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| EASTERN VERANDA OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING -
Although the Woman's Building was the
theatre of many poignant discussions between cynical and experienced
women, it was no less an object of the greatest curiousity to the
mass of American home people. It was the first edifice of national
importance in modern times to be built and conducted by women. Its
managers composed the first legislature of women ever authorized by
any government of men. Its halls and offices were dedicated to every
propaganda that modern woman has seen fit to espouse, and every
lecturer and leader might feel sure of an hour of glory here. The
French gardeners lent their generous aid to the decoration of the
premises, and it may be guessed how grateful would the multitude have
been to sit here and gaze across the lagoon upon the Government Building, or northward, as in our
engraving, upon the broad-spreading capital of Illinois. But chairs were not deemed
necessary by the legislative mothers - life was too short to allow
time for reformation of the world and for rest in this delightful
retreat. Therefore the people went inside and paid a dollar each for
Isabella quarter-dollars with a crowned head on them; looked at Marie
Bashkirtseff's last picture; drank Ceylon
tea; inquired for Mrs. Potter Palmer; got dinner on the
roof-garden, where the summer passed without an accident; or, better
yet, heard some famous woman lecture on the needed reforms of the
age. |
