Americanization

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII America And Women's Clubs IF we take a broad survey of the religious life of America to-day, we cannot fail to see that the factor common to all groups is the desire for service. This desire, an impulse to put the axioms of doctrine to practical use, is a feature so conspicuous that we are blind indeed if we fail to trace it, like a golden thread, woven into every part of the vast design of life. We seldom stop to consider its churchly origin, save in the case of works labeled with one or the other of the ecclesiastical names; but we must not forget that in every case where persons, singly or in groups, devote a penny, or ten minutes' time, or even a prayer to the causes of social uplift, of regeneration, of suffrage, of better citizenship, of home missions, foreign missions, municipal improvement, or any one of the hundreds of charities maintained for the poor and suffering, the great cause back of such action is--the moral inheritance, the immortal religious impulse in human nature. And if we were asked to name the factor in the last forty years of social life in America which can be proven to have assisted, abetted, and justified the spirit of the churches in this country, we should unhesitatingly say--it was the women's clubs. The woman's club is the direct descendant of the church sewing circle. Let us remember that, and always refer to it respectfully. It has gone through a dozen phases of existence; and it has always been a terribly serious thing. It has kept the fires of culture and improvement burning in places and times that were crass and crude. And the woman's club is everywhere. Not a city in the United States, nor a village, is in existence in which you will fail to find in some outward, palpable evidence the proof that the woman...