The San Francisco call., 1897-04-29
THEY WOULD
! PLEDGE THE
CHILDREN
The Woman's Congress Dis
cuSsss Aesthet-
les.
DR.. a. M. BEECHER IN
TRODUCED.
Plea for the So-Called Fads OF
the Public School
System,
THE CONVENTION DEVELOPS A
BEAUTY.
Speakers Frown Upon the Poster,
Co!ored Editions and Dia.
lect Verse.
The CONVENTION DEVELOPS A
BEAUTY.
Speakers Frown Upon the Poster
Co!ored Editions and Dia.
lect Verse.

hereby promise to have my
thoughts, my habits and deeds such
that my State and Nation will be some
what repaid for my education. And 1
viii be a worthy citizen of the United
States.
Such is the pledge Mary Newberry
Adams would have each little toddler
take simultaneously with his enrolment
in the public schools of this City. Sand
wIched in between the alphabet and first
attempts at unit computation she would
have the little ones taught that the State
is simply advancing them an education;
that at the very outset OF life they are
debtors to their City. That there may be
no possibility OF the children forgetting
their debt Mrs. Adams would suggest
taking VOWS at each epoch in their edu-
cation with appropriate ceremonies"
This was one of the startling theories
evolved at yesterdays session of the
Woman's Congress- session quite the
most exciting OF this convention of '97.
And to the women belongs al the credit
Ct it, for during the morning and after
noon session there was not a man speaker
on the floor. In tact, every one seemed
was male population. DR.. Beecher for a
moment deviated from the narrow path of
virtue and said man" but she quickly
redeemed herself by explaining, when l
sav man l mean woman"
Seven papers were read-some good,
some bad and some Indifferent. But even
the best address paled into insignitieance
before this wondrous fact-the Woman's
Congress has developed a beauty, a
haa ~ ba (,fh oil fair
with hair like spun gold and the broad,
low brow OF Grecian goddess. And she
read q paper, an excellent paper, The
Commonplace Woman" There were
some bitter truths IN it about ''cacklers
and shriekers and the short frizzed-hair
spectacled suffragist." But so clear was
Miss Lyle's exposition, So neatly turned
her logic, that even the speciacIed dele
CATION espoused her cause and explained,
You owe it to US, shriekers and cacklers,
the fact that you may stand there in all
your beauty and read your well-written
papers before audience OF intelligent
thinkers such as this"
The congress fired another of its great
guns when it frowned down the poster
craze the colored edition and dialect
verse. The poster and the gaudy Sunday
magazine supplement were declared TO
foster in children the love of vulgar dis
play and destroy the cir love of harmoni-
Gus ana beau iiul whole. Miss Coolbri
the poetess, declared against the dialect
verse az is circus performance set to
music" she said, and the hearty applause
of the audience plainly indicated their
sentiments on the latest literary fad.
The feature of the morning session was
Miss a. NJ. Beecher, a cousin OF the noted
divine. She al once became a favorite by
reason OF her native wit and smart de-
livery. Her com pliment to California is
a worthy ompanion to Helen Gardeners
pretty expression OF praise. Said Miss
Beecher:
Il was asked how I liked California, and
l made answer, i have unpacked my
trunks and sent them TO the baggage
room. "
a strong plea was made by Miss Darrah
for the so-caI ed fads of the public school
system. Said the lady: 1T is not educa-
on to stuff little one with reading,
writing and arithmetic, but to fit the child
for the best that is III it. And il is by
means OF these tads that we discover what
the best isl
Tomorrow evening Mrs. Gardiner will
deliver her fam Gus address on ''Heredity," !"
and members of the association will be
accorded the advantage OF gaining en-
trance by the side door before the general
public is admitted. Each members life
ticket includes admission to a male es-
cort Any body is eligible for N EN- bersbip
on the payment OF 81.
The third day of the Woman's Con-
Gress was given over to the discussion OF
esthetics. This topic of the beautiful
served TO introduce new speaker to San
francisco, DR.. Beecher, a COUSIN of the
noted divine.
Mrs. Jerome Churchill was the first TO
read her paper, entitled Poetry, the
Natural Interpretation of the Spiritua!
erse." Her essay was made up largely
of quotations from the great poets of the
past and present.
Among other pretty thoughts the lady
said:
''It has been said that poetry is the
natural language of the soul. And we are
told IN Gods book that the soul must be-
come as little child before it can enter
into the kingdom or understanding of
holy things. The real, true, immortal
poet, then, must be to some extent the in.
splred prophet OF God
The word poetry does not signify
jingle and rhyme. There are prose poems
quite as beautiful as any that art can
measure by its metric scale.
The poetic muse loves best to express
herself in the sweet mystical language OF
nature, for natures language i. Gods Ian
guage. 1t is the poets sacred privllegs to
interpret the divine thought suggested.
Nearly all our great poets have communed
much with nature In the abstract"
Although not down on the regular pro.
gramme the Bramacharin was present
and consented to speak. to add his praise
10 Mrs. Churchill's beautiful paper. His
address was eloquent and fowery. He
said in part:
The speaker has so finely and beautifully
expressed her ideas that / am enraptured
They have been those of the Orien tails from
time immemorial. Nature, the whole uni-
YeTse--noI only the spiritual universe, but the
universe OF matter also-is music solidified.
Iae subject is generally looked upon as mys-
ucism. though il is as clear to US anything
under the heavens can be. All the great re-
Hgionists have described music as a part of
their religious deyotions, and everywhere you
will find music
Why? Because the whole universe is built
on m usic, and it is this keynote which, when
thoroughly mastered, gives man the mastery