The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-25
The Birmingham Writers Club

Nl\HdhN one thinks of the Btrming
 W\V ham Writers club. which will
 take an active and important part during the meeting of the fedora ton of Women's Clubs here this week. the beautiful face and more beautiful character of Mrs. Ned Richardson Me David (Mittylene Owem comes to mind. for this lovely woman, with her gifted pen and her gracious personality. has been one of the leading spirits, not alone in the organization of the club but in 1 US promotion and successful achieve r,ent
 Alabama has never boasted of a fairer daughter than Mrs. McDavid from the moment that she made her bow to so- ctetY where she was feted and admired by all who knew her through the hours when she stepped from grhood into ma | tronhoods realms
 1 As scion of one of Alabama's oldest and most influential families she has worn her laurels gracefully, and she has i been an ornament to society, to literary circles and to all civic and church affairs which have engaged Birmingham's atten- ton during the past few years
 In talking with Mrs. McDavid few days ago she gave a most charming re- sume of the Birmingham Writers club and the work the club has been doin since the idea of its organization took | form at Knoxville six years ago during a. convention of southern writers, which was attended by Mrs, Marie Bankhead Owen, wife of the late lamented Dr. Thomas M. Owen, Alabamas s historian
 Mrs John D. Head of Birmingham was at the convention in Knoxville" Mrs McDavid said, and Mrs Owen talked with Mrs Head about forming Br- mingham Writers club, and Mrs Head enthusiastically accepted the idea and at once acted upon it when she reached home with the result that the Birming- ham Writers club was organized on June 1, 1915, with a charming personnel of officers. including Mrs. J. A. Rountree as president; vice president Mrs. J. D. Head; secretary, Mrs. H. s. Fullwood , myself as treasurer and our phiologist, Mrs. Chappell Cory Our first step was to find that unknown quantity in Bir- mirgham, quiet place in which to hold our meetings
 This however, was eventually solved" Mrs McDavid said flor the Newspaper club, the Southern club, the Tutwiler and the convention room of the public liz brary were all offered us and tried out until at last. after all the years the directors room of the Civic Association on the twenty-third floor of the Jeffer- son County Bank building, is our perma- nent quiet sanctum.
 For the first years work an elaborate programme was made out assigning stories, poems or some form of literary work to three members for each meet ing. Our year book was printed in white and gold and the title page was headed | Look Into the Heart and Write' A very pretentious and artistic beginning. | xUha inl of rim O this year several new members came into the club one of whom, Mrs. John C. Henley, Sr., was made our second presi- dent. A club color was chosen. Old blue and a motto was adopted. Each member of the club sent in design and motto, and Mrs. John D. Heads was chosen, The design was a little canoe out on the dark rolling ocean waves On it's side were the letters B. W. c. The motto beneath read, 'Afloat in a boat on a sea of ink with only a pen for oar
 "The third year Mrs. J. F. Penny was elected president and Mrs. Ned Me David. vice president. It was during this administration that we found our selves plunged into a whirl of war ac- ltivities. Many of us belonged to the all lied army of war workers. surgical dressing units. Hoover kitchens, etc, and so we decided it best to temporary dis band
 "We did not resume our club work until some months after the armistice was signed, as our war work continued till then. New officers were elected with myself as president and Mrs. John B. Reid as vice president We were by this time serious body of workers, every one engaged in some phase of literary work, writing books plays. operas, short stories, poems. feature work or regularly engaged on the newspaper staffs. We decided to have no more year DOCKS That savored too much of literary study clubs all over the world and we were a free lance club, whose members had no time to search the encyclopedias for data on a given subject. We brought our work for criticism to the club, and the members bounced upon it each in order till sometimes the criticisms were so caustic that the manuscript was m sbreds. but all accepted these criticisms good naturedly, for that was the purpose of the club. In many cases after such criticism the author rewrote her story and sold it. This criticism of work, how ever, was begun during the first year iof the club An innovation of the presl- dent at this time was the giving of one afternoon each month to the visiting oi one of Birminghams great industries, or one of her charitable institutions. In each instance we found story, and at the same time learned more about our own city.
 Mrs. J. N. Cornelius is our present president; Miss Alma Rittenberry, vice president; Mrs. Mabel Ford-Leake. sec retary-treasurer; Miss Mae T. Holder corresponding secretary; Mrs. c. P. Bed