The age-herald., 1897-09-16
BY MRS. GEORGE c. BALL.


The French beauty and danseuse Cleo de Merode, reached New York on Mon day. and the swagger set of the gay metropolis Is consumed with curiosity to see her. So much has been written of this young woman, and the journals of the country have been so filled with her pictures, that it is an easy matter to imagine how she really looks. She is emphatically the production of modern French aestheticism; the result of the artistic tendencies and tastes of this mereurial people. She says of herself: Each one of us is an artificial being, and that is our strength and glory" She is essentially adaptable, and brings with her to this country very little to remind one of her romance with the King of the Belgians, two years ago. She now talks serlousl,- of dancing as an art, and looks supremely innocent and infantile while her pretty lips frame these correct and admiral ble sentences. Merode has been painted by artists of note as an angel bright and fair;'' sculptors have preserved her wonderful beauty in the cold lines of marble, and poets have hymned her praise in son nets and madrgals.
 Now she comes to American shores to charm or to disappoint; to reap a golden harvest of American dollars, or to return to her native land bemoaning the fact that she was induced by de- signing managers to come to a cold, un- responsive land, where beauty and grace are not appreciated. What her reception will be remains to be seen, but, it is generally concealed that New York impatiently awaits the opportunity to do her honor. Cleo de Mercedes face, with its quaint arrangement of the hair, over her ears, is familiar one to the majority of Americans, through the widely published pictures of her. Her features are fine, very fine Her fore head is wide and broad, an intellectual forehead, although Merode thus far has made no effort towards brain develop ment Her eyes are large, dark, and luminous, and overshadow every other feature, because of her wonderful beau ty. Mercedes hair is wavy, black, and 1uxuriant, and her mouth and teeth are singularly pretty and attractive She stands expectantly on the threshold of new world, ready to lead it captive with the art of physical action, the poetry of motion.
 IA new profession has been opensd to women by a woman-thais of carpet de- signing. Mrs. Florence Cory, of Syra- cusc, N. T., is the first woman in tho United States who has made success in this line of work. As early as 1878 xrhi1a t.o ugly carpet, she conceived the idea, of designing prctier patterns than many of those in use at the time. Her first ef- fort, which was made without the Knowledge of her family, was sent to factory at Auburn, N. Y, and, while mot accepted then, was returned to her with kind and encouraging letter from the manager This design she improvsd d and altered, and sent it again to the Auburn factory. To her delight, she re- ceived prompt payment for it. There was no establishment where Mrs. Cory could study carpet designing in th.s country, but her desire to master ahe art was so positive and her talent so apparent that she was, through ehe in- fiuence of the president of the caraet trade in this country, admitted to the designing department, of one of the most expensive factories. Later Mrs. Cory be- came interested in the manufacture of wall paper and in the technicalities of the making of silk goods. She became so widely known in these industrial branches that other energetic women overwhelmed her with applications for assistance in learning to design carpets. etc. In 1881 she es ablished a school of industrial art, and many women have graduated from the institution and have made comfortable supports for them selves and dependent families.
 IA committee of Georgia women, of which Mrs. Clement A. Evans, wife of hhe distinguished confederate general, and minister of ihe Methodist church, has issued an address to southern wo- men which is worthy of a band of noble, devoted women, who have never falter- ed in their loyalty to the south and to the justice of the Lost Cause. These ladies request in the address that each Memorial association in the south shall preserve a correct and detailed history of their labors since they were first or ganized. They desire to sacredly keep these records for fu;ure generations, and will have them bound carefully in one volume and dedicated '"To the Heroes from the Heroines of the South" This committee further urges that there shall