woman's auxiliary. 103 



attendance, hence worked to devise means that should bring 

 them out to these gatherings. Possibly the auxiliary member- 

 ship is not as large as it would have been had its objects, as well 

 as the circumstances under which it came into life, been more 

 fully and generally understood by our women. 



The Woman's Auxiliary was organized because the Dairy- 

 men's Association thought it would be a benefit to all. Perhaps 

 the lack of missionary work by our members among their stay- 

 at-home neighbors and friends has lessened materially the inter- 

 est in these meetings which was hoped for. However, in some 

 ways it has been a success. It has been an established fact that 

 the dairyman and farmer can more successfully carry on his busi- 

 ness after this little vacation and opportunity for exchange of 

 thought. If this is a profitable season for the farmer will it not 

 be for the farmer's wife ? The world is a book and the woman 

 who never leaves home seldom reads more than one page of it. It 

 is an association that stimulates thought and broadens the vision. 

 It can not be said that women as a class are less womanly because 

 they have in the last quarter of this wonderful century been tak- 

 ing a wider outlook and been more active ona" ways and means 

 committee" for home interests than formerly. 'It is not all of 

 life to live. " If we would meet the approval of our own conscience 

 and by and by hear the ' 'well done' ' which we wish to, we must not 

 only live, but live well our allotted time. New England women,. 

 Vermont women must be in the front ranks of the onward march. 

 It has been said that a nation can never rise above its mother- 

 hood. Is it possible for State or town to do so ? Do we often find a 

 home where the moral and spiritual atmosphere is on a higher 

 plane than that which is daily diffused by the mother. 



Vermont was the first State to have a daymen's association 

 and Vermont dairymen were the first to ask for an auxiliary, and 

 I believe there is work for us as an auxiliary to do. 



The thought which our secretary expressed last evening, re- 

 lative to the teaching of a course in domestic science in our schools 

 is a good one, and to bring such a course into the school curri- 

 culum of our State is an object worthy our best effort. We women 

 should also work to create public sentiment against licensed 

 saloons, for our legislature meets again in two years. I wish we 

 might have more aggressive work against cigarette smoking. 

 Much is said and written these days about educating the boys and 

 girls and this is well, but we women, especially those of us who 

 live on the farms should try to keep in touch with the spirit of 

 progress. This has been a century of development and evolu- 

 tion. Fifty years ago causes and effects of every day occurence 

 were as mysterious and unknown as the Greek alphabet. Hygiene, 

 sanitation, microbes, parasites and germs were then considered 

 even-by the M. D. as having very little practical relation to life. 



