186 WOMEN IN CANADA 



3. Women's Institutes do not work in a narrow 

 groove. The wonderful thing about them is that 

 rich and poor mingle together and work in perfect 

 harmony, and that people from town and country, 

 those who belong to all creeds and denominations, 

 are brought together. Many who formerly interested 

 themselves in some small church- aid work have 

 become members in order to avail themselves of a 

 wider scope for helpfulness. By co-operating with 

 Farmers' Institutes and Farmers' Clubs all social 

 gatherings, debates, and entertainments become 

 more effective and a wider, more masculine outlook 

 is obtained. The Farmers' Institute represents 

 everything connected with food production, and 

 the Women's Institute bears upon human welfare 

 as far as it concerns both old and young women ; 

 hence it will be seen that the combination of the 

 two classes of work covers much which relates to 

 rural life. 



Having in early days embraced only cooking, 

 housework, the physical welfare of the child, sanita- 

 tion, and those things that are included in bringing 

 up a f amity, the Women's Institutes have now 

 adopted " Home and Country " as their motto and 

 include in their discussions questions which relate 

 to community improvement and nation-building. 

 Starting with those things which bear upon the 

 child and its growing days, they now form a pro- 

 pelling force, not only to boys and girls, but also 

 to men and women. At their meetings all public 

 questions such as Civic Improvement, School In- 

 spection, the laws and by-laws which regulate the 

 morals and welfare of the community, are discussed. 



