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T. Bond brought us a lively dissertation upon women cooks, a Dr. Thompson (residence unknown,) attributes his own dyspepsia and that of many other long suffering stalwart men to this most exasperating cause. He declared that men were magnificently endowed by nature with culinary talent largely undeveloped by reason of the usurping of the kettle and sauce pan kingdom by grasping women. The plan proposed was to have eatables well cooked, (by men, we infer) sent out from central points, and not prepared anymore in individual kitchens. Much merriment was evoked by this singular assault upon existing customs, and who knows but what this one great domestic problem may some day be thus solved! Virginia Steer read of "The Source of Happiness," wealth was said the have originally consisted in man's capacity and willingness to work, and happiness may come with this, but not through it. Tranquility is the characteristic of contentment which comes not from the winning, but from the feeling we put into the effort. Ellen Farquhar gave Lucy Larcum's poem "Plant a Tree," as good and beautiful advice to-day as it was when written long ago by the gifted factory girl of Lowell.
"He who plants a tree plants love, Tents of coolness spreading out above Wayfarers he may not live to see; gifts that grow are best Hands that bless are best Plant; life does the rest. Heaven and Earth help him who plants a tree. And his work its own reward shall be."
Cornelia M. Stabler told of an interesting experiment in Oregon of the motor passenger
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car which was proving succesful. Elizabeth Iddings read an amusing piece all about the danger of rocking babies as proved by such failures as Shakespeare, Suther, Washington, Franklin and Jefferson whose 'brains were' thus joggled in the age when cradles were used. Mary G. Colt had an interesting selection about the birds of May, said to be the best of all months for observing the habits of our feathered friends.
Alice Tyson surprised many by an account of the wonderful curative purposes of baths for the insane. A system of continued water treatment is being tried in New York upon intensely delirious patients, with the happiest results; one woman was kept in a bath at blood heat for 14 days and a cure was affected, light work, games, gymnastics, and dancing are likewise enjoyed, and the patients are taken care of in tents or pavillion, the per. cent of cures is larger than was ever known anywhere in any other asylum. Helen Shoemaker was informed that it was not too late to plant scarlet sage seed in answer to her question, but as Ellen Farquhar offered plants, she need not sow at all. Rebecca T. Miller brought a very amusing essay on "Clothes" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a descendant of the Beechers who have inherited much of their talent, ^she speaks "A fluctuating shoe "for an unchanging foot" with a scorn which is certainly, reasonable, if one would only stop to consider the folly of any fashion in footwear. "The tied back" and the fulled forward" skirt" and "the crease in men's trousers which appears to call for a papercutter." are the subject for some admirable wit with a foundation of common sense
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underlying the whole appeal for more rational outer covering for both men & women. Harriet I. Lea had some pleasant reflections on gardening which was said to be a pursuit of inexhaustible variety and interest; reference was made to the friend Millets of N.Y. who raises such quanties of "Job's tears" and gives away so many strings of them each year to babies. Mary E. Moore's pieces were two poems, one calling our attention to the silver lining behind every cloud, and the other of like purport "Store up the Sunshine."
"Make it a part of your innermost heart To brighten each rainy day."
The Sec. read Alice Freeman Palmer's three rules for happiness, "Commit something to memory every day, look for something pretty every day and do something for somebody every day."
After what had seemed to her at least, a particularly bright and interesting session, we adjourned to Rosedale at 3 P.M. on 5/25.
Mary Bentley Thomas, sec.
