Winter Meeting. _ 247 



takes a piece of wood the same size and makes it into a piece of 

 furniture. The dead wood passes out of memory, but the living 

 tree brings love. 



CIVICS AND SCHOOL GARDENS. 



( By Mrs. W. K. James, President Missouri Federation of Women's CHubs, St. Joseph, Mo.) 



The fact that women, representatives of women's organiza- 

 tions, have been asked to speak before this Society, shows plainly 

 the trend of modern thought and feeling. We are learning that it 

 is worth while to look at subjects from different points of view. 



Years ago people were held together by the bond of similarity 

 of beliefs, of views, of traditions ; but today the lines are far less 

 sharply drawn. We realize that those who differ from us may still 

 see some part of the truth, that we may all be striving for the same 

 ends while taking different paths. A century ago a Congress of 

 Religions would have been impossible, for the dearer to us, the 

 more sacred, the belief, the more zealously it was guarded, the 

 more relentlessly all those who differed, even in part, were shut 

 out of the sanctuary. 



Even fifty years ago women would not have been asked to 

 come to you as we have come, and yet it is worth while to have the 

 woman's point of view. 



No one of us, no class, can grasp much of any truth. We can 

 only see a little, that which concerns us most, and as we live up 

 to what we know, the larger sight grows in us ; but when we come 

 together, each bringing his contribution, each showing his own 

 side of the light, when, putting aside trivial, personal details, we try 

 to appreciate the truth the other sees, we come a step nearer 

 grasping the whole. 



Some one has said, "Man and woman can only walk together 

 by taking different paths." We believe that, but we know that some- 

 times the paths are so near that they can join in a common effort 

 for the common good. 



Whatever woman's work may be, whatever her interests, the 

 standpoint from which she considers every question must be that 

 of the home. Her sight is no less clear and true because she looks 

 through the home window, but she does see all things in their re- 

 lation to it. When we think of the importance of the home to the 

 State, of how largely the child is in the woman's hands, we cannot 

 but see what a vital matter is her opinion, her influence. 



