The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-08

from some ofAthe delegates, who felt that
she was expecting reports from the
clubs little too soon. and Mrs. Pepper
of Waterville, said: "Wait till next year. -
Mrs. Gorham FL. Wood, who has rich
oontralto voice, sang 1.-THE Spirit
Song" by Haydn, with delightful effect,
followed by a paper on 1.-The Influence of
the Beautiful by Miss Mary An n Greedy
of Ellsworth.
Miss Greedy treated her subject from a
oharmingly practical standpoint, thou gh
she did not fail to speak of the refining
influence of the love Of the beautiful
both from nature and art. From the
practical standpoint, Miss Greedy dwelt
emphatically on the influences which
might be accomplished by the club wom-
en- in the school room decoration, and
free art exhibitions,
Miss Greedy spoke Of the excellent work
of the village improvement societies, but
made her strongest point for developing
the love OF the beautiful in children by
having more attractive school houses
with the additions of flowers and pictures
there in order to make the school room
nave the same sort of influence, which
ought to emaDate from cultivated home.
| short discussion followed and then
Mrs. Briggs called upon Mrs. E. II.
Hall Of Rochester, N. Y, former resi-
dent of Bangor, to address the women.
| Mrs. Hall emphasized Miss Shows
plea for more cooperation and help in
| regard to the school work, but spoke only
q brief word
The head of the Portland delegation
was we'll sustained by the unions presl-
dent, Mrs. Frank B. Clark, who gave the
ladies a history of the growth and de-
velopment Of our school room decoration
committee up to the formal acceptance
of the beautiful pictures by Mayor Ran
dali last May The ladies' were much
interested in the report and Miss Snow
expressed herself with much enthusiasm,
and she apparently felt that there was no
en- in regard to school matters. Possibly
| it might be interesting to state here that
out of the eight Maine clubs which re-
sponded to the educational circular letter,
two were from Portland-the Literary
Union and the George Eliot club.
The other paper of the afternoon was
by Mrs. Sprague of Rockland entitled
Modern Authorship" and was interest
| ing from the evident pleasure which
Mrs. Sprague found in her own reading
and study.
In closing Mrs. Sprague said:
While our great philosophers, scholars
and scientists are the true men of letters,
whose work is supreme, there Is a world
of authorship Ewith lighter touch, and
who shall say its mission is not worthy
and acceptableg For many of US sym
pathize with Charles Lamp, who said he
| could read almost anything that was
| book, but there were some books that he
could not allow for such. For myself
have always believed that people should
read anything than nothing, and have
| therefore rejoiced in the great variety of
books and subjects treated, being strik-
ingly reminded of this latter recently in
looking over list which ranged from
"The Affections and Jealousies of Liz
ards" to "a New York View of He'll"
Any consideration of modern author
ship must seem incomplete without
mentioning that of our Countrywide
Brockden Brown was the first American
| to make literature profession, it was
Washington Irving who first won inter
national renown and laid the foundation
| of American letters, now commensurate
with the other institutions of our country
aud honored among the nations through
| Its representatives in science, history
poetry and general literature, where they
have striven as Lowell says:
| To write some earnest verse or line
Which, seeking not the praise Of art
| Shall make clearer faith and manhood
shine
| In the untutored heart.
| Ho who doeth this in verse or prose,
May be forgotten in his day,
| But surely shall be crowned at last with
those
Who live AMI speak for aye"
| There were more reports from some of
the clubs, and adjournment followed.
| There was large attendancesat the
evening session in the Unitarian church.
The programme was very interesting and
| included a selection by ladies quartette,
Mrs. j. N. Bright, Mrs. W. A. Nelson,
Mrs. W. L. Bragg, Mrs. G. II. Wood,
and Mr.. Harry W. Libby; address 'Voice
of today by Mrs. May Alden Ward,
president New England Woman's Press
Association; poem, Mrs. William P.
Frye; solo by Miss Edith M. Bradford
and an address upon "the English Ian
guage as it is spoken and written" Miss
Lillian Munger of Boston, Mass.