90 



MANILA DAILY BULLETIN 



The Woman 's Club of Manila 



Miss Bessie c/1. Dvoyer 



They called it "The Society for the Ad- 

 vancement of Women," and its members 

 smiled at the name. Some of them had al- 

 ready advanced sufficiently to do business 

 in their own name, some were women with 

 professional degrees, a few voted in their 

 home States: all were representative of the 

 best mentality of the feminine part of Mani- 

 la's nationals. 



Why then the anachronism? Because 

 women are aware of the conservatism of men, 

 and with that sweet art which has ever won 

 its way to things supernal, deemed it wise to 

 have a decent regard for the opinion of man- 

 kind especially in the Orient. 



Carrie Chapman Catt, returning from a 

 trip to lotus lands, slipped into Manila for 

 a few days. She is not a woman given to 

 viewing sunsets and mooning about old 

 churches. Life is brief and Mrs. Catt had 

 something worth while to accomplish. She 

 called a meeting of women at the Manila 

 Hotel, August 15, 1912. It was fitting that 

 it should be at the Manila Hotel; for the hotel 

 stands upon made ground, land rescued from 

 the sea by the genius of American engineers. 





MRS. CONCKPCION F. CALDERON, VICE-PRESIDENT AND 



TREASURER, CHARTER MEMBER AND ONE OF THE MOST 



ACTIVE WORKERS OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB 



MRS. C. S. I.ORINGIER, FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT 

 OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB 



The women who met in that conference were 

 builders too; they planned to rear a new 

 cult of sex loyalty and progressive civic 

 development, to recognize the spirit of re- 

 ligion while discarding its livery; to unite 

 in one organization all creeds, all races and 

 adopt as their watchword the ideal of public 

 service for the common good. 



There were twelve of them. (It may be 

 remembered that there were twelve apostles 

 of the risen Christ and that they rocked the 

 earth.) So the Society for the Advancement 

 of Women was formally launched. 



Meantime, Mrs. Charles S. Lobingier, 

 an experienced Club woman, rapped more 

 than thirty women to order on the 29th of 

 the same month, and it was evident that Mrs. 

 Lobingier and her gavel were intent upon 

 immediate business. A committee on Con- 

 stitution and By-laws was appointed. Like- 

 wise, it was decided to found a Day Nursery. 

 To accomplish this, funds were necessary and 

 the treasurer could write the total receipts 

 of the society without spraining her hand. 

 Whereupon the ladies deployed and captured 

 the trenches in short order. In other words 

 they put on their fripperies and went out for 

 donations to start that Day Nursery. It 

 is a tradition in the Club that the wife of 

 a prominent Army officer was caught washing 

 windows in the new nursery, in her eager- 

 ness to get things under way, while astounded 

 house boys stood watching, opened mouth. 



The first year put the Day Nursery to 

 successful test, and thereafter one each year 

 was established. They have become a 



Manila institution and are located in the 

 thickly populated native districts. 



Having sped its initial bolt and run up the 

 victory flag, the women re-organized. The 

 organization became a legally incorporated 

 entity under the name of The Woman's 

 Club of Manila. Meantime, Mrs. Lobingier, 

 summoned to America, turned over the 

 presidency to Mrs. L. B. Arnold, an army 

 woman. Mrs. Arnold was not the only one. 

 She found that to call the roll is to sound 

 the name of practically every woman living 

 at Military Plaza, or Ft. McKinley and not 

 a few across the bay at Corregidor and Cavi- 

 te. In fact, the army woman espoused the 

 Club and accepted service on its committees 

 or in its ranks with enthusiasm, completely 

 refuting the idea that she is wholly absorbed 

 by the interests of her caste. 



This administration saw the establishment 

 of a woman's flower market, entirely run by 

 Filipina women, close to the famous Bridge 

 of Spain. It is a financial success but the 

 club receives no profit whatever from it. 

 Mrs. I. W. Littell succeeded to the acting 

 presidency, and under her gracious direction, 



MRS. GAI.ICANO APACIBLE, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT 

 OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB 



