Club Minutes: Mutual Improvement Association, 1889-1896

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improve their minds by study amid their daily household cares.

Sophie Peirce read lines by Eugene Field, "Now I lay me down to sleep".

Mary Colt gave the following on Friendship. The plant of friendship grows only in the warm air of congeniality. Confidence binds its parts together & is the cohesive power of its nature - while sympathy is the life giving sap coursing thro' every fiber. Time can not wither or destroy it - age but strengthens & develops it." Mary T. Jackson read lines entitled "I shall not pass this way again". Hallie Bentley read selections from Charles Kingsley - who said in part, "Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that must be done that day whether you like it or not." Being forced to work & forced to do your best will breed in you temperance - self-control - diligence - strength of will - content - & a hundred virtues which the idle will never know".

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Pattie R. Stabler asked for a remedy to destroy the green aphid on lettuce in in a cold frame? No satisfactory answer given. Mariana S. Miller wanted to know what to use on a hard wood floor? 1 quart of Turpentine & a quarter of a lb of bees wax shaved thin & dissolved in it, was recommended, rubbed in well with a flannel cloth.

We then adjourned to meet at Bloomfield. 2.27.1896 to dinner.

Sarah E. Stabler Sec

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On 2.28.1896 The Association once more assembled at Bloomfield - now the home of Hallie Bentley. Many tender recollections were revived in the heart of those present in recalling the pleasant meetings there - when our dear friend Edith D. Bentley was the life of that house & as some one said, "It was pleasant to have its doors once more opened by a representative of her family."

The sentiment given by Hallie Bentley "When the best things are not possible the best may be made of those that are."

Fifteen members & eleven guests contributed to the enjoyment of the occasion.

Martha Holland was the first to read "The secret of Eugene Fields pathos". His verses breathed of his love for childhood & he was happiest when in the company of children & truest when he sang of them. Sorrow for the loss of his little ones, called for the deep pathos of his poems.

Sally A. Bond read an excellent article on "Content". Happiness does not

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depend upon outward circumstances it comes from within. May the lesson of content be early learned, which alone can bring happiness. The two greatest enemies to our happiness are ill temper & discontent - the two generally go together."

Sarah H. Stone was excused.

Sarah T. Miller read a poem by Charlotte Stetson entitled "a prejudice", also an extract, "Keep silence about your worries & you will retain the blessing they bring. Avoid expressions of murmurings of weariness in suffering - they cripple the fruits of patience & rob you of the benefit of your trials."

Mary E. Moore asked whether it was customary to pay a servant for lost time when sick. The general opinion was in the negative. Mary Colt read, "The value of stories as a refreshment after hard mental effort," also an article talking of Dickens having consoled a little girl by giving her a doll in place of one she had broken, she in return for his kindness presented

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him with a copy of David Copperfield without knowing he was the author. Elizabeth G. Thomas gave us "Man's life is worth living so that he helps others."

Kate Bradley told of the ice palace in Montreal. Ellen Farquhar read selections from Jacob Riis's book "how other people live", which told of the tenement houses in N. Y. City & the work of the different charity organizations.

Mary W. Kirk recited some verses written by Sarah Bentley sixty three years ago, on the occasion of the approaching marriage of a friend.

She also read some lines written by Phyllis Brooks in 1858.

Mary B. Thomas article was original "what improvements can we afford to make in our tenant houses?" containing some good suggestions.

Lydia T. Hallowell a guest had nothing to offer. Alice G. Stabler read some beautiful lines entitled, "Imperishable"