The age-herald., 1900-08-05
Mrs. Mildred 3, Pierce Talks of Her Success, JOHNSTON HOME DEDICATION
  Brought Prominent Alabama Women to Birmingham the Past Week Some Gossip of Inter-
 est in Society.
BY ANNIE KENDRICK WALKER.

"I own and edit a country newspaper am its business manager, as we'll as local reporter. I can talk advertising by the yard can quote rates and stipulate for position Four months from the day undertook to edit and manage the Citron- elie Times 1t was firmly established financ- ially and at the end of the first year the purchase price, all cost of publishing and some hundreds of dollars beside, was the earning power of this paper. The Citronelle Times can make and support the unique claim for a country newspaper that it owes not a penny" said Mrs. Mildred B. Pierce recently, one of the brightest and best known newspaper women in Alabama.
 Four years ago Mrs. Pierce established the Times at Citronele- Her successful record Is an evidence of her pluck, energy, executive ability and the courage to as- sume the dual responsibility of both the editorial and business departments of paper-responsibilitie that few women are considered capable of bearing and that few women are sufficiently courageous to un- dertalke. In that time Mrs. Pierce has not only placed her paper upon business basis, but has conducted its editorial policy along the lines that have established it as a strong and fearless advocate of all ques- tions appertaining to the educational and club interests of the state, but particularly are her discussions of the woman Ques- tion'' recognized as emanating from wo- man who gives serious thought to the sub ject upon which she writes, and whose observations are made not from preju- dice and impulse, but from an intelligent consideration of her subject and an unus- ual gift of bringing out both the humorous and serious side
 If there is one subject upon which Mrs VjIile than other it is the so-called "new woman," whom she never loses an opportunity to denounce in the strongest terms.
 For the enlightenment of those persons who maintain that woman in her profess sional life does not retain the charms that should characterize all women, and who frequently assert that the woman who through inclination or necessity enters @ field of work Is forced to lose the woman Illness that should be her greatest charm, l believe that even a glimpse of this charming little Alabama woman who has opinions and who knows how to express them would forever convince those per- sons of her own theory that the right sort of a woman maintains in all conditions of life the qualities that characterize her in the privacy of her own home While con- tact with the world may develop other traits of which the family circle" did not expect, still the abnormal creature known as the new woman would develop the ob- jectionable qualities quite as much in the home as she would with the light of pub- lice opinion focused upon her.
 While I am not given to a discussion Of the new woman question, since I have rather vague ideas about her existence, and indeed I have no tangible evidence that sine was ever a thing in reality, the existence of the professional woman makes her success or failure a subject of interest to both men and women And Mrs. Pierce is my ideal of the woman who combines an both her professional and her private life the qualities most to be desired.
 There are a number of Alabama women who are making brilliant regulations In their chosen profession. and in newspaper {. work especially are women proving their capabilities to assume many of the duties in both repertorial and editorial work, as well as in the business departments. or the many clever Alabama woman, however, who are successfully engaged in news paper work, Mrs. Pierce has the distinc- tion of owning her own paper and of di- recting its policy according to her own ideas of how a newspaper should be con- ducted
 She is not only strong and capable writer, but when called upon to discuss subjects before gathering composed of brainy men and women she presents her ideas forcefully and clearly and from the moment that she begins speaking until the close of her remarks she holds the closest attention of her audience. Upon several notable occasions in Birmingham she has been invited to speak and in this way she has added to her reputation as