Its object is to incite its members to the performance of helpful deeds, and to thus bring happiness into the greatest possible number of hearts and homes. The membership fee consists of some act or suggestion that will carry sunshine where it is needed. This may be the exchange of books, pictures, etc., loaning or giving useful articles, suggesting ideas for work that can be done by a "shut-in"
and sending the materials for it, making holiday suggestions and a general exchange of helpful ideas.
There are many Sunshine libraries, some of them traveling, all over the United States and Canada. In Memphis there is a Sunshine Home for Aged Men, a Newsboys" Club House and a Lunch Room for Working Girls.
Several branches have Sunshine wards in hospitals. The leading women"s clubs have Sunshine Committees, and hundreds of churches have them in their King"s Daughters" and Christian Endeavor Societies. Among the thousands of articles which have been placed where they will do the most good are pianos, sewing machines, invalid chairs, baby carriages, furniture and clothing of every description.
There are more than 100,000 members and over 2,000 well-organized branches. The society is officered and managed by women and they compose the immense majority of the members. Mrs. Alden has been the president continuously.
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN was organized in Chicago in 1893, as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, which was a branch of the Parliament of Religions held during the Columbian Exposition. Its objects are to bring about closer relations among Jewish women and a means of prosecuting work of common interest; to further united efforts in behalf of Judaism through a better knowledge of the Bible, Jewish literature and conditions. It has given much attention to social reform through preventive philanthropy and it affiliates with many organizations of women interested in the public welfare. The Council conducts manual training and industrial schools, sewing and household schools, kitchen gardens, kindergartens, mothers" clubs, boys" clubs, circulating libraries, reading rooms, free baths, employment bureaus, milk and ice depots for the poor, crippled children"s cla.s.ses and many other philanthropies.
During the Spanish-American War the Council contributed about $10,000 in money and goods, and in several cities was the first organization to undertake this relief work. It has sixty-three sections in various States and 6,000 members. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon has been president continuously.
THE WOMEN"S NATIONAL INDIAN a.s.sOCIATION was organized in March, 1879, for the civilization, education, enfranchis.e.m.e.nt and Christianization of the native Indians of the United States; the first society devoted exclusively to Indian advancement, to ask and labor for all these; to demand from the Government lands in severalty, citizenship, industrial teaching and education for the aborigines (1881), and these were granted in the pa.s.sage of the Dawes Severalty Bill in February, 1887.
Besides its important work politically, beginning a movement which has gained 60,000 Indian citizens, at least 25,000 of whom pay taxes and 10,000 of whom voted at the last elections, it has opened directly or indirectly Christian, educational and industrial instruction at forty-seven stations, or in as many tribes; has builded many Indian homes, starting civilized industries in these and in tribes, furnishing agricultural implements, sewing machines, looms, stock, etc., from a loan fund of $12,000. It has various other departments of help for red men--schools, libraries, temperance teaching, etc.--and has expended in all these (besides sending missionary boxes of supplies for the aged and helpless into seventy tribes) from $15,000 to $28,000 annually. It has now a House of Industries where women and girls are taught sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. Altogether forty-one buildings have been erected.
The a.s.sociation has nearly 100 branches in between thirty and forty States and Territories and has several thousand members. Mrs. Amelia Stone Quinton was general secretary from the beginning for eight years, and has since been president continuously.
THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF WOMEN WORKERS was organized April 29, 1897, in the interest of working women and their clubs. It is intended that the League shall stand as a central bureau of information, offering counsel and help when sought, but not placing restrictions upon any club. It has issued various publications, a monthly magazine, _The Club Worker_, a collection of songs, one of practical talks, another of plays and of entertainments; also a pamphlet ent.i.tled How to Start a Club. It has made a collection of all publications issued by the various auxiliary State a.s.sociations and clubs, which are distributed free of charge to members. Between 8,000 and 9,000 publications are annually sold and distributed. The secretary each year visits from fifty to one hundred clubs to acquaint them with the work of other similar organizations. The League has collected data relating to the management of lunch clubs, vacation houses and co-operative homes for working women.
It is made up of five a.s.sociations, and includes 100 clubs in Vermont, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with a membership of over 8,000.
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LEAGUE FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL PURITY was organized in New York in October, 1885, and a national charter was obtained in 1889. Its object is to elevate opinion respecting the nature and claims of morality, with its equal obligation upon men and women, and to secure a practical recognition of its precepts on the part of the individual, the family and the nation; to organize the efforts of Christians in preventive, educational, reformatory and legislative effort in the interest of Social Purity. It uses every righteous means to free women and girls from financial dependence upon men, not only by seeking to raise the status of domestic service, but by teaching the advantages of self-support in every kind of legitimate business. During the past six years the League has secured employment directly for 3,300 applicants; it has supplied temporal and social benefits to thousands of distressed women; furnished more than 5,000,000 pages of literature helpful to all the people; prevented and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the shelterless.
