Our Women and Children
Conducted by Lucille Skaggs Edwards.
ARE THE NEGRO WOMEN
MAKING GOOD?
(Mrs. Booker T. Washington in The
Independent.)
„ A few weeks ago, I was returning
from a country school, where I had
gone to help the teacher raise money
to finish the school house, which had
been begun some two or three years
ago. It was a cold, dark afternoon
and one would have expected every
woman, at least every country woman
to be close up to the fireside. Country
people love to stay near their hearth
stones, at least my country folks do.
But as I drove on slowly, Topsy, my
little black horse, who takes me all
about among my country friends, pick
ed up her ears. I listened a moment
and in the distance I heard the soft,
plaintive tones of a dozen or more
women, as they sang, as no other
women can sing:
Don’t call the roll till I get there,
Don’t call the roll till I get there,
Oh, Mary, or Martha, don’t call the
roll till I get there.
I want to answer to my name,
I want to answer to my name.
Oh Mary, oh Martha, I want to an
swer to my name.
The country woman expresses her
self generally in song, whether she is
sad or happy. This afternoon these
women were—shall I say happy?—
well, they were content. Once inside
the building, I was not long in find
ing out that I was in a woman’s club,
a real club, where subjects of vital
interest to a community were being
discussed, not something these women
had read about, for not a single one
of them could read an ordinary book
or newspaper, not a subject that some
lecturer hal discussed in their church,
for lecturers do not usually spend
their time with this sort of people, in
this sort of a community—if they only
would! — but these women, some
young, more older, had for that meet
ing the subject: “How to make hard
water soft." This is a limestone coun
try. These women work in the fields
until Friday night or Saturday noon,
when they go down to the creek to
do their week’s washing, and the hard
ness of the water is of the greatest in
terest to them. It had set them to
thinking, and where a community of
women begin to think there is sure
to be action, the result of which will
be their general intellectual develop
ment.
There are 500 or more mothers in
the little town where I live who hold
four meetings a month, at which any
one who feels like it sings and any
one who is moved by the spirit prays;
any one speaks upon the subject giv
en it is a free speech meeting. At
one of the recent meetings the ques
tion was thrown out, “How many lit
tle babies have been born in my com
munity in the last twelve months and
where are they?” Another was, “How
shall I keep the affection of my hus
band?” One woman laughed good-na
turedly and said: “We women ought
to go to all the conventions and things
where our husbands go. They travel,
they read, they study and we should
do this, too, or fall behind them.” An
other spoke up and said: “Don’t let
us be so tired all the time when he
comes home." One of these women
has bought a nice four-room cottage,
painted it, has a good cow, a good
horse and buggy, always makes her
own garden, and more than all has
remade her husband from a cobbler
into a real respectable carpenter. Oth
ers of this organization are following
her example. Where will it all end?
No one can tell, except to see that the
revolution has begun, regeneration
has set in and these women who have
gone through trials and tribulations
are going to take their stand at no
distant day with the great American
Womanhood, and share their part of
the responsibility in increasing the
nation’s efficiency.
There are more than 2,000,000 Ne
gro wromen in this country, on the
plantations, in small towns and in the
cities. We are seldom heard from,
and not always considered as a factor
in the solution of the great problem
in which our husbands and brothers
figure so largely. The home and the
family is the starting point. Since the
spirit of the age demands that the
mother should have a wide knowleagi
of all matters pertaining to the morai.
spiritual and intellectual training of
her children, we women must meet
the demands by making our organiza
tions avenues of help in the better
way.
We club women have made a begin
ning in laying a foundation as a
means to an end. The work of such
organizations as I have described in
fluence not o.ily the women directly
connected with them, but reaches out
to the homes that are not represented
in clubs. The incidents given above
are typical of the awakening and
growing activities of our women all
over this country—for our national as
sociation is made up of women from
every state in the union. The women
of each state direct their energies to
ward some particular local need. In
diana women have for some time
been maintaining a tuberculosis camp.
New York women have an old folks'
home. The colored women of Ala
bama, some years ago, founded at Mt.
Meigs a boys’ reformatory, for which
they raised out of their meager stores
12,000 each year until, through the
energetic lobbying of three women’s
clubs that had worked the hardest for
it, the state was persuaded to take it
over. But I wonder if there are still
those who ask: "Are Negro women
making good?”
THE PRAYER OF ONE GROWING
OLD.
Be with me Lord! My home Is grow- j
ing still,
As one by one the guests go out
the door;
And they who helped me once to do
Thy will
Behold and praise Thee on the
heavenly shore.
Uphold my strength! My task is not
yet done,
Nor let me at my labor cease to
sing;
But from the rising to the setting sun
Each faithful hour do service to my
King.
Show me Thy light! Let not my
wearied eyes
Miss the fresh glory of the passing
day;
But keep the light of morn—the
sweet surprise
Of each new blessing that attends
my way.
And, for the crowning grace! 0
Lord, renew
The best of gifts Thy best of saints
have had;
With the great joy of Christ my heart
endure,
And then with Thee my heart shall
e’er be glad!
—The Christian Century.
MORE THAN THREE HUN
DRED FARMERS ATTEND
MEETING IN OMAHA
Farmers from every agricultural
state in the Union attended the an
nual meeting of the National Farm
ers’ congress, held here last week.
Delegates from Nebraska and Iowa
were here with the largest delegations
and were very active in the delibera
tion of the congress.
More than three hundred registered.
The distinct feature of the program
was the moving pictures of Nebraska
and Omaha which were shown Thurs
day afternoon. Dr. George E. Condra
of the University of Nebraska showed
various reels of the resources of the
state, and explained them with an in
teresting lecture. Moving picture reels
of Omaha were shown by Manager
Parrish o fthe Bureau of Publicity.
Nebraska’s and Omaha’s resources
were exploited in no uncertain way
and a very favorable impression of
the state was made.
Autumn
Signs
Browning and falling
leaves again call our at
tention to the promise
that summer and win
ter shall not cease.
Prudent people pre
pare. Are you ready
with your autumn
dress? If not, why
not?
We can help you.
Thomas
Kilpatrick & Co.
MATTHEWS BOOK STORE
StailO'iers and Encravets
Have moved to their new location
1620 Harney St.. State Bank Bld«.
Where larger facilities enable them
to gi \ e you bet ior service
We recommend
The Stale Furniture Co.
Corner 14th and Dodite Sts.
as the most reliable, accommodat
ing and economical furniture store
to buy from.
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NORTHRUP
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C. J. CARLSON
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Phone Webster 820
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