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CITY NEWS ITEMS

The extension department of the San Francisco Association is doing a successful work in connection with one of the largest department stores of the city-the Emporium. The cash girls are organized in a gymnasium class which meets once a week, and every month an entertainment is given for them. The Emporium pays for the tuition. Many of the older girls have joined the industrial classes of the Association and have moved to the boarding home to live. The two extension secretaries meet all the women employees during the noon hours once a week at their own cafeteria. Entertainment is always furnished at this time. Most of this work is done by professionals, who are glad to volunteer their services. A cafeteria, a rest room, a library and a conference room, which has recently been opened for social purposes, are provided for the employees by the management. A series of talks on first aid to the injured, food values, clothing, etc., is being planned. These will be given at the stores.

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Instances of good volunteer work are reported from the St. Paul Association as follows: The forming of clubs in a certain factory officered by the girls themselves and based on the plan of a credit system for such points as dress, neatness, conversation, honesty in service and word, care of health, protection from injury while at work, etc.; 2, the visiting in homes or hospitals of girls who are ill and who have come under the eye of some department (particularly was this effective among some girls reported by the employment and extension secretaries); 3, talks on physical education given by committee members in many of the women's clubs of the city, not only educating women along these lines, but arousing interest in physical departments of the Association and the Association as a whole; 4, a plan by which one of the girls' clubs is so divided that its members in turn act as hostesses at the Sunday afternoon services, even to the extent of going to the stations before the meetings, asking to it those whom they see.

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"There is located to-day in Ottumwa a branch of the largest trust company for women in the world The main office is in London, with branches in seventeen countries with approximately 500,000 stockholders." Thus begins a report by the general secretary at the 20th annual meeting of the Ottumwa Association. She speaks further of the investors and members who confidently believe that this is a good business and are waiting to see what the dividends will be.

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"The Land and the Book" is the main subject for a Bible study conference which is to be conducted in Duluth by the field secretaries of the North Cen tral Territorial Committee. It will serve the most representative elements of the community, as shown in the program which includes meetings for industrial women, business college students, mothers, Sunday school teachers and juniors, in addition to the general mass meetings and stereoptican lectures.

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A fine kind of neighborliness is shown in the New Haven and Bridgeport Association, the latter Association recently sending two of its clubs to the other city to be entertained by two of the New Haven clubs. An evening of fun and the giving of a "stunt" by each of the four clubs made train time come all too quickly.

A course in civics and practical politics is offered by the Association of Oakland, California, covering the following subjects of municipal scope: The Health Department; The School Department of Parks and Playgrounds; A Civil Service Board; City and County Government; The Duties and Aims of the Mayor.

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An engraved card welcoming new members to the privileges and duties of membership is sent with a membership card proper to each new member of the Detroit Association after her application has been passed upon by the board of directors.

A series of parties is being held at Buffalo to entertain the great number of new members who have come in this year. Those whose names begin with A, B and C, were invited to the first party, and in this way the entire membership will be entertained.

The Dutch farmers living near Des Moines were called upon to carve wooden shoes, which were worn in an elaborate Dutch dance given by the Association gymnasium girls at the annual gymnasium exhibition.

A special class in domestic science has been started in the Des Moines Association at the request of the wives of the members of the State legislature who wish to study cooking during their enforced stay in the city.

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STUDENT NEWS ITEMS

An advisory board which is a constructive force in the work of the Association is that of the University of Texas. Its members gave much assistance in producing the foreign pageant last November and helped in the entertainment of visiting delegates to a fall State conference. During this time they served tea daily in the University study hall and throughout the college year are "at home" to all University girls every other Tuesday afternoon in the study hall. By no means least important, they assume a goodly share of responsibility for the raising of the yearly budget.

"A rest bungalow" for the use of all University women is a principal object for which the Association of the University of Oregon is working. The lot has already been purchased and $1,800 out of $2,500 has been raised.

The following resolutions were drawn up by the Association girls of Monmouth College following a talk and a frank discussion on "College Thieves:" "Whereas, we, the girls of Monmouth College, realize the injury done to the school and to the individual students by the prevalent habit known as 'cribbing' both in class and in examinations, and whereas, we wish to stand by higher ideals both in scholarship and in character; be it, Resolved, that we, the undersigned, pledge ourselves to do all in our power to promote honesty in college life and work." Since these resolutions have been brought to the attention of the student body, it is felt that there has been a decided lifting of standards of honor throughout the college.

Two or three Association members are invited to each cabinet meeting of the Association of Wilmington College, Ohio. Often new members have claimed that this visit to the cabinet meetings with its social hour afterwards has done more to interest them in Association work than any other one means. This, of course, is more possible in a small college than in a large one, where by degrees a whole membership can be brought into this intimate contact with the administration of the Association.

