The Washington times., 1915-02-03
Suffrage Parade Here, He AS
serts, Is Typical Example
of Difference Between Fe-
male.made and Male-made
Parades. The Latter Are
Mostly Political.
BY FLORENCE E. YODER.

BY FLORENCE e. YODER.
We hear SO much about the oppor-
tunliics of women these days yet
still they come. This time 1t Ia be.
cause i man has Just discovered that
all women are artists!
Social settlement work, and work
for civic bettern ent includes nearly
all OF these opportunities, and Percy
Mackaye. poet-dramatist, in an in
terview today has pointed out that
women through their innate artistic
sense. have the chance to change the
old order OF things. plain and incul-
Gated with politics and graft, into
something Infinitely more beautiful
through the correlation OF art with
through their participation In civic
life are to supply the art which has
slumbered for 80 long.
The pageant. according to Mr..
Mackaye. who 10 here to give read
ings from his works on Thursday at
bringing. about this correlation, for
through 1t, the fine arts are used a.
q means OF expressing the COM
munity lie. its interests and It's
needs. and Of promoting solidarity IN
the community. This pageant idea,
as expressed by women of today. he
contrastcd effectively with the mans
conception Of a parade.
Women are the artists OF the
race" said MIR. Mackaye. land very
naturally they are the moving force
behind the expression of civic life in
a form which Is not only intcllgiblc
to all the members OF the community
but which typifes art in its highest
sense.
The Beautiful Way.
The natural instinct Of women Is
to do everything in beautiful way.
The suffrage parade here IS Il typical
example OF just what l mean. No
man could have planned that purade
expressing In such an artistic form.
tho different IDEAS. l saw the Hud-
son-Fulton parade, and the differ
ence between the two was marked.
Take any man-madc parade for that
matter, and one at once sees the
difference.
Men are perfectly content to have
long lines Of men in ugly frock
coats, all alike. marching In impos-
ing array, and they seem to think
that en- intermittent b!aring band.
marching under hidcous banners
drawn from one side Of the street to
the other, Ia a parade, a pageant. an
expression of that which has and is
to be accomplished. AS matter OF
fact, marching politicians are not
beautiful: they are, perhaps. paid to
march. and the whole affair. instead
Of carrying any great meaning to
the community. is merely an tndIvid-
ual expression of good that has
been effected for the benefit of the
marchers only
9TH. suffrage pageant was not
only an expression Of suffrage. but
a typifcd form Of art which carried
a thousand meanings to every me
who saw 1t. which gave tht starved
public not intensive individual
benuty. such as men have c0oped up
in museums. but untrammeled dy-
manic beauty for the benefit and
educa lion of the whole community.
1t is inconceivhble that any man
could have done it,
Mr.. ,Mackayc paused, and his eyes
sparkled as he visioned the future
where women would bring beauty to-
ugly rities, celebrate for the masses
politicians, with the politicians. and
knit the community together for
civic bcttcrrlent through the combi-
nation OF art and social work.
Fire of Hope.
Except for his "eyes. one would
lever take Percy Mackaye for a
engaging personality. and an infinite
respect for what the other person
would say or 90. makes him seem
not at all the inslstent high -strunG
individual which many people asso-
ciatc with the word poet" But mis-
ewes give him dead away. especially
when a responsive chord is struck.
Then they light up and there Is no
,nistaking the "divine fire" Of hope
and conviction which shines in their
brown depths.
Women are fighting now for their
liberty" he said, they are striving
not only for the vote. but Tor rec
ogn!tion OF the fact that they are
the artists of the race, from the
men. When the world admits their.
artistic ability and that they are the
ones in whose hands everything
should pass for its final touch of
beauty. its release from the stigma
OF sordidness, beauty. community
beauty, and corresponding civic
efficiency will result.
1--WE have tried too long to get
along without the aid Of this beauty.
md as result We have the COM
plex, the tortured manner OF doing
.n.ns3. All beauty Is simplicity of
somc form, and until we get this