and they, with the Shakers for whom the Shaker Heights Garden 
Club was named, have left the stamp of their early religious 
beliefs on these rural communities. 
Hence, while the settlement of these hills and valleys dates 
back about one hundred years, you must not expect to see this 
antiquity reflected in our gardens which, alas ! are all too new 
to have acquired the beauty of tradition. 
"We very much appreciate the effort you have made to come 
to us and the wonderful spirit that has prompted you. It is a 
lasting bond to our common interest — the love of a garden, the 
gift of our first Ancestress who dwelt in the earliest garden of 
history. 
Amy Newell. 
Upon motion, duly made and seconded, it was unanimously 
Voted: That the reading of the minutes of the last Annual 
Meeting be omitted. The following reports read at the meet- 
ing were unanimously accepted as read. 
The report of the Executive Secretary, relating to office 
activities, was read by the Secretary, Mrs. Harold Irving Pratt: 
The activities of the Central Office expand daily in number Report 
and kind to a degree that cannot fail to impress those who are 0F THE 
in close contact with it. The Executive Secretary has been keep- Executive 
ing a record for the past month which indicates a daily average Committee 
of twenty telephone calls, seven personal calls and twenty-five 
letters. The office serves as a clearing house for information to 
all members of The Garden Club of America, as well as to 
others who are interested in gardens, and the inquiries are many 
and of infinite variety. "When one pauses to consider that of 
those 20 telephone calls each day a large proportion represent a 
request for information, often requiring research before an 
intelligent answer can be given, and that frequently calls may 
stretch into a half hour or longer before the visitor has received 
the information sought, it can readily be seen that the routine 
work of the Executive Secretary is constantly delayed because 
of the very important functions which render the office a bureau 
of information. To cite a concrete instance, a member of the 
St. Louis Garden Club called a few weeks ago to inquire about 
a medal for award at their impending Flower Show. This 
inquiry led to a general discussion of the policy of The Garden 
Club of America and the relation of the individual Clubs to 
the parent organization — a most interesting and illuminating 
visit which lasted well over half an hour and gave the Secretary 
an excellent opportunity to learn the reaction of at least one 
member of this large organization to the organization as a whole. 
The daily routine of correspondence, filing, recording changes 
of address and additions to the mailing list is augmented by 
331 
