Convention as visitors, if they are not officers. Being members of the Order, they are entitled to transfer cards from the Department Secretary. Question 25. Can Rituals be sold to Past Corps Presidents or others desiring them ? Answer. No. The Rituals of our Order are the property of the Corps, and may not be sold or given away. They should only be seen by members of the Order. A President of a Corps may allow officers to have them for a little while for study if she feels confident that during the time none but those entitled to do so will see or handle them. Question 26. At what age may a child be debarred from being brought into the Corps room during the sessions of the Corps? Answer. No age has ever been fixed by our Order; but as soon as a child can understand and talk of things that happen in its presence, it should be excluded. A child of ordinary intelligence would be able to understand and talk of things that might happen at Corps meetings at the age of five years. Question 27. What is the standing of a member whose dues are remitted by the Corps? Has she a right to all the privileges of the Corps, including that of voting? Answer. Our laws are silent on the subject. The inference is that the Corps so intends, and the general usage in the Corps sustains this view. But as I find no place in our report blanks where such a member may be accounted for, I am at a loss to place her. She is neither a member "in good standing," "suspended" or "dropped." It is my opinion that the Corps voting to remit a member's dues should remit Corps dues only, but should pay her dues to the Department, and return all members in their proper place. A great many questions have been received from inexperienced workers during the year, all of which have been carefully and promptly answered. But being well understood by a majority of our workers, or covered by previous decisions, they have been omitted from this report. The past year has been a busy one for me: my heart and hands have been fully occupied with important interests; but I have taken the time to give careful study to our laws, that I might fulfil the obligations of my office as legal adviser to the National President in a just and lawful manner. I desire to thank the National President, Mrs. McHenry, for the honor she has conferred upon me in appointing me her Counselor, and to assure her that it has been a pleasure as well as an official duty to obey her gentle commands. I shall remember this as one of the most delightful years of my life, because of its work and its successes. And I am greatly indebted to her for several months of high social and intellectual enjoyment, owing to the close communion in official work. I have been delighted daily by her unselfish devotion to the principles and interests for which our organization has been formed, and by frequent glimpses of her modest, sterling worth and integrity of character. The friendship that has heretofore existed between us has been so strengthened and cemented that it will endure while life lasts. I desire, also, to express in hearty, sincere words my thanks to the National Secretary, Mrs. Plimpton, for her unfailing kindness to me personally, and for her untiring devotion to the cause I love, and to assure her of my high appreciation of her rare executive ability and sterling integrity of character. The friendship which has been formed during these months of hard work together, for this sacred cause, will be abiding. I thank my co-laborers everywhere for their many deeds of kindness and words of cheer, which have been a well-spring of joy during the year. With unfaltering devotion to the Woman's Relief Corps, my report is Respectfully submitted in F., C. and L., ANNIE WITTENMYER, National Counselor. REPORT OF NATIONAL INSPECTOR. OFFICE OF NATIONAL INSPECTOR. WASHINGTON, KANSAS, July 1, 1891. Mrs. HANNAH R. PLIMPTON, Madam: National Secretary, W. R. C. Another year's work having been completed in our Order, I have the honor to submit the following report of that part of the work that was placed in my hands to do. The work was so thoroughly systematized last year by Mrs. Clara E. Nichols, my immediate predecessor, to whom all honor and thanks are due, that much of the vexatious work has been eliminated, leaving only the pleasant and kindly tasks. I have tried to take up the lines as she laid them down, and pursue the paths she indicated. With my predecessors, I pray this body that the system of inspection be so changed as to relieve the National Inspector of compiling reports that so antedate her time of office. This has been brought to the attention of the National Convention by the National Inspectors of 1889, 1890, and again, in 1891, you are asked to give it your earnest attention. The Departments are to be congratulated upon their growth and the excellent work of their officers, and especially so with the Department Inspectors, all reports being accurate, correct and neat, many of them as beautiful as pen pictures to look upon. In nearly every case where Corps were not inspected, "inclement, stormy weather prevented," and suggestions that the time of inspection be changed are numerous. The work of instruction and inspection in the South and among our Colored Corps has been in very capable hands, and the good results are evidence of the wise course pursued by the National President and Secretary in their planning. Our sisters in the South return many fold the expense of the instruction given them, and they deserve all credit for their excellent work, albeit they are deficient in ritualistic work. Statistics are meagre from them, for but few of them read and write; but they work, and exemplify "the greatest of all" charity. Not as a matter of form or custom do I take this time to express my thanks to the Assistant National Inspectors for their kind words, and my high esteem of the work they rendered. Many letters have been received that have cheered and comforted. These in my heart are called Bethel, and they will weave in memory's web ten thousand gossamer threads of precious associations. To my predecessor, Mrs. Clara E. Nichols, I am under unbounded obligations for help. Her patience and good-will are unlimited. To Department Presidents and officers who have kindly sent me their General Orders, giving me acquaintance with the Departments through them, I am indebted for their courtesy and for their prompt and generous aid. The information in this report would have been very meagre but for their help. I would respectfully submit the following RECOMMENDATIONS. 1. That the present system of inspection be abolished. 2. That a school, and in large Departments schools, of instruction of the ritualistic work for Corps Presidents be held by the Department Inspector. If, from any cause, the Department Inspector cannot perform the work, the Department President shall hold the school. 3. These schools shall be held in sufficient number, and in places sufficiently convenient to as large a number of Corps as possible, that expenses of attending shall not be so large that the weaker Corps will be prohibited from availing themselves of them. 4. That upon recommendation of Corps President, one member in each Corps shall be appointed by Department Presi dent as Assistant Inspector to examine the books of her Corps, fill out Inspection Blanks, and forward to Department Inspector. 5. That the time of holding the schools of instruction shall be determined by each Department Convention, thereby accommodating the time to the various climates. 6. That the report from each Corps shall be due January 15, at Department Inspector's headquarters. 7. That Department Inspector's reports shall be sent to National Inspector not later than March 1. 8. That the work of Assistant National Inspectors remain unchanged. It is a matter of regret that the National Convention convened so early that there was not sufficient time to allow the embodying of the second quarter's reports in this, thereby covering time until June 30, or the full time of this administration. A few Department Secretaries corresponded with each Corps in her department, and have furnished me figures until June 1. The figures here given cover from June 30, 1890, to April 1, 1891, except where noted. The following Circular letter was sent to all Inspectors. INSPECTOR'S CIRCULAR, No. 1. HEADQUARTERS NATIONAL INSPECTOR W. R. C. } Russet and brown October with its wealth of golden colors has come again, bringing to the Woman's Relief Corps new duties, privileges, pleasures and responsibilities. May each bear a rich fruitage of loving Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty. The time for Corps inspection has not been changed, and, in compliance with Rules and Regulations, a thorough inspection of Subordinate Corps will be made by Department Inspectors and their Assistants during the months of October and November. Only experienced persons should be assigned to this important work. The business methods of the Corps, its books and records, should receive |