The League has Hospital Auxiliaries, Social Culture Clubs, Industrial Homes with training for Italians and other foreigners; members in nearly every State and Territory--in Europe, China, j.a.pan, India and South America. It was founded by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, who has been its president continuously.
THE YOUNG LADIES" NATIONAL MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT a.s.sOCIATION was organized at Salt Lake City in June, 1869. a.s.sociations were formed in different States, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board of workers. On June 19, 1880, an organization of these "stakes" was effected and a general president elected. The object is mutual improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions.
It is an educational a.s.sociation and has bettered the condition of thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than they could otherwise have obtained. While not strictly a beneficiary organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. It owns considerable property, including houses and libraries.
The a.s.sociation has 507 branches and 22,000 members in ten States and Territories and a number of foreign countries. Mrs. Elmina Shepard Taylor has been president since 1878.
THE NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN UNION was organized in July, 1892, to unite kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens, and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. It has inst.i.tuted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform.
A broader conception of the principles of Froebel and their relation to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. There are at present seventy branches with 6,000 members.
THE WOMAN"S PRISON a.s.sOCIATION AND ISAAC T. HOPPER HOME was organized by Mr. Hopper in 1845 in New York and incorporated in 1854. It was afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons. Its object is the amelioration of the condition of women prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of women convicts after their release. The a.s.sociation has secured in New York the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police matrons; one providing a Reformatory for Women and Girls, and others of like import. The Home is in a large measure self-supporting. From this first organization a number of similar ones have been established and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved.
THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC a.s.sOCIATION was organized in March, 1893, to promote a scientific knowledge of the care of children, and of the economic and hygienic value of food, fuel and clothing; to inculcate an intelligent knowledge of sanitary conditions in the home, and to urge the recognition of housekeeping as a business or trade which is worthy of highest thought and effort. This was the first organization to present Household Economics in a comprehensive form as an important and profound science. The existence of home departments in nearly every woman"s club may be directly or indirectly traced to its influence. From Maine to California women have received from it broader and better views of home and home life. It has vice-presidents in twenty-nine States.
THE NATIONAL WOMAN"S KEELEY RESCUE LEAGUE was organized Sept. 18, 1893, to restore the victim of inebriety and drugs to health and happiness and to aid the unfortunate inebriate to become a self-supporting citizen instead of an object of charity; to visit the families of inebriates and by every means possible aid them to a higher and better life. It has brought sunshine and happiness into more than one thousand desolate homes, and enabled the heads of these homes to become self-supporting. Husbands and wives who have been driven asunder by the curse of drink have been re-united. Thousands of children who would have been thrown upon the world or into charitable inst.i.tutions have been saved and are now cared for in well-provided homes. Many a family has been kept from becoming a charge upon charity, and the current of many a human life has been turned in wholesome channels.
The League pays for a man"s treatment at the time he enters a Keeley Inst.i.tute, taking his note (properly secured by the indors.e.m.e.nt of some friend, when possible), and requiring him to pay back in monthly installments or as his circ.u.mstances will permit. This creates a revolving fund to be used over and over again. It has its friendly visitors looking after the family while he is taking the treatment and endeavors to have employment for him upon his return. Men who have been sent to the work-house repeatedly have been permanently reclaimed. The League has eighteen branches and 650 members.
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSICAL CLUBS was organized January, 1898, to bring into communication the various musical societies that they may compare methods of work and become mutually helpful; and to arrange in different sections of the country Biennial Musical Festivals. It works for the musical life of the nation by creating a musical atmosphere, studying composers and their works and bringing the best talent in various lines to interpret and ill.u.s.trate these studies. Large, strong clubs have been helpful in sending their members to those smaller in numbers and weaker financially. Two Musical Festivals have been held, national in character, one in St.
Louis in May, 1899, the other in Cleveland in May, 1901, with every possible artistic advantage of the highest talent.
There are branches in thirty-two States and Canada; 160 clubs are federated with 12,000 members.
THE NEEDLEWORK GUILD OF AMERICA was organized April, 1885, to collect new garments and distribute them to hospitals, homes and other charities, and to extend its usefulness by the organization of branches. It has distributed to hospitals, homes and other charities in the United States about 2,500,000 new garments. This includes the results of two or three special collections for national disasters. It has 308 branches in this country.
RELIGIOUS:
THE WOMAN"S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH was organized March 23, 1869. Its object is to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women in sending missionaries to the women in foreign mission fields of the church and in supporting them and the native Christian teachers, and all forms of work carried on by the society. It has collected and disbursed $5,454,700; sent to foreign fields 365 missionaries, and established a great educational work for women throughout the Orient. The first woman"s college in Asia, at Lucknow, India, was founded by this society. It sent the first fully equipped medical woman to the mission fields of the East, and built the first hospitals for women in India, China and Korea. Nineteen hospitals and dispensaries are supported by the society, and 246 missionaries in Africa, Burmah, Bulgaria, China, India, Italy, j.a.pan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South America and the Philippines, while twenty-four medical women are now in the field. There are 18,000 girls and women in its various schools.
