The age-herald., 1901-08-27
America's Greatest Beauty Well Known In Birmingham, Where She Was First Seen as a
 Bridesmaid.
HY ANNIE KENDRlck WALKER.

BY ANNIE KENDRlcK WALKER.
 Society discussed nothing yesterday other than tho death of Miss .Maude Woods Birmingham felt personal claim upon the celebrated beauty because she spent so much time here. Expressions of sorrow were heard wherever society per sons were gathered.
 The demise of Miss Woods Is a shock not only to those who knew her person. ally, but to millions who had never done more than admire her picture. America pays her the homage In death that it &C., corded her when her beauty first became the theme of the artist, the inspiration of the poet and the topic of discussion in a million drawing rooms.
 Unlike the furor created by other beau- tiful women whose fame was made at some brilliant fete the beauty of Maude Woods burst upon the world through an American artist, who glimpsed her three years ago at her home in Virginia. The sketches that he made and that ap- peared in the New York papers brought instantaneous fame to the young Virginia girl, who had posed for them, all uncon- scious that the world was to pronounce her one of the most beautiful of women. that America was to designate her as it's fairest daughter. Pages were written of her In the papers, and she was the talked of of the continent.
 Could Not Define 1t.
 Wenzell, whose women are believed to be the highest type of American beauty, declared that there was a charm about Maude Woods face that could not be analysed Her beauty, he said, possessed the indescribable, indefinable thing that for want of a better word he called charms. He pronounced her head glo- rious. exquisite, perfect. Hers was face that bewitched you. face that had more than beauty in it.
 'I should love to paint that face" ex- claimed William Chase when a sketch of Miss Woods was shown him. .'It is paintable face" he said at the time that the papers were printing half-tones.
 The other New York artists when they were shown photographs of Miss Woods, exclaimed:
 What a beauty" but she does not know she is pretty. She is too full Of innocence, tenderness and purity. She is entirely unconscious of her own loveli- ness. That accounted, they said, for the dreamy sweetness of her face. If she had been told that she was pretty she had forgotten all about it. This little maiden, 1ney said, had other thoughts than of herself, and many dreams, too. They fingered in her eyes, and about her and gave her the pensive air that artists rave over.
 Unconscious of Her Beauty.
 One of the greatest artists said that she would go through life unconscious of her own beauty.
 In the Meeting of the Innocents." that famous painting of Beard, a young girl in all the freshness and charm of her youth emerges from a green wood. Just at the edge of the forest she meets young fawn. It was Beard himself who said that Maude Woods could have posed for that picture. Every artist admitted that she could justly be called an Amer ican beauty.
  later she was the object of universal in terest. She made her first appearance In Birmingham at the marriage of her uncle, pr. Lewis Coleman Morris to Miss Susie Martin. She was among the bevy of beautiful girls in diaphanous robes who trailed up the aisle at St. Mary s-on-the- Highlands to greet the young bride. As her lovely arms, filled with American Beauties. her tall, slender fig ure enveloped in white, her perfect head so beautifully poised upon the perfect shoulders, Birmingham first saw Ameri- cas- beauty.
 Honored by the Exposition.
 The homage of America found fitting expression In the decision of the art com mittee of the Pan-American Exposition Miss Woods was one of the two women, Maxiue Elliott being the other. who was selected by the art committee to be the ideal type of American beauty. The DOT. trait of Mss Woods painted by a famous Boston artist, was made from a photo graph for which Miss Woods sat last winter, which she spent in Birmingham. Harrison posed her for this photograph and it was the last for which she ever sat. It is probably the only authentic photograph of the hundreds that are be- ing printed of Miss Woods in the news- papers throughout the country.
 When she came to Birmingham last winter the season was at It's height. and she was its acknowledged queen. Her beauty had matured. It was no longer the face of the girl, but of the woman. In every brilliant assemblage she was al-