The Relation between the student and the city forms of the Young Women's Christian Association is so seldom understood by the general public or by those connected with either form, that articles on general Association work such as appeared recently in the college paper of the University of Nevada, are very much to the point. It is good for the student community in general to know that its Association is part of "one of the largest and most farreaching women's organizations that is mantained." The undertaking of this kind of publicity is an important responsibility of every student cabinet.

COUNTRY LIFE NOTES

The Exchange has proved a most helpful part of the Green County Young Women's Christian Association. A young woman who was interested worked out a very simple and efficient bookkeeping system. The Association receives ten per cent of the sales for handling the things. This ten per cent amounts to enough each month to pay the assistant secretary.

Miss Mary Barnett, a girl who lives in the country two miles from Xenia, holds the record so far as to the amount of money she has cleared. She lives with her uncle, and three times a week-on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays-she comes in with cakes, ginger, jams, baked beans, mush, cottage cheese, butter, butter milk, eggs and chickens, dressed and fried. The chickens are sold for her uncle; but for her work in preparing the chickens to bring, he gives Mary the eggs to sell for her own. After paying for her groceries, Miss Barnett has cleared from October 5th to January 18th, a little over a hundred dollars, most of which she has deposited in the Building and Loan Association. This girl is now a member of the sewing class the Association offers, and has found much to make her life fuller of friendships and new interests besides the opportunity to make money.

A number of the high school girls in Xenia have made records. Mary Katharine Geyer has made fifty-six angel food cakes to sell through the Exchange. Another girl makes fudge and is saving the money to go to college. In fact, the Exchange is helping many girls to make money. It is an Association membership privilege.

The Lakewood and Ocean County Association held an annual meeting in January, at which fifty per cent of the members in the county were present. Dr. Brown of the National Board made an address.

A new county in Nebraska was organized in January under the leadership of Miss Margaret O'Connell, field secretary for county work in the North Central Territory. This is Hall County, with Grand Island as headquarters. They start with six hundred members, sixty of whom are sustaining.

Goodhue County and Chautauqua County report Branch Organizations out in the open country that are very successful.

FOREIGN NOTES Extract-Letter-Martha C. Whealdon, S. S. "Ywck," the Indian Ocean. You may be interested to hear of some Associations I have seen. The first port was Honolulu, where we landed on the morning of the sixth day from San Francisco. A friend was on the pier, and together we went to the Association, where we were cordially received by the general secretary. The rooms were being decorated for the annual banquet and Miss Erickson was full of enthusiasm for its success, since eighty members were to be present, and but twelve had attended the previous year. The cafeteria and library were very inviting and crowded during the noon hour. Classes in millinery and dressmaking were arranging an exhibit of work. With it all, this busy secretary found time to be at the pier as our steamer left. She brought long chains of flowers, blue, red, orange and yellow, which are called "lais," and which, according to the pretty custom of the natives, are hung about the neck of the departing guest and thrown after the steamer as it leaves the pier.

At Tokyo I had an hour with the secretaries in their home. Over the tea cups we talked of mutual friends at home and of the success of new Bible classes being organized in Tokyo. Miss Page accompanied me to the home of Miss MacDonald, where Miss Kawai came from her busy desk to serve tea and decorate me with the new Association pin of Japan-the design of the burning

enamel.

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camp mounted in silver in blue

In Shanghai I had four hours at the Association with Miss Coppock and Miss Ting. They took me to the noon-day praymeeting. It was Tuesday of the World's Week of Prayer, and the subject was "America." Could you have seen the love of Christ shining in the faces of these women as they listened to a discussion of the topic by one of their number, Mrs. Tsoa, you would have thanked God with all your heart that he has given America the privilege of sending messengers to praise and petition were in the Chinese language. By the music of the closing

China.

The lesson and earnest prayers of

hymn, Keep, I Have," and felt with new meaning I recognized it as "A Charge to the fellowship of service. When Miss Coppock introduced me as a secretary on my way to Bombay, they expressed pleasure that they could know personally one worker in India for whom they could pray through the coming year.

In Hong Kong, where I waited ten days for my steamer, I met many of the committee and members and was entertained at tea by Lady May, the President. Although they do not have a secretary, the general Committee is able to maintain rooms, and

here they conduct Bible classes and welcome tourists and render assistance in many ways to young women alone in the city. Here I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Broadfoot and Mrs. Wells from the Young Women's Christian Association at Columbus, Ohio, who reached Hong Kong by the steamer "Ywck," which is taking me to Bombay. As they sat about the tea table, a member entered who glanced at the guests, then came to them with cordial welcome; though each had forgotten the name of the other they each said the magic word "Geneva," and were happy in talking of mutual friends of those conference days.

Three days of the interval between steamers was spent in Canton. Miss Henrietta Thomson has been there but two weeks, and is beginning language study eagerly, for the demand for Association work is very great.

About two hundred and fifty members and friends of the Madras Association gathered in its compound one afternoon in December to hear Mrs. Thomas Gladding of the National Board speak_on_the_work of the Association in the United States. Following Mrs. Gladding's talk she showed a series of lantern slides which she personally had secured for her trip around the world, illustrative of all phases of American Association life.