The society has eleven branches, covering the whole United States, 5,410 auxiliaries, and 171,765 members. Mrs. Cyrus D. Foss is president.
THE WOMAN"S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE M. E. CHURCH was organized July 10, 1880, to enlist and organize the efforts of Christian women in behalf of the needy and dest.i.tute women and children of all sections of the United States, without distinction of race, and to co-operate with the other societies and agencies of the church in educational and missionary work. The total receipts from July, 1880, to July, 1900, were $2,782,773; total value of property, $736,152.
This property consists of twenty industrial homes and schools, six mission homes, two immigrant homes, three children"s homes, six centers of city mission work, five deaconess and missionary training schools, twenty-eight deaconess homes, four rest homes for deaconesses and missionaries.
The Society has eighty-nine conferences, 2,500 auxiliary societies, 59,000 adult members and 13,500 children. The Deaconess Department was established in 1888. There are now (1901) 1,160 deaconesses with $1,600,000 invested in real estate connected with their work. Mrs.
Clinton D. Fisk is president.
THE WOMEN"S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH was organized Feb. 14, 1879, to bring the heathen to Christ. It has established schools, built churches and done a valuable work especially among girls. It has twenty branches and about 3,000 members. Mrs. F. A. Brown of Cardington, O., is serving her twenty-first year as president.
THE WOMAN"S BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY was organized April 3, 1871. The leading object is the Christianization of women in foreign lands by furnishing support through the American Baptist Missionary Union to Christian women employed by said Union as missionaries, native teachers or Bible readers, together with the facilities needed for their work. Its missionaries have been sent to Burmah, a.s.sam, India, China, j.a.pan and Africa. The home const.i.tuency is found in the Baptist churches of the New England and Middle Atlantic States.
The total number of American missionaries supported for a longer or shorter time is 142. Of these seventy-eight are now connected with the society, 112 native Bible women employed as visitors in homes, and 367 boarding and day schools with more than 14,000 pupils are maintained.
Many women who have been taught in these schools are exerting a strong influence as Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The medical missionaries have cared for souls and bodies alike. One of these doctors reports 17,000 treatments at her dispensary during the last year. Large sums of money have also been expended for mission work of various kinds under the care of the wives of missionaries. The total amount raised and expended in thirty years is over $2,000,000.
There are numerous auxiliary circles, including about 34,000 women, besides 10,000 younger women organized in guilds.
THE WOMAN"S BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY of the West was organized May 9, 1871, for the elevation and Christianization of the women of foreign lands by furnishing support to Christian women employed as missionaries, to native teachers and to Bible women, together with the facilities needed for their work. It supports 177 schools, 5,337 pupils, 159 teachers and 94 Bible women. In the medical department it has two hospitals, two dispensaries, twenty medical students and three helpers; 597 patients were treated in the hospitals during the past year and 6,130 outside patients. The amount raised since organization is $885,279, and 105 missionaries have been sent out. There are 1,530 auxiliaries.
THE WOMAN"S BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY was organized Feb. 1, 1877, to aid in spreading the gospel and to Christianize homes by means of house-to-house visitation and by missions and schools with special reference to exceptional populations in the United States, and among neighboring countries. The missionary training school was organized Sept. 5, 1881, and located at the headquarters of the society, now in Chicago. The same year records the first issue of the monthly organ, _Tidings_, which has grown from a four-page circular to a thirty-two-page magazine, with a monthly circulation of 13,500 copies.
The training school has enrolled 518 students. The Society supports also two training schools for negro workers--Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., and the Caroline Bishop School in Dallas, Texas. It has employed on its own fields 159 missionaries among foreign populations in this country from Europe, Indians, Negroes, Chinese, Syrians (from Asia), Mexicans, Cubans, Porto Ricans and Americans.
The missionaries report, for the year, besides work along many other lines, 80,635 visits in homes. During the twenty-four years the visits reported aggregate 1,152,950, and from the headquarters of the Society have gone 6,478,544 pages of literature. The total cash receipts have been $1,034,104. Besides providing for its own distinctive work, the Society has aided the American Baptist Home Missionary Society from 1882 until 1901 to an extent represented by a total of $91,288.
Figures have a certain value, but the best fruit is seen in the results of the work of the missionaries on the fields, through the visits in homes, women"s meetings, children"s meetings, industrial schools, parents" conferences, Bible bands, fireside schools, training cla.s.ses, and the circulation of pure, wholesome literature. Through this womanly ministry uncounted lives have been transformed and a mult.i.tude of abodes have become Christian homes. There are 2,807 auxiliaries and about 60,000 members.
THE WOMAN"S AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY was organized Nov.
14, 1878, for the evangelization of the women among the freed people, the heathen, immigrants and the new settlements of the West, and for evangelizing and educating the women and children in any part of North America. The amount raised during the last year was $38,000; fifty-seven teachers, missionaries and Bible women are supported among colored people, Indians, Mexicans, Mormons, Chinese, Alaskans and French Catholics.