SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL FEATURES 299 



In the constitution which was adopted by the National Grange 

 at its sixth session, in January, 1873, one section provided that 

 " Any member found guilty of wanton cruelty to animals shall 

 be expelled from the order." Later in the same session a resolu- 

 tion was adopted expressing the intention of the order to cooper- 

 ate with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 

 carrying out the humane principles of that association. Kind- 

 ness to animals thus became one of the lessons of the order and 

 was occasionally emphasized by resolutions of state and local 

 granges. 1 Other lessons said to have been inculcated by the ritual 

 and otherwise are orderliness, industry, thrift, and economy. 

 The order was declared to be the uncompromising foe of care- 

 lessness and disorder, idleness and vice. That greater attention 

 to the care of farm machinery, the condition of the farm and 

 house, and even to the dress and general appearance of the 

 members themselves, was often the result of the establishment of 

 a grange in a community, has been claimed and is probably true. 2 



The subject of women's suffrage naturally attracted the 

 attention of the first order to admit women to full and equal 

 membership; but in this particular, at least, the Grange showed 

 itself to be conservative, and resolutions favoring it were gen- 

 erally frowned down when they made their appearance in the 

 national and state granges. 3 In 1875 a " Woman's Dress Reform 

 Movement " caught the attention of the National Grange for 

 a time. " Sister " Garretson of Iowa addressed the Grange in 

 advocacy of the movement and the subject was " referred to a 

 special committee consisting of all the sisters entitled to vote in 

 the body." The committee does not appear to have made a 

 report, and nothing further was heard of this movement. 4 



At the eighth session of the National Grange in February, 

 1875, the Washington National Monument Association appealed 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, vi. 27 (1873); Virginia State Grange, Proceed- 

 ings, i. 7, 28 (December, 1873). 



2 Mississippi State Grange, Proceedings, v (1875); Martin, Grange Movement, 

 465; Aiken, The Grange, 10. 



3 National Grange, Proceedings, x. 94, 96, 121, 169-171 (1876). See also above, 

 p. 121. 



4 National Grange, Proceedings, ix. 53 (November, 1875). 



