The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-30

Their trained acunen ard capacityi
Trained newspaper women-alert, watch
/ ful-dashing down shorthand mile
mnutel Trained speakers reading from
| typed notes, giving SO many seconds per
head to each topic watch close by.
Trained pariamentarians, everything std-
tistical, orderly committee bound, legal
| lied, learned, suayei Trained thinkers!
great, smooth moving, oiled engine TINS
! federation was, steered amazingly by
| sane, quiet, patriotic brains | was con-
strained TO say bravo for the American
womani Yet at heart l felt sneakins
desire to upset this somehow, somewhere
this learned gravity, this glittering, amaz-
ingly groomed immaeulateness. When my
| turn came to speak determined TO shake
statistical dust from my feet, and see IL
couldn't find a good laugh somewhere
under the heading. The Development oil
an American Atmosphere in Musical Art,
We had 1t together, the audience and my
| self and grew very friendly over the
frolc | guess they must have liked 1t
for invitations were showered on me to
repeat it, even Boston profferlng her re-
quest plus expense money Remuneration
Is federation prnciple1. And was
elected speaker CD at large. All nonsense
! aside, | was elected TO the national board
and given speaking to do all over the
| country"
sitons?" Mrs. Rivers continued. well,
| the women's efforts were, when large,
monotonousl When small song forms,
very dainty. The prize composition was
| extremely peculiar. Modern French "a
| la De Bussy) favored slightly with IN
dian, unmelodious, suggesting the hrst
| chapter of Genesis to me. You remem-
ber about the earth being without form
or void and darkness being upon the face
| of the deep? Very peculiar dissonanl
music. showing immense orchestral teen
nic--clever, abstruse unconvlncing, vel
| Interesting. The man who wrote 1t Is
| young. l do not believe he has found
| himself yet lie has a big equipment.
| When he becomes direct enough he may
have a national message. Bliss Carmens
| lovely words should inspire. One OF the
| most interesting things to me WAS the
| statement that Chicago Statistics from
| Chamber of Commeree) had spent $4,000
600 this year on musiel A Mr.. Miller OF
| Ohio Carnegie research scientisD demon
strated with a 'phonodiek some start
| ling things in regard to sound and light
waves. Unbelievable stunts he did that
really were most uncanny. Acoustics
and electricity made amazing joke fell
| lows. You left his demonstration feeling
that it was both safe and sane to be
stupid about the mysteries of the air.
wish there was time to tell you even a
|
women on the national board but you'h
get it all later through the publicity de-
partment. | just must speak of Los An
geles and Minneapolis. You never saw
| such advertisers and progressive 1--we
wires as those clubs contain-$l000, $lo,ooo'
100000 is nothing to them Riches, skill,
| genius grit are all theirs in lavish abund-
ancei They plan and do startlingly. All
sorts of well known folks We're to be
found in the congress corridors. Emil
Liebling, Mrs. Crosby Adams, the Rossi-
ter Coles, the Clarence Eddys, the Bruno
steindels and Nellie Strong Stevenson
all so interesting and gifted 1t made you
! long to live In Chicago"
zone thing surprised me. There was abb
solutely no politics. no wire pulling IN the
| federation election They were smooth.
dgnifed and peaceful. The women, Of
hcers and delegates were not young. They
were serious, sane, brilliantly capaple'
knew their own minds and were extra
| ordinarily well gowned and groomed.
| eould but Wonder how the aggregation of
brains, experience and prosperity struck
utsiders-foreigners Both the fedora
| ton and the Drama league were passion
| atelv In earnest Who may estimate the
| motor power of this army of women
serving their country's interests without
one cent of financial reward II Is an
Interesting racial and national phenome-
nonl Women in America are the leisure
class. watch with interest to see what
they will do. one of them wrote short
ly: The future is on the loom, the shut
tie in our hands; we are weaving
what?'