The Russellville Democrat., 1893-08-10
Discrimination win bs Used in the Matte of Invitations to the woman's Building, and nIission.
 ary Work ssay
 he Begun.

ElOnaDle tnealers De SHut dOWn lOIt LII l with, and not reopeneo while the fair continues. The
 matter of the Plaisance was intro
 duced in an unusually tame
 session by a call for the report of 8 committee appointed two weeks ago to send out cards to the women on the Midway Plaisance for the pur- pose of inviting them to the woman's building. They were there to be shown its beauties by members of l the board. The committee had made no report, and had taken to action. But the women needed no report to set them talking.
 1 Isabella Beecher Hooker was the first to speak. She reviewed briefly l the character of the famous street, and said in conclusion
 nI think we had better invite that quarter-not in bulk, as has been suggested--but very much in de l tail.
 Do you mean to say," cried one of tue women, jumping to her feet as Mrs. Hooker sat down, "that any woman has fallen so low that the board of lady managers will not hold out helping hand to herf' This brought Mrs. Barker to the platform.
 aI will take second place to no one in missionary work, she said. "I went down on the Plaisance to- day, impelled by a sense of duty. Applause and laughter. l never have been so grieved or shocked i'll my life as I was at the things 1 saw. I will most certainly oppose inviting the women who perform at the the atres there to meet socially the mem bers of this board. They are, many of them, not representatives of foreign nations, but women of Chicago chosen to act these disgusting parts. Can you endure the thought that your sons and your daughters should witness such spectaclesf Iconsider it our duty, rather than to enter tain these people, to enter protest against them, and demand that the places where they perform should be closed. Appoint me as com mittee and will go and plead with those women at whatever cost, but l strongly object to the board putting itself on record as entertainers of the women who so grossly violate the name of dancing on the Mid way"
 Then Mrs. Barker sat down and cried as if her heart would break. Mrs. Felton hastened to lend her moral support.
 "I want to say" she said, ''that I went with Mrs. Barker into those places, impelled, like her, by high sense of duty. Regarding our ex- perienees I can only add that l had no idea we were living so near such demonstrations" :"
 Mrs. Shepard's testimony was on the other side of the question:
 Il don't know where Mrs. Barker and Mrs. Felton vent" she said 'I have been on the Plaisance a great deal, and l have never found anything disgusting, but on the con trary, much that was interesting and fascinating"
 Mrs. Eagle, too, stood up for the Plaisance.
 'I have been almost every where, '' said she, land l have not yet been frightened away from any tbipg. Perhaps may be, but so far as my observation goes I do not coincide with the views expressed by those whose sense of duty took them to the Oriental theatres. l should like to ask where they went.
 Mrs. Felton hastened to inform Mrs. Eagle that the self-appointed committee of investigation went to the Egyptian, Algerian, Persian and Turkish theatres. Mrs. Felton coupled the nformationwith a reso- luton to the effect that the coun- cil of administration be requested, on the part of the board, to investi- gate the matter themselves. Mrs. Wise added an amendment request .Ag the administration to shut down the objectionable places. As tho discussion had been entirely in formal, however, neither resolution nor amendment was recorded, and further debate was cut off by mo. ton to adjourn.
 Mrs. Charles Price was in the chair, Mrs. Palmer having left it shortly after the subject was intro duced. The only part she took in the discussion was to laugh with the rest when Mrs. Barker alluded to her "sense of duty"
 ''I'm afraid we've all been there, Mrs. Barker" she said.
 It is not improbable that a crusade will now be made by the director general on Midway Plaisance, and if there are any offensive exhibitions there they will be promptly stopped. The council of administration has authorized the director general to investigate the common reports and to take any necessary action without furtLer notice from 1t. There are one or two dances on the Midway that have excited great deal of comment. The dance in the Cairo