Extract-Letter-Mary Page, Tokyo, Japan.

On Saturday evening, we had a Christmas celebration-a joint party for the girls in the two dormitories. There are about sixty of them, and it was one of the jolliest affairs I have ever seen. We played all sorts of games, and in one of them we had to give forfeits. I was proud of the girls when I saw how bravely they did what they were told to do, for Japanese girls are rather shy. Miss Baker made a big impression. She was commanded to walk like an ostrich, and her imitation was sim

ply perfect. I think you will be interested in one other feature of the program. It was a biwa song. The biwa is a great round instrument like a huge banjo, and is played upon with a great triangular piece of wood. They always sing when they play the biwa, and give the instrument occasional whacks with the piece of wood. A solo generally lasts about fifteen minutes, and is often the story of some tragedy. It seems to be quite the thing to shed a few tears when the sad parts are reached, but we were thankful to see that only one or two of the girls needed to wipe away even one. takes time for a foreigner to come to like the biwa, but there is a certain fascination about it if it does not last too long.

It

Monday before Christmas was full of preparations for our Association celebration, which was to come the next day, and

in the afternoon we attended the exercises of the Literary Society in a neighboring school. It was very clever, indeed, but I shall tire you if I go into details.

Early in the morning of Christmas day, about half past five or six, we were awakened by a little company of girls singing "Joy to the World." We rushed downstairs in time to see them before they left, and found they were students from one of the schools. After they left, we found a large red stocking filled with peanuts, hanging in one of the rooms. On the top there was a card with our names on it and "Merry Christmas."

After a very busy morning we had two of the little Sunday schools here for their entertainment, with sixty little folks. Several little mites of girls had babies on their backs and there was an occasional howl which caused the small girls to retire to quiet their charges. One infant screamed so that his sister had to take him home, and she (herself about seven) was grieved to miss the fun that they performed a duel in our front hall. We did what we could to comfort them, and the tiny nurse toddled home with her baby, hugging tightby a little bag of cakes.

TRAINING SCHOOL NOTES

SO

The work of the second semester has begun in earnest, and the new schedule board announces lectures by President King of Oberlin, Dr. Graham Taylor_of_Chicago, Miss Czarnomska, formerly Dean of Women in the University of Michigan, and Miss Maude Miner of the Probation Committee. Besides these single lectures, the students are attending the Mission study class led by Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery on "China's New Day." This class is under the auspices of the Jubilee Continuation Committee, and as it is given in the headquarters auditorium, the faculty thought it an opportunity the students should not miss. The course in economics is being given by Dr. E. Stagg Whitin, Secretary of the National Committee on Prison Labor. The course is to relate the fundamental principles of economics to their practical working out in modern social movements. Another addition to the curriculum is a three lecture series on publicity given by Dr. Talcott Williams, Director of the Columbia School of Journalism. For the students who are planning to go into student work and for those by the specialists in these departments.

The time has come also for special pieces of practical work, and already there is much diversity in what the students find to do. Bible classes at the Studio Club and at the Central Branch; junior work at the Central Branch; investigation of mov

ing picture shows; vesper services and teaching English to the foreign girls in the garment makers' strike. The students also gave most generously of their time during the two days when the Metropolitan Board, with the National Board, held open house in the buildings.

The school family has lost one of its members, as Miss Helen Crane is now starting for work in Shanghai. In spite of the large hole made by her departure, the school is numerically larger than ever, for Miss Pattie Chickering, a member of last year's class, has returned for special training in immigration work, and Miss Mary Lamberton of North Carolina and Miss Jane Pindell, formerly superintendent of the City Hospital on Blackwell's Island, are registered as regular students.

Visitors from many places are constantly bringing much of value to the school family. The headquarters' secretaries are also planning to make short visits so that they and the students may become better acquainted.

Summer Conferences for 1913

The Department of Conventions and Conferences announces the conferences for 1913 as follows:

Southern General-Blue Ridge, N. C., June 6 to 16. School Girls-Eagles Mere, Pa., June 11 to 17.

Northwest General-Gearhart Park, Ore., June 17 to 27.

Eastern Student-Silver Bay, N. Y., June 20 to 30.

East Central Student-Eagles Mere, Pa., June 24 to July 3.

Eastern City-Silver Bay, N. Y., July

I to II.

Pacific Coast General-Moss Beach, Cal., August I to II or thereabouts.

Western City-Estes Park, Colo., August

12 to 21.

Central City-Lake Geneva, Wis., August 12 to 21.

Western Student-Estes Park, Colo., August 22 to September 1.

Central Student-Lake Geneva, Wis., August 22 to September 1.

The Central Field Committee, with headquarters in Chicago, will move about March 10th into new offices in the Westminster building at the corner of Dearborn and Monroe Streets, and their address after that date will be 801 Westminster building.

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