So this little committee of ours has not been content to let the benevolences drift into the channels of mere convenience--to give to the institutions which have sought aid and to neglect others.

This department has studied the field of human progress, and sought to contribute to each of those elements which we believe tend most to promote it.

Where it has not found organizations ready to its hand for such purpose, the members of the committee have sought to create them.

We are still working on new, and, I hope, expanding lines, which make large demands on one's intelligence and study.
The so-called betterment work which has always been to me a source of great interest had a great influence on my life, and I refer to it here because I wish to urge in this connection the great importance of a father's keeping in close touch with his children, taking into his confidence the girls as well as the boys, who in this way learn by seeing and doing, and have their part in the family responsibilities.
As my father taught me, so I have tried to teach my children.

For years it was our custom to read at the table the letters we received affecting the various benevolences with which we had to do, studying the requests made for worthy purposes, and following the history and reports of institutions and philanthropic cases in which we were interested..