The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-24

bama, known in two continents and who has won a reputation as inter- preter of plantation folklore second to none recently gave a most interesting recital of original songs and stories from her book, "Old Plantation Days, at chickering hall, Boston. This particular recital. which was Mrs. Gielow's tenth reading in Boston since December, was of unusual interest from the fact that it was benefit to found a scholarship fund for southern girls of gentle birth without means who wish to secure course of oratory, music or dramatic art to fit them for teachers.
 Mrs. Gielow prefaced her reading, says a Boston correspondent, with a tribute to the old mammy, and made some touching remarks on the need of educa- tional advantages of the poor mountain whites of the south and of her own ef forts to establish a scholarship fund for girls of refined parentage.
 q will lift for a moment the curtain of Time" she said, and present to you one by one the old mammies and dadsies and uncles and aunties of the old south. In few more years these unique types will cease to exist and their like will never be known again. And when they are gone the golden charm of the negro dialect, with its tender pathos and soft eadences, will be buried with them. Yes, the man. my is passing, and l would pay her tribute as tender as the lullabies she crooned over us Tn our infancy, as faith full as her devotion which sustained us in the years of sorrow, as dear as the love which she gave us in the days Of happiness and peace.
 "The new conditions have created new negro, with new ideas, new ways, new speech and new manners We of the south feel grateful to the philan- thropists of the north for all they have done for the education of the negroes in the southern states. But, my friends. l want to speak just one word to you on this subject in regard to another class of citizens who need educational advant- ages as much if not more than the col- ored people. I mean the poor illiterate whites of our mountain districts. Your attention has been so intently concen- trated upon the education of the negro that 1t is not surprising that you should overlook the distressing needs of our poor white brother. The negro has had the millions of northern philanthropists behind him for forty years; no one, com paratively speaking. has made an effort to uplift and educate the poor mountain whites. to tighten the spark of ambition in their bleak, desolate lives and to bring the light of reason and education within their grasp.
 'I have always wanted to give my time and talents to that work, but it is work too great for my feeble efforts. l leave 1t to the great hearts of the great philanthropists and to the missionaries who may come to believe in the charity that begins with its work among the des- titute and depraved at home. But there Is one thing which l think l can do and which 1 shall try to do, and that Is to create a scholarship fund 10 help gentle girls of the south without means to se- cure a course of study at this and other schools of oratory who need to fit them selves as teachers.
 You hear of the great prosperity of the south. It is the prosperity of the rich corporations who have secured our great mineral districts. The benefit is confined to certain limits, and the prosperity has failed to reach the masses of our repre- sentative people of gentle birth The con ditons under which they have struggled to maintain a proud frontesnce the war are unknown to you. Why. the negro girls of the lowest types could have had better advantages than the daughters of the most refined parentage who grew up under the hard times of the bitter years of the recent past. And even today the struggle to attain but a reflection of the accomplishments of our fathers a0d mothers Is a hard one for many of our southern girls and boys.
 We need schools and colleges more than we need libraries We need better equip ped professional men, more thoroughly informed women who have to com pete for a living upon the arena of life. We need scholarships for the talented. and colleges for all. Since my own brief career 1 have had many appeals from girls of talent who are making an effort for self-support in the art that has be- come very dear to my heart; and 1 have long cherished the wish to perpetuate my own work by creating a scholarship fund for my gentle sisters in whom am deep ly interested. 1 want to see the way opened for course ever ready at the Emerson college and other schools of oratory for some of our ambitious south- ern girls of gentle birth.
 Meeting with the little band of southern students in Boston, who made themselves known to me by bringing flowers when I gave a lecture recital for the Emerson College of Oratory, has aroused my long cherished desires, and the result Is this recital to found the scholarship fund of which l have dreamed. l want 10 help the sweet daughters of our southland to Dartake or the tree Ol hiOWltuBt III lHt first dramatic schools in the land, and when can do this, 1 shall feel that my own battle upon the turbulent sea of life has not been in vain.
 Now to my illustrations. The curtain of time l will now lift-there is Nanny! She is old and feeble and nearly blind, but her heart is filled with love and de- votion to de chillen she is nussed. She comes forth with her tender welcome" A.. .t..N.. ' T xrra will long remember One by one Mrs. Gielow brought forth the old people of the past-the nanny, the daddy, the auntie as she had promised. with the songs and stories that held her audience en rapport The soft plantation dialect, the delicious cradle songs as only Mrs. Cielow can give them. No woman of the south today occupies so unique a posi- ton In the reading world, nor holds the affections of "her people as she calls them, as Mrs. Gieiow.s And no one bet- ter deserves the proud position she has won by her brave earnestness, her wom- anly dignity, and the wonderful gift that has made her renowned. Let the south stand by her honored daughter. and let the north help her found the scholarship fund for her southern sisters. for in the words of MT. Henry Austin Clapp of Boston. the great critic of the Hub:
 There were never such lullabies as these as they are interpreted by Mrs. Cielow's honeyed voice No Venetian barcarole has such a swing, no classic .l....