Birmingham state herald., 1895-10-13
SOME UNIQUE EXHIBITS
Portions of the Woman's Build
 ing Wherein Abounds
THE SOUTHERNAT M0SPHERE
The Individuality of the Women of the South The First College in the World
 for Women. ' ss. ;

Atlanta, Ga, Oct. 12.LThe most inter- esting place in the wQman's building to visitors looking for d real southern at- mosphere is the New Orleans room, for. there one finds nothing save the genuine products of southern industry ahd art; and 1t Is not only attractive on that ac- count but because the exhibit Is in itself well selected and thoroughly artistic. The furniture is all of massive carved mahog- ony of the sort that Is now getting to be very rare in New Orleans, since the seek CT TOT antiques has invaded It's precincts. There IS an odd, nttle single bed or mahogany, almost as black as ebony, and it is prize tor which any or the pig Gotham shops would give $lU0 The rug on the floor IS of tan and white striped cotton stuff, and so are the cuItaihs gracefully hung at the windows. These and a number of fine embroideries ana tapestries come from the Arcadlans, peo- pie of an odd little settlement in lower Louisiana, which was EVangelineS coun- try, and where the habits, homes and in- dustries Of the people are as primitive as they were 150 years ago. Cable mas told of their life, but this exhibit Is really the first that has ever been made or their work. An odd little screen done by one of these women contains tapestry work of dog wood blossoms and Is ln- scribed with the unique line: Tn the fishermans hut the loom and the wheel are still busy"
 The case of marvelously fine embrold- cries comes from the convent in New or leans where the nuns are famous Tor their handiwork. One of these specimens is an altar piece In pine apple clo1h ap- pliqued with finest lace. The fabric IS one that is very little made now, but In the old southern days no gentle woman was without her collection of pineapple hand kerchiefs and stomachers. In the corner of the room in the left the Arcadian wom- en have an exhibit of baskets which is well worth Investigating. They are made of a certain kind of cane and marsh grass which grows nowhere except in the swamps of Louisiana, and they are in all sorts of pretty odd shapes somewhat resembling the baskets of the MeXicans and Indians
 These primitive things. however, are not all that the old southern state has to show of woman's work Mrs. Stewart, a well-known New Orleans lace maker, has on the walls an exquisite collection of lace, round point, valenciennes and Irish point The Sophie Newcome college sends a very creditable exhibit from their art department. The striking thing about 1t Is that the subjects chosen are all peculiar to the land they come from. Southern flowers, scenes and faces greet the visitor in this place. There are heads of happy faced negresses wrapped in bright bandannas; the flowers of the tropical south, the magnolia. jessi- mines and bays. areshown. and added to this art collection are some fine paintings of New Orleans artists who have made reputa tions. Kolb and Buch, the painters of the famous Bayou Teche scenes, have two fine canvass. Parilli, the New Orleans Audubon, has several still lifes. Gathered together in one big frame are illustration in black and white which Frances Jones did for Grace Kings last novel; all these are inimitable. She has caught and immortalized the easy smile of the negro nanny and she has given the characteristic pose and grace ful incidence of the Tigon Creole, and has made the old market woman living presence, freighted with odors of onions and bananas.
 city in the south. this peculiar southern individuality, and the ladies In charge of this room very sensibly concluded that they could add nothing better for its adorning than this chara acteristic ex- hibit One of the New Orleans commits sioners said: Knowing that our exhibit would be next to New York, where all the white and gold and new-old mahog ony was to be, and where there was to be displayed no end of embroidery and furniture, we concluded that 1t would be very foolish for us to attempt anything
  was just as much part of us as an or ange blossom from our garden" They showed real wisdom in so doing, for the room is the southern center of the build ing.
 The annex has the southern features accentuated in two. of its departments. One of these Is the South Carolina room and the other the space which old Ma con calls her own. The frieze about the former room is made of cotton. forming a pretty pattern upon a blue background, and an interesting idea is the arrange ment of woman's work, as illustrated by old and modern methods. Above a cab inet filled with fine embroideries anI painted china hangs a number of the quaintest samples and tapestries, where fine ladies wearing sky-scraper bonnets and shortwasted frockS disport them selves with lambs that have strayed an chemically from the right path. In these also there are little girls and little boys with very large heads and very long panalets, their hands and arms out of drawing, offering one another nosegays, whose flowers never grew in heaven or on earth The funniest of the lot perhaps, Is one of the tender funeral mementoes so valued of yore. In which a lady in a very large hoop-skirt and very deep grief, sits and weeps beneath a willow by the tomb of her husband. These were con sidered choice things in the old days, and were always hung beneath the pie ture of the second husband.
 The finest articles of woman's work are to be found in the china paintings and lace made by the nuns in Colum- bia, S. C., and an exhibit in pottery quite fine in its way comes from the hands of Indian women who form a settlement in lower Carolina.
 I wonder how many people know that the first college in the world for women was the Wesleyan Female college, found ed at Macon, Ga., some fifty years ago, and the first diploma ever issued to a woman came into the proud possession of one Catherine Brewer, and is now to be found framed and hanging in a cher ished corner of the Macon room. How little did this quiet little southern girl. in her quaint white frock and blue rib bons. dream of her erudite successors clad in cap and gown, and carrying in their ambitious heads mission liable to develop into anything from boomers to the presidency!
 Below the diploma stands a spinning wheel with a wonderful history. It be- longed to one Peggy McNabb of Perry. N. C., whose husband fell In the year of 1872, and was the one piece of furniture saved by her in conflagration that all most cost her her life The story might dO for ono Of TOe1 Chandler Harris' 4 fri