125 



to aid the grange. In all granges she holds four of the 

 offices, and in some six, and the general comment is she 

 does her work in those offices as well or better than men. 



Mrs. Fred H. Bishop, of the Massachusetts Ploughman, 

 read the next paper and her subject was " The all around 

 woman.'' Mrs. Bishop evidently considered the " all 

 around woman " as one healthy and well developed physi- 

 cally and mentally, capable of following a profession if need 

 be, of participating in public affairs, of marrying wisely, or 

 in case she does not marry, of following a happy and use- 

 ful life in some profession or calling. The true man and 

 the true woman like the same thing, but like them different- 

 ly. The ideal woman is a reality to-day and is becoming 

 more so. She will choose her own course in life. Many 

 choose single lives for lofty reasons, that some of her mar- 

 ried sisters do not comprehend. But should she decide on 

 the '• highest relation " let her look carefully as to whether 

 she will chain herself to a block or a helper ; if she is free 

 from hereditary taint, and healthy, she will decide that she 

 wants to marry. In closing Mrs. Bishop spoke of the ad- 

 vance women are making. A century ago there were no 

 girls in the public schools, now they are not only admitted 

 in schools but in colleges on equal terms with boys and in 

 many callings and professions in life, women are on an 

 equal with men. 



The last paper of the forenoon was read by Miss Lizzie 

 Huntington, of Amesbury, whose subject was, " What the 

 farmer has done and may do to make home attractive'' 

 The ideal home, said the essayist, must be in the country, 

 and the tendency of the times is to devote more time and 

 money to the aesthetics of the home. The old times when 

 home ornamentation was not considered, have passed away 

 with the people who lived in those days, and here the essay- 

 ist drew a mental picture of the oldtime farmhouse kitchen 

 with the mantle on which rested two or three brass candle- 

 sticks, a row of flatirons, tobacco, pipes, and perhaps a 

 pitcher of cider, and from this she gradually presented the 



