B.B. & T. Club: My mom Vera’s memory

As a little girl I lived in Chicago; my friends
took piano lessons, "elocution lessons," and
sometimes dancing lessons. Our parents had
a music club which met at alternate houses. We
listened in as the president hit the gavel and
called the meeting to order. The secretary read
"minutes" and ended with "Respectfully submitted."
We formed our own club, but what to name it? We
discussed music: Mozart, MacDowell, but chose
"The Buster Brown and Tige Club" from a favorite
newspaper comic. I would be secretary: I had little red
notebooks wherein I'd write "respectfully submitted."
At our first meeting we performed various talents then
held the election. I was chosen president while Hilda Duck
was given the little notebooks and got to write the magic
words, "respectfully submitted." We made club rules: one
was "I promise for one year to refrain from intoxicating drinks"
another my older sister (no member) added: "No sarcastic remarks
allowed" though we didn't know that word's meaning. We signed
our names: H. Duck, V.A Wardner, N. McAllester, Elizabeth
Reemer, C. McAuliffe, M. Geary, E. Duck. At the meeting's end
I rinsed the silver pitcher used for lemonade and found in the
bottom buttons, a button hook, and an assortment of safety
pins. In later years two presidents of the National Federation of
Music Clubs emerged from these clubs: one from the adult club
and one from the children's club: my mother, V.A Wardner!