■292 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
Now I wonder if I have spoken clearly 
-enough to be understood? If I have not, 
the greater the need of a new phone. If 
I have, it is largely due to the prospective 
invention of our toastrnaster, to whom, 
-and to the ladies and gentlemen present, 
I wish to express my hearty thanks for 
this instructive and entertaining evening. 
the; toastmaster, dr. beli, 
Japanese was the first foreign lan- 
guage spoken through the telephone, and 
Japan has itself supplied the instrument 
for translating Japanese thought into 
English — Dr. Nitobe. 
I am sorry to say we come now to the 
last speaker of the evening, one to whom 
we would like to listen for a very long 
time. We all have the interest of woman 
at heart, and who can speak so well on 
"the welfare of woman" as Mrs. John 
Hays Hammond, the President of the 
Women's Welfare Department of the 
^National Civic Federation. 
MRS. JOHN HAYS HAMMOND 
Mr. Toastrnaster, ladies and gentle- 
men: It seems a proper note to close this 
harmonious and splendid geographic 
dinner with the home note. I come to 
you the mother of grown sons, a woman 
who has known hardships, has suffered 
and who has lived. For this reason I 
feel that I have a right to speak to you 
of woman's work. 
By a natural evolution of life woman's 
work today extends far beyond the 
home. Not restlessness nor pampered 
idleness, but necessity has forced her to 
undertake such service as the work of 
the Women's Welfare Department, to 
protect her home. And where is her 
home? A noted educator said recently, 
in addressing a vast gathering of 
women's clubs : 
"If your children get into the juvenile 
■courts, then your home extends to that. 
When the child goes to school, the 
school becomes a part of your home. If 
the street before your house is dirty, 
then that is a part of your home con- 
cern. If the dairyman poisons your 
child by impure milk, then the inspectors 
•of dairies is a part of your home." 
In spite of the fact that we no longer 
brew nor bake, that our sick are turned 
over to trained experts, and our infants 
are brought up by formulas, the old home 
instinct, that God-given instinct is still 
burning in our hearts. Instead of our 
own household the whole human family 
now absorbs us. 
Gentlemen, we have outgrown our 
back yards ; the public highways and all 
the environment of a great city — its fac- 
tories, shops, and tenements — are logic- 
ally our present field of work. Into the 
dark corners of these places it is wo- 
man's keen eye which penetrates. It is 
woman's patient industry which is ready 
to sweep and make clean those spots 
which in the race of competition your 
man's haste has made you forget. 
We realize that your future citizens 
are in the hands of the women for the 
making. We nurture not only our own 
children, but the welfare of every .hild 
in the nation is equally our concern, be- 
cause in this country even the newly ar- 
rived immigrant is a possible governor 
or leader. We women in our welfare 
work meet the men and women of in- 
dustry in the factory and mine. We 
help them to better conditions in life. 
We endeavor to bring about more kindly 
understanding and sympathy between 
employers and workers, so that they may 
arbitrate their differences when the time 
comes. 
Woman has her place in civic life. 
The responsibility of welfare work will 
develop and educate her. Her task will 
be to establish order, peace, and right- 
eousness in the community, as she has 
done for ages in the home. 
We hear much in these latter days of 
woman's drift into the material and prac- 
tical at the expense of sentiment and do- 
mestic life. It is my belief that woman 
cannot and will not sacrifice upon the 
altar of these new and widening duties 
the sweet, solemn responsibilities that 
bind her to the ancient and honorable 
faith of womanhood. Rather, she brings 
to the new work all the qualities which 
have made her the successful mother, 
wife, and home-builder. God made wo- 
man the mother in the home. The stress 
of present time and need is making God's 
woman a vital factor in civic life. It is 
