American Monthly Magazine

VOL. X.

WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL, 1897.

No. 4

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTH CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Morning Session, Monday, February 22, 1897.

THE Sixth Continental Congress of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution convened in Washington, District of Columbia, at the Columbia Theater, corner of Twelfth and F streets, Monday, February 22, 1897.

Congress was called to order by Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson, President General, at 10 o'clock.

Prayer by Chaplain General:

O God, most high, most holy, and most merciful, with lowly reverence we bow before thee, and invoke thy gracious presence and benediction. We pray that thou wilt hear our prayers and give ear unto our cry, for we are strangers with thee and sojourners as all our fathers were. We thank thee, O God, for all thy manifold blessings to us as a people and as individuals, and may we manifest our gratitude by acknowledging thee in all our ways, and by a cordial obedience to all thy commandments. Be thou our God, and may we rest under the shadow of thy wings. Fill our land with knowledge and righteousness, with peace and prosperity, and may the blessings of civil and religious liberty, which we enjoy, be extended over the whole earth, and be handed down to our children and to our children's children to the latest generation of time. May we learn more and more to cherish the relations which unite us as children of one father and citizens of one country, and may we continue to perpetuate the story of those who by their noble (345)

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service and heroic sacrifice struggled to achieve our independence. Although now numbered among the immortal dead, they still live enshrined in the hearts of those who love, honor, and cherish their memories with undying devotion. And unto thee, O God, be all the praise, honor, and glory for all the blessings of this life and for the gift of thy dear son Jesus Christ, who died that we may live, who hath taught us to say, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever." Amen.

Music, The Star Spangled Banner," led by Madame Diaz Albertini, accompanied by the Marine Band.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME, BY MRS. ADLAI E. STEVENSON,

PRESIDENT GENERAL.

Ladies of the Sixth Continental Congress: Again it is my high privilege to extend to you, Daughters of the American Revolution, the cordial welcome which is ever yours, as year after year you gather in this city of national renown.

It was a matchless thought, and worthy of that little band of patriotic women, whose names are indissolubly associated with the organization of the National Society, that the Nation's capital should be the rallying place, and Washington's Birthday the time, for the daughters of revolutionary sires to commemorate the deeds of valor of their forbears.

To my home in the West I shall bear the sweetest recollection of my association with the National Organization; for it has been through it, that my highest meed of happiness, as well as of honor, has been attained. Nor can I forbear to speak in terms of highest praise of your National Board of Management. The monthly meetings of the Board have been marked by dignity, courtesy and adherence to parliamentary usages. The fullest and freest debate on every subject presented to the National Board of Management for consideration, has been encouraged. There have been marked differences of opinion; but "to differ is to think ;"" there can be no animated

talk without dissent, and dissent should be disguised by the
language of courtesy." Ladies, yours is a splendid Board,
composed of splendid women. It will not be your good for-
tune ever to be served by a more able, faithful, and efficient
Board. To the Board I desire to express my thanks for their
forbearance and uniform courtesy during the year; and further
to express the pleasure it has given me to have been associated
with them in this patriotic work. Again and again, since last
we met, we have been reminded of the familiar quotation :

"We know that moons shall wane, and summer birds from far
Shall cross the sea: but who shall tell us when to look

For death?"

But they are not dead, our loved ones-only gone a little while before; for

"To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die."

The growth of the National Society has been so phenomenal that it seemed hardly possible the record of the last Congress could be maintained. However, when we gathered around the table of our pleasant little office, on October 1st, it seemed as if an autumnal blast had shaken the genealogical trees, so great had been the increase in number during the summer months, which are usually the least active. At that time we received into full membership seven hundred members, among them such distinguished women as Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson. The increase within the year has been 6,006, the whole membership now being 18,229.

I deem it unnecessary to make any report, or offer any suggestions, regarding the general work of the office. Each of your national officers will, in turn, render an account of her stewardship. However, may I bespeak your thoughtful attention while I refer briefly to a matter which I trust has commended itself with especial interest to you during the year. I refer to the Continental Hall. The able chairman, with her efficient committee, has accomplished remarkable results when we take into consideration the financial conditions of the year and the difficulty of raising funds for any purpose. The name Continental Hall does not convey all that is meant by the ob

ject of the building. The building implies vastly more. It is, in truth, to be a memorial hall, erected to perpetuate the memory of those who lost their lives in the successful effort to achieve independence. Should not Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill and Saratoga be represented in this building? there no memorial shaft to rear its stately head in memory of the martyr ship prisoners? Do not the brave men, who suf fered untold agonies at Valley Forge during that memorable winter, call for recognition in this memorial house? Can Guilford Court House, Eutaw Springs, and King's Mountain remain unrecognized? Does not my own beloved State, Illinois, owe to the memory of George Rogers Clark a debt of gratitude she has never paid? And is Yorktown to be forgotten in this historic building?

. Remember, it is not for your glory, or for the glory of the present generation, that this building is to be reared and to stand. It is not only for the convenience of your officers, and that your annual Congress may be held with ease and elegance within the spacious assembly room! Nor is it alone to contain the archives and treasures brought from time to time as heirlooms of bygone days. But it is to be forever an object. lesson for your children, to teach them veneration for the patriotic dead, and that the recognition of their services should be commemorated in marble which will not perish. Yes, one and all will ask for recognition, and that marble building will yet tell how we revered the memory of our honored dead. Somewhere I have read that "no home can be attractive where women have no resources; and women can have no resources outside of domestic duties, unless educated to some art, or something calculated to draw out their energies and higher faculties, by which they win the respect and admiration not of men only, but of their own sex."

In this connection it gives me pleasure to refer to the AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE, the official organ of the National Society. It is ably edited by Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood. Its success has been extremely gratifying, as evinced by the increase in the number of subscribers. It has elicited this well merited compliment from an able jurist of Chicago, that "it is the best magazine of the kind in existence." From its pages

you gather not only the official report of the monthly meetings of the National Board of Management, but of all events of interest noted by the Chapters in the entire country, and interesting papers written by "Daughters," who knew not their gifts until developed through this medium. I most cordially bespeak for the AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE a more extended and liberal patronage and an ever-increasing subscription list.

The event which has, above all others, made the year notable, and given greatest satisfaction, is the one step taken towards the union of the two Societies, the Daughters of the Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution. While the thought and hope had been in the air, and manifest in several ways for many months, it did not take tangible form until March 5th, 1896, at a meeting of the National Board of Mangement, when it was moved that:

"WHEREAS, We have on several occasions received cordial greetings from the Daughters of the Revolution, and a union of that Society with ours has been suggested; therefore,

Resolved, That we express to the Daughters of the Revolution our willingness to appoint a Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for a conference with the Committee of the Daughters of the Revolution, regarding union, if they desire so to do." (Carried).

This suggestion was courteously declined, at a later day, by the Daughters of the Revolution.

Ladies, I have at this point inserted for publication, the resolution offered by Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, Regent of the Long Island Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution, which led to the appointment of a conference committee by the President General, by the order of the National Board of Management.

On June 4th, 1896, at a meeting of the National Board of Management, a letter was read by Mrs. Main, Recording Secretary General, Daughters of the American Revolution, from Mrs. Holbrook, General Secretary of the Society of the Daughters of the Revolution, dated May 30th, 1896, and signed by Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, Regent Long Island Society, Daughters of the Revolution. After a beautiful preamble, deprecating the two separate organizations, and expressing a desire for their union, under a single name, constitution and government, the following motion was passed;