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The Fifteenth National Convention of the Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, met at Concert Hall, Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, Aug. 26, 1897, at 10 A.M., National President Agnes Hitt in the chair.

National President: Ladies, as my voice is not very strong this morning, I am going to appeal to you to be as quiet as possible so that I can be heard. It will be a kindness to you as well as to me.

Moved by Lizabeth A. Turner of Massachusetts, seconded by Cora Day Young of Ohio, that the first session of this Convention be an open one. [Carried.]

The roll of National officers was then called by the National Secretary.

National President: This Convention will now be opened with prayer by Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler, the National Chaplain.

National Chaplain: Our Father, we ask Thy blessing upon us at the beginning of this Convention. Wilt Thou be with us. May the spirit of love and fraternity be uppermost in our hearts

all the time. Dear Father, bless our President in her work of presiding over this Convention, and we ask Thee to bless all the National Officers throughout this country. These things we ask in Thy name.

Amen.

The Convention then joined in repeating the Lord's Prayer, which was followed by one verse of the Opening Ode.

The National Secretary, Mrs. Ida S. McBride, then read the following appointments :

ASSISTANT NATIONAL SECRETARY.

Emma Stark Hampton of Michigan.

CHIEF CONDUCTOR.

Lue Stuart Wadsworth of Massachusetts.

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS.

Katherine G. Raynor, Ohio; Elizabeth Vail, New York; Carrie T. Alexander, Illinois; Julia E. Dockery, Missouri; Laura F. Cumings, Pennsylvania.

CHIEF GUARD.

Imogene L. Guion, New York.

ASSISTANT GUARDS.

Mary F. Noxon, Connecticut; Jessie Goodman, Kansas; Nellie M. Carlton, Maine; Thyetta M. Gilson, Illinois; Gertrude L. Mitchell, Indiana; Clara Davis, Iowa; Isabella Morrison, Rhode Island.

CREDENTIAL COMMITTEE.

National Secretary Ida S. McBride, Chairman, Indianapolis; Jennie Bross, Illinois; Frelove W. Elam, Indiana; Alida Rule, Tennessee; Sarah E. Fulton, New York.

PRESS COMMITTEE.

Samantha West Miller, Chairman, Indianapolis; Hollen E. Day, Missouri; Mary A. North, Anacostia, D. C.; Isabel Worrell Ball, Washington, D.C.; Althea O. Conable, Clinton, Iowa; Fannie E. White, Urbana, Ohio; Inez J. Bender and Rachel Gruelich, Illinois.

STENOGRAPHERS.

Ella Snyder, Indiana; Katherine L. Kercheval, Indiana.

PIANIST.

Kate Reidpath, Buffalo, N. Y.

National President: The National officers who are in the body of the house will please come to the platform.

National President: The Chairman of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee and her committee are ready to visit us, and in order that it may be done properly, I wish to announce my Reception Committee.

RECEPTION COMMITTEE.

Charity Rusk Craig, Chairman, Wisconsin; Ellen M. Putnam, New York; Melissa Caylor, Indiana; Cora Day Young, Ohio; Helen S. Morrison, Pennsylvania; Mary E. Ninekirk, Kentucky; Sarah C. Nichols, New York.

The Reception Committee will please retire to the ante-room and escort Mrs. Fulton and her committee to the platform.

National President: Ladies, I have the very great pleasure of introducing to you Mrs. Robert Fulton, Chairman, and members of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee of Buffalo. Salute.

National President: Mrs. Fulton, it gives me very great pleasure to greet you this morning in my Convention, and extend. to you and your committee my very cordial appreciation of your great services.

Mrs. Fulton: Mrs. President and members of the Woman's Relief Corps, I am very glad to meet you in Buffalo, and I am happy to greet you in the name of the Woman's Citizens' Committee. We are proud to entertain such a noble body of women. We have looked forward to entertaining the Grand Army of the Republic and its auxiliary organizations, and have done all we could to make the time pleasant while you are here. What is your motto? Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty. It seems to me that means so much, if you only live up to it. Fraternity, that means human brotherhood, irrespective of race, creed, or religion. It means that we are brothers in the broadest sense of the term, throughout the whole world, brothers and sisters. Loyalty, what does that mean? It means that we shall be true to ourselves and in every way true to our brothers and sisters.

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"This above all: To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

And Charity. Charity means much. "Charity suffereth long and is kind." Charity of opinion, not only of action. We know that you have been loyal. We know of your gifts to the old soldiers. We know of the large sums that you have spent. But charity means more than that, for it means charity of opinion, charity of speech, so that it seems to me that your motto means a great deal. And now, Mrs. President, allow me, in the name of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee, in token of our respect for you and our esteem, to present to you these flowers. Let me present to you Mrs. Benjamin Williams, the Vice-President of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee. She has housed the Loyal Home Workers, the Army Nurses and the Daughters of Veterans, and has worked hard for the success of this Encampment.

Mrs. Williams: Mrs. President and Ladies of the Woman's Relief Corps. It gives me great pleasure to stand before you this morning and know what you represent. You represent a united thought and that which stands for the relief of thousands of noble men who fought our battles. I stand here this morning, not only as the Vice-President of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee, but as the President of the Woman's Protective Association of Buffalo, an institution which stands for the relief, education and uplifting of women; and we have this week opened our doors in hospitality and welcome to every member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Woman's Relief Corps, and every other Association that may choose to make our home, and it is a beautiful one, a resting place. When you choose to come you will find hospitality and a welcome there, and we shall be glad to see you all.

Mrs. Fulton: Mrs. Edgar B. Jewett, the wife of the Mayor, and the Chairman of the Reception Committee of the Ladies' Citizens' Committee.

Mrs. Jewett: I simply wish to exend to you the welcome of the city in the name of the Mayor. He wishes me to say that he is very busy with the duties of his office in welcoming the Grand Army of the Republic, and will not be able to attend the sessions of the Woman's Relief Corps, but that he wants you to have the

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