The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-22
MRS. GIELow's READ
OY MES. !. M.


 ING IN BOSTON. Boston Correspondent
 Mrs. Martha s. Gtelow of Alabama, known in two continents and who has won reputation as interpreter or plan tation folklore second to none, gave a
 most interesting recital of original songs and stories from her books. Old Planta- ton Days" on Saturday last at Chicker- ing Hall, Boston This particular recita. which was Mrs. Gielow's tenth reading in Boston since December was of unusual interest from the fact that 1t was a benc- fit to found a scholarship fund for South ern 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 with a tribute to the old nanny and made some touching remarks on the need os educational advantages of the poor noun tain whites of the South and of her own effort tc establish a scholarship fund for girls of refined parentase.
 II will lift for moment the curtain oe Time" she said, and present to you one by one, the old mammies and daddies and uncles and aunties of the old South. In a 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 cadences will be buried with them. Yes. the Nanny is passing. and I would pay her a tribute as tender as the lullables. she crooned over us in our infancy, as faithful as her devotion which sustained us in the years of sorrow. as dear as the love which she gave us Tn 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 of the North for all they have done for the education of the negroes in the South ern States. But, my friends. l want to speak just one word to you on this etca- sion. in regard to another class of citi- zens who need educational advantages as much If not more than the colored people, I mean the poor illiterate whites of our mountain districts. Your attention has been so intently concentrated upon the education of the negro. that 1t is not sur prising that you should overlook the dis dressing needs of our poor white brother The negro has had the millions of North- ern philanthropists behind him for forty years-no one comparatively speaking tas 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 1t is a work too great for my fee ole efforts. l leave it to the great hearts of the great philan- thropists, and to the missionaries who may come to believe in the charity that begins with its work among the destitute and depraved at nome. But there is one thing which think I can do, and which I shall try to do. and that is to create . scholarship fund to help gentle girls of the South without means, to secure a course of study at this. and other schools of oratory, who need to fit themselves as teachers You hear of the great pros perity of the South. It is the prosperity of the rich corporations who have secur- 4 fatr tpta haa- eft Is confined to certain limits, and the prosperity has failed to reach the masses of our representative people of gentle birth. The conditions under which they
 have struggled to maintain a proud front sinco 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 percentage | who grew up under the hard times Of the | bitter years of the recent past. And even today the struggle to attain but a -efec- | tion of the accomplishments of our fath- CTS and 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 equipped | professional men, more thoroughly in- | formed women who have got to compete | for living upon the arena of life. We
 need scholarships for the talented, and | colleges for all. Since my own brief ca- reer I have had many appeals from girls | of talent who are making an effort for self support in the art that has become | very dear to my heart; and I have long cherished the wish to perpetuate my own work by creating a scholarship fund for | my gentle sisters in whom am deeply in | terested. I want to see the way opened | for a course ever ready at the Emerson | some of our ambitious southern girls of gentle birth.
 Meeting with the little band of Southern students in Boston, who made themselves
 known to me by bringing flowers when l gave a lecture recital for the Emerson College of Oratary-has aroused my long cherished desires, and the result is shis
 tcital to found the scholarship fund of | which I have dreamed. I want to help | the sweet daughters ot our Southland to | first dramatic schools in the land, and | when I can do this, l 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 I will now lift-tAere is Nanny! | She is old and feeble and nearly blind, | hut her heart Is filled with love and devo- | ton to de chiffon she is nusscd." She comes forth with her tender welcome. And then the picture! It was one we | will long remember. One by one Mrs. Gielow brought forth the old people of | the past-the nanny, the daddy, the songs and stories that held her audience | en rapport. The soft plantation dialect. | the delicious cradle songs as only Mrs. | Gielow can give them. No woman of the | South today occupies so unique a position | in the reading world, nor holds the affec- | tions of ''her people" as she calls them, as Mrs. Gielow. And no one better de- | serves the proud position sho has won, by her brave earnestness. her womanly dig nifty. and the wonderful gift that has made her renowned. Let the South stand | by Ter honored daughter, and let the North help her found the scholarship fund | for her Southern sisters. for in the words of Mr. Henry Austin Clapp of Boston. the great critic of the Hub:
 There were never such lullabies as | these as they are interpreted by Mrs. | Gielow's honeyed voice. No Venetian l barcarol has such a swing, no classic | cradle song involves so tender a caress
 ances of some of the humble, trustful old | colored women there are notes of pathos | which stir the heart in depths below the | spring of tears, even as their laughter
 wells up from perennial sources of ele- mental mirth"
 MISS RIvEs TO GO ON STAGE.
 authoress, Miss Halle Erminie Rives, has determined to abandon literature and SC
 on the stage. It says:
 Tt was Mrs. James Brown Potter who, | in a letter to a friend. uated at Maiden head. England, dropped postscript which mas turned the tide in the affairs | of beautiful young Virginian and caused | her to abandon literature for the drama
 for which she believes that she has even greater talent.
 This postscript ran: By the by, I have | with me here for the summer months the | brilliant young American authoress. Miss | Hallie Erminie Rives of Virgi nia whom I in nS