Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-21
Centennial Letter.
from our Regular Correspondent.
Phtladelphhia, Sept. Is 1876.

FhttddetphhId, NeQt. 10 1870.
So far very little attention has been
paid in this correspondence to the fe-
male branch of Uncle Sam show. 1t
is perhaps, just as well to reserve some
Of the best things for the closing let
ters. The Women's Pavilion is
large structure erected at cost of
over $100,O00, subscribed by the la
dies Of the United States and their
friends for the purpose of making a
special exhibit of the advancement of
the women of the world in the indus
trial and fine arts. The idea was an
original one, and the plan was one of
great difficulty. The scheme would
probably have failed but for the fact
that the cause was espoused by Mrs.
<. D. Gillespie, lady who claims to
be a descendant of Benjamin Franklin
of ample means in her own right, and
possessing the entree to the highest
social circles iu this country and Eu-
rope. Besides these advantages, she
is a women with powerful, almost mas
quliGe. will. and withal sort of phil
osophical philantropist, Austere in
carriage and demeanor, critical and
severe in judgement, she is not at all
lovable or amiable. and her tiumphs
are those of force rather than persua-
sion. just such woman was needed
to make the Woman's Pavilion credit
able to women. and her work is really
a wonder. Upon entering the build
ing we see nothing but the work of
women and women at work. TheIe
seems to be but one man employed,
and he runs the stationary engine that
moues the entire machiner of the
structure. Within, all is hustle and
activity, and every nook and corner is
occupied by some article Of interest,
the work of dainty hands. from che
Empress or Queen in her voluntary
embroidery room to the poor seam
stress who stitches her life away in the
garnet or cellar. The first objects that
attract attention are the beautiful Jac-
guard looms, operated by young ladies
IN making carpets, cloths, dress goods,
ribbons, corsets, flags, bookmakers,
velVets, and other useful and ornamen-
tal goods. Hundreds Of people. most
ly females, crowd about these machines
all day long and endeavor to under
stand their wonderful mechanism
which almost automatically does that
perfectly and swiftly which human
hands failed to do in all the past GEN.
tnries, Mrny are the articles pur-
chased then and there, and if there
were ten times as many Of the looms
running their product would not sup
ply the demand. Turning about we
may witness all sorts of sewing ma
chimes. With these, of course, the
spectators are more familiar, but the
deepest interest is evinced by ALL
Then we view the girls making up the
confections, while others are making
the boxes, and yet others filing them
and disposing of them all at an ad-
vance of twenty per cent. on the rul-
ing rates but this is voted pardona-
BILE, because you are helping the wo-
men along. The ladies in charge are
full of that cunning which makes them
the helpmates of men par eccellence,
and they have not rallied to see advan-
tage of using the clever that moves
the world" the printing press. Here
we see q dozen girls standing up to
the printers rack, picking the types
from the boxes just as men do, and
clicking them in the composing sticks
with proud superiority over the other
white trash who have to sew for liv-
ing. The types are all set, galleys
proved and read, corrected aud made
up into the forms of the Neo0 Century
all by female HANDS. and then the pa
per is printed on cylinder press tend
ed aud fed by girls. The articles
for this paper are all written by wo-
men, and some of them evince literary
talent of the highest order. Altogeth-
er this newspaper is a redit to the wo-
men whe get it up, HundEeds Of
copies Of this journal are sod every
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