The four Committees and their Auxiliaries have an Annual Meeting each April, and the President of the Women’s Committee presents a general report to the Association in May. The names of some of the reports are indicative of the work, for instance: “A Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage,” “The Adventures of the Women’s Committees, or How We Financed the Chorus,” “Twenty Years at Hard Labor, a Motion Picture, with a Prologue and an Epilogue and Continuous Music by the Philadelphia Orchestra.” Their work has been strenuous, but the women have had many thrills and good times in the doing of it. There are pleasures in the chase only known to those who hunt, even when the quarry is an Endowment Fund. Women are needed in every household to attend to the personal side of life, the entertainment of guests, the timely gifts, the flowers and many other things. They have even been known to help to support the establishment when the struggle seemed too hard for the men. This has been much the position occupied by the Women’s Committees during the last twenty-one years. Their entertainments have made many artists welcome to this city. Their gifts have come at just the right time: the share in the loving cup to Mr. Van Rensselaer; the silver plates to Mr. Stokowski on the completion of his tenth year as conductor; the silver vase to Dr. Rich after eighteen years of service; the porringer to little Sonia Marie Noël Stokowski, engraved with a verse from Wordsworth, all give a human touch to the Association. And when the men were spent in the battle, the women worked to support the establishment. [20] See In Memoriam The Women’s Committees rejoice in the work they have done for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in blazing the trail for women elsewhere. When the first was formed twenty-one years ago it was a pioneer and a unique organization, unknown anywhere in connection with a permanent orchestra. Many persons looked on it with, at least, a question. Now the questions are of a different nature, and come from other cities where orchestras are being formed. The value of women’s efforts in fostering music, and in making orchestras popular, seems to be recognized. Women’s work for art in America is rapidly expanding; the torch has been borne by the Women’s Committees for the Philadelphia Orchestra. CHAPTER V THE GUARANTORS AND THE GUARANTEE FUND There are a few satisfactory ways of financing an orchestra, but there are a number of unsatisfactory ways, and maintaining or trying to maintain a Guarantee Fund is one of them. The devotion of the guarantors of the Philadelphia Orchestra through sixteen years of financial embarrassment is a part of the story of which Philadelphia may be proud. A group of one hundred and twenty men and women[21] constituted the first guarantors in 1900-1901. [21] See Appendix D. At the close of the season this notice was issued: