Friendship's Flag Unfurled

To its inaugural Conference in Vienna in 1930 the Associated Country Women of the World attracted about 300 delegates. Conference No. 2 drew no more to Stockholm in 1933. A ringing tribute to the gregarious quality of U. S. Womanhood was Conference No. 3 in Washington last week. Some 7,000 women, 18 to 80, arrived by bus, car and rail from all parts of the nation. To give the affair an international tone, there were also women from Ceylon, Rhodesia, Latvia, 19 other countries, who joined this largest female host ever to descend on Washington. For five days at Constitution Hall and all over the District of Columbia the Country Women had a high old time under the vague, idealistic auspices of promoting "The will to peace."

Since rural budgets are inelastic, most of the women avoided hotels, packed their belongings into inexpensive boarding houses and private homes, pitched tents in tourist camps outside the city. "Towns people never have done anything like it," boasted Mrs. Alfred Watt of Canada, the Country Women's plump president. The women listened to President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull once, Secretary of Agriculture Wallace twice. They deployed over the White House lawn, serenaded the President with Home on the Range, drank Mrs. Roosevelt's lemonade, showed such eagerness to shake the hand of a woman who has homes both in the country (Hyde Park) and city (Manhat tan) that Mrs. Roosevelt had to withdraw behind three White House aides. They made a pilgrimage to Mt. Vernon. Mrs. Arthur E. Brigden, 67, of Marathon, N. Y. announced that, after considerable research, she had discovered that Martha Washington was "a thorough housekeeper, looking after every detail of household affairs, with a bunch of keys always hanging by her side." To pay homage to such desirable virtues, the A. C. W. W. laid a wreath on the first First Lady's tomb, ignored her husband.

Sandwiched in between social functions, given mostly by Congressmen angling for the U. S. Country Women's votes, were scores of addresses at Constitution Hall. An Australian delegate told how farm women there had installed a wireless set in every outlying homestead so that expectant mothers could summon medical aid. A British delegate made an impassioned plea for the destruction of stone walls and high hedges so that driving townspeople could enjoy country yards and gardens. A resolution favoring more emphasis on international news in rural newspapers passed unanimously. An lowan chorus chanted folk songs. An Amerindian woman presented a marionette show, Irish delegates a jig. President Watt demanded that Country Women ''shed that inferiority complex," symbolically urged the overturn of the present status in which the "cook" (woman) is dependent on the "gardener" (man). "Make the gardener the servant of the cook," thundered she. Michigan's Dr. Dora H. Stockman read a poem she had dedicated to A. C. W. W. Last verse: Great God of all the nations, We come a mighty throng With hand clasped hand in greeting We sing a glorious song. A prayer for faith and courage, Peace and friendship's flag unfurled From the homes of every country, Country Women of the World!

Proof of the conference's zeal was the huge exhibit of handiwork: dress buttons made from walnuts and peach seeds, a dish fashioned from a Ceylon coconut shell, Irish tweeds colored by rock lichens, U. S. doormats made from corn husks, a South African fur coat made from homecured lambskin. Issued also was a huge cookbook of 500 recipes. Outstanding dishes in this international volume: kanga-roo-tail soup, passion fruit tart, braised cockatoo, acacia flower fritters, Chinese kan-ping, California tamale pie, Ceylon pancakes.

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