Arizona republican., 1905-12-23
THE WOMENS' EXHIBIT
 AN INTERESTING ONE
An Article Which Recalls the Unfort-
 unate Louis XVI.

There is a lot going on at the fair grounds these days, more than any body can tell about at one time. Prob ably the most interesting place yester- day was the woman's department, Tn the division of textile fabrics, under the direction of Mrs. Isaac T. Stoddard. This is the second day that things
 have been doing in that division, just as fast as anybody can do them. There are now over 400 exhibits classified and arranged and 150 or 200 more are on hand ready for classification and plac- ing today And they still keep com ing, all of which is very gratifying to
 the women in charge, even though every added exhibit means more work.
 There are probably a hundred more
 women in this town who have appro-
 priate articles for display, who have
 not even thought about it before, but
 now is the time and when they read
 this they should dig them up out of the
 old keepsake box or from their fancy
 work stock, and send them or take
 them to the fair ground. But all en-
 tries for competition in this division
 are closed and only display exhibits will be accepted unless pre- NlOuSly GHlGItu. ue GAIlDilS ell- ready displayed are not merely from this county, but from all over the ter ritory, for the women of the whole ter ritory have been taking an interest in
 the fair just as much as the men have, a fact that is now very much In evil dence.
 Probably the most interesting thing
 brought into this department yester- day was an exhibit by Mrs. Rosa Schmidt, German woman, seventy five years o!d but who has lived in America for the last fifty years. 1t is
 a quilt that is made of pieces of the wedding dresses of herself, her mother,
 her grandmother and her great grand
 mother, the quilt having been made in Germany. The initial fabric in this quilt, the dress of Mrs. Schmidts great grandmother, dates back so far in his tory one almost hesitates to think about it. This particular fabric is an embroidery of pure gold and silver and it is still well preserved, being as bright and untarnished as in the days of the past centuries.
 Mrs. Schmidt also brought another exhibit, but took it away again for the reason that it was too valuable to leave exposed until the fair is opened and fully organized, when there will be a special guard placed over it ana sim liar exhibits. This particular curio is a solid gold snuff box that once be- lOnged to King Louis the XVI of France. The story of it is an interest ing one. The mother of Mrs. Schmidt was the Countess Columbach, and her | father was an eminent physician, | professor of Heidelberg and Bonn. On ] ,NV7a l,. treat the wife of a French prince for 1 cancer. He succeeded in re- storing her to health an in cident for which the prince felt | that money was not sufficient remun- eration. He therefore gave to the phy- 1 sician one of his most highly prized 1 treasures, the gold snuff box that had l been given to him, the prince, by King i Louis XVI. It is beautifully carved 1 and engraved and it's value is of the ! sort that cannot be estimated in the
 coin of the realm.
 l Another interesting exhibit in this | division is a piece of embroidery that
 was made in 1S10.. Though that is com | paratively modern, when thought of in | connection with the historic quilt above | described, it is yet nevertheless older | perhaps than any person who will visit
 the fair and the fingers which wrought it were busy ones of an age having lit ! tie in common with the institutions or 1 today, so marvellous have been the 1 changes of the last century. There are numerous other exhibits of a textile nature that are both old and interest 1 ing of which something may be said ] later.
 Still another exhibit of more than | passing notice, is of especial inter-
 est to lovers of good books, for there is none better than the Bible. And this book is an old Bible, printed more | than two hundred years ago. Men l who carried Bibles those days were I looked upto with respect, even if they
 were not blameless in their lives, for | in those days there was no American
 Bible society engaged in both openly and surreptitiOusly placing one in the