The Bulletin. 55 



The greatest difficulty with us in all of our work, perhaps, is that our efforts, 

 in the main, are too spasmodic. Nothing counts in this old world like a strong, 

 steady stroke. I admit that ignorance is a close second. We often fail to do 

 because we do not know what to strike with nor where to strike. This, I feel, 

 is not far from the condition of the women of the rural districts generally as 

 regards this institute work. It appears to us such an indefinite something of 

 which we do not know how to take hold. 



If this work appeals to this meeting as worth doing, I believe that we should 

 not go to our homes until some definite plan is suggested and approved for the 

 benefit of the scattered workers over our State, who would do something if 

 they knew how to begin. 



Section 4140 of the public school law reads as follows : "The county superin- 

 tendent shall each year hold not less than one teachers' meeting in each town- 

 ship, which the teachers shall be required to attend. If necessary, one school 

 day must be set apart for this purpose." I do not know whether this provision 

 is generally carried out or not, but it certainly was intended to be, and ought 

 to be. 



Now, in connection with the above, this is my suggestion : That the Woman's 

 Institute, wherever there is an organization or an interested woman, ask the 

 county superintendent for a share in the time of the teachers' meeting in its or 

 her respective township, and aid in arranging for the meeting. With a live 

 program and a good social time together, the day might be made one of mutual 

 helpfulness and an encouragement and recreation all around. In course of 

 time the occasion might become one of broader significance. These meetings 

 would not be hard to arrange, and, I feel sure, would be well worth the trouble. 



Anyway, we must get the unit nearer home. We must somehow get the 

 women of the country, for whom the organization exists primarily, in touch 

 with the work, or it will fail in its purpose. This cannot be done in a day, but 

 it can be done in time, and it must be done. All reforms come slowly, but they 

 come at last. 



