14:2 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



And then the club ought to be and generally is a place in which to 

 receive uplifting insjiiration. The trouble with most of us is that victuals 

 and drink are the chief of our diet, and our minds and souls starve, our 

 minds perhaps even more than our souls. Now at this point I realize 

 the limitations of org:anization. I realize that no club can make up for 

 individual scholarship and culture, that the most that can be done is to 

 offer mere stimulation. There is a phrase I am fond of quoting to myself 

 in my own special work. "The teacher can only ring the rising bell in 

 the dormitory of the soul." But granted that this is all and if some new 

 thought or ideal awaken and rise to new life and service, isn't it some- 

 thing to be glad of always that one was allowed to ring the bell. And 

 isn't it a blessed something to give to others the result of our own indi- 

 vidual labor, and to receive the result of theirs. It is truly more blessed 

 to give, but that's not saying that there is no blessing in receiving. 



So to me, the case for women's clubs lies in their furnishing ground 

 for the cultivation of special virtues, the abolishing of caste and prejudice, 

 the rendering service to our ideal needs. We may not change the general 

 course of the world very perceptibly, we may have to meet the sneer 

 that so far the woman's movement has produced no great specialist or 

 towering genius, but after all the world does not need the great special- 

 ist or towering genius, nearly as much as it needs "the quiet faithful 

 work of numbers of apparently commonplace people, who unnoticed are 

 moulding it into better ways." 



And now I would like to tell you why, to us who are interested, our 

 own special organization seems to have a certain qualification for the 

 needs of certain conditions. 



oi:r club, 



the Woman's Country Club of Lapeer, is essentially a social one; its prime 

 object is the cultivation of acquaintance between women in the town, and 

 those living in the country. And for this purpose we meet once a week 

 to enjo}^ a pleasant hour together. We have the least possible machinery 

 of organization for the best possible results, I think. We have the usual 

 officers, president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, and six other 

 ladies are elected to act with these officers as an executive committee. 

 All matters pertaining to the welfare of the society are discussed and 

 acted upon by the committee and their action is approved by the society 

 before being carried out. We find that this economizes time and friction 

 and gives us more of our precious hour for matters of more general in- 

 terest. The general officers and this committee are elected for a year, 

 and we have, besides, two committees, one on program, the other known 

 as the social committee, each consisting of three members. These are 

 elected every three months. It is the duty of the program committee to 

 furnish some entertainment for every meeting, except the first one of each 

 month, which is the special care of the social committee. This committee 

 is allowed a dollar a month out of the treasury, and they furnish such 

 light refreshments as they can for this amount. They also furnish the 

 feast of reason which is perhaps on the whole less formal than on other 

 days. National holidays are often observed on this social day. The 

 program committee has, perhaps, the hardest work, but they have the 

 advantage of being hampered by no plan of study, and of being able 



