736
THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
Minnie McClellan, while Ruth McEnerny Stuart has a wonderful gift for dialect stories. Frances C. Baylor has written some extremely clever satires, and Mary Moore Davis is one of the Southern contributors to “ Harpers’ Monthly,” while a score of others might be named who contribute to the literature of the day. Kentucky has been proud to claim that charming young woman and clever dramatic artist, Mary Anderson Navarro, who, though born in California, spent the early years of her life in Kentucky and there received her education and training. Music owes much also to this state, for Miss Curry Duke, the daughter of Gen. Basil Duke of Louisville, stands today with the foremost violinists of the country. Miss Enid Yandell of Kentucky, whose fine statue of Daniel Boone stands before the Kentucky State Building, has received much favorable criticism from artists.
Another sculptor of note is Vinnie Ream Hoxie of Missouri, whose work in the Woman’s Building has been given a place of honor, and whose statues of Farragut and Lincoln have a world-wide reputation. Caroline Shaw Brooks, whose “ Sleeping Iolanthe,” modeled in butter, was one of the attractions of the Centennial, is a native of Missouri. It has been said that the South has produced no artists worthy of note, but there are at least three whom the world has honored. Mrs. Frederic McMonnies, a native of Missouri, and the wife of the artist who designed the beautiful fountain in the Court of Honor, has enriched the north tympanum of the hall of the Woman’s Building by a decorative painting representing the primitive woman, which has received most favorable comment; while Miss Mary Solari, one of the judges of fine arts, and the first woman ever admitted to the Academy of Beaux Arts in Florence, although of Italian parentage, was born in Memphis, Tenn., where she spent the early years of her life. Still another woman is Mrs. Dobe of Helena, Ark., and her work, which had a creditable representation in the Woman’s Building, was admitted to the Paris Salon. These three have come prominently into notice in connection with the World’s Fair, but there are many other Southern women who have attained distinction in the critical world of art.
In summing up the three classes, can we find a happier combination of them all than that possessed by the young Southern woman who has stood so nobly at her post as President of the Board of Lady Managers for the past three years? Only those who have seen her from day to day realize fully her wonderful capabilities. In situations that would have tried the souls and tempers of the greatest statesmen in the country she has been calm, diplomatic and thoroughly mistress of the situation. It is well known that her magnetism and influence in Washington did more toward obtaining an appropriation from Congress for the Columbian Exposition than all the arguments of the Solons put together. And it is safe to say that the most skillful politician of his day could never have accomplished what Mrs. Palmer has done in matters of tact and diplomacy connected with the management of the Board of Lady Managers. To her the poet’s words may well apply:
“ The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill.”
•Standing today in this building, where we breathe the very atmosphere of the concentrated genius of the nineteenth century woman, the air is fairly charged with inspiration. Instead of criticising the Board of Lady Managers, or drawing attention to the petty differences which have arisen in their meetings, as some small-minded people have done, let us rather look at the splendid result of their three years’ work. They have held out a hand to woman the world over, aided her development and encouraged her in all branches of art and industry. In every way have they strengthened the weak and encouraged the strong.
All honor to these women who have made it possible for the young women of the North and South to clasp hands, and to stand upon the threshold of a new life! And as they stand, their faces turned toward the future, and their hearts filled with the desire to give the highest and best in them toward the ennobling of their race, let us hope that their lives may be full of earnest purpose and noble endeavor, and that the world may be the better for their having lived in it.