Can be Done for the Women of the Country: 



(a) By Farmers' Institutes. 



(b) By the Agricultural College. 

 Women's Auxiliaries— 



(a) What they may accomplish. 



(b) Their relations to Farmers' Institutes. 



(c) How they may be organized. 



8:00 p. m.— Address: The Education of the Home-maker, by Mrs. Vir- 

 ginia C. Meredith, Cambridge City, Ind., Professor Home Economics 

 University Minnesota. 



Discussion. 



Adjournment. 



Those in attendance showed a keen interest in the sulijects set for 

 discussion. The time proved entirely too short for a full consideration 

 of the subject of Women's Auxiliaries of Farmers' Institutes. By vote 

 the Conference decided to recommend the organization of women's aux- 

 iliaries as a means of helping farmers' wives and daughters. There 

 was some difference of opinion as to the methods of conducting these 

 auxiliaries. Some believed that the women should hold separate sessions 

 for the discussion of topics of peculiar interest to fa-rmers' wives and 

 dafUghters. Others held the view that unless it Avas necessary to divide 

 the audience to accommodate the crowd, it would be better for the men 

 and women to meet together, the latter taking charge of certain of the 

 general sessions of the Farmers' Institutes. A very general desire was 

 expressed for the employment of an Instructor in Domestic Science to 

 discuss at Farmers' Institutes subjects in the line of homemaking, house- 

 hold management and domestic economy. 



The evening session was thrown open to the public in order that all 

 who desired might have the opportunity of hearing Mrs. Virginia C. Mere- 

 dith, Professor of Home E'conomics in the University of Minnesota. Mrs. 

 Meredith's address on the "Education of the Home-maker" was thought- 

 ful, eminently practical, and very admirable, both in matter and in 

 method of treatment. 



Twenty-one counties Avere represented by this conference. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of the ladies attending: 



