The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 21, 1895, Page 4

R A AR e > 'gnnd old woman of woman’s rights, the - was one of the most beautiful, direct and - meeting will be held and officers elected | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1895. The second annual session of the | ‘Woman’s Congress of the Pacific Coast | was called to order in Golden Gate Hall | yesterday morning at 10:30 o’cloek by the | president, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper of tnis | City. Before it had concluded its first| day’s labors, the home, the new woman, | motherhood and child training, and that | universally interesting subject, marriage, several instances, without gloves. The beautifully decorated hall was filled | to overflowing for quite a time before the hour announced for the opening. Every | of women. seat in the auditorium was taken, the gal- women and their escorts, and the aisles be- low were crowded with many ladies and quite a number of men—brave men at that to venture into such a maze of feminine Joveliness, wit and wisdom. The ladies of the auxiliary had worked hard to make the big bare stage look pic- | turesque, and their efforts were crowned | with complete success. The walls sur- rounding the platform were covered by tall, slender bamboo trees, which were in- terspersed with a few good prints and en- | gravings. Handsome screens and shaded | lamps helped to give the stage a drawing- room effect, which was completed with | pretty chairs and lounges. The president’s table was a mass of fra- grant crimson roses, in the midst of which was placed a marble statuette of the fa- mous Lucretia Mott. Susan B. Anthony’s seat had been made almost as gorgeous as & regal throne. It was an antique, high- backed chair, which the ladies had dsaped with old gold plush and wreathed with yellow marguerites, tied with orange rib- bons—the suffrage color. Flowers were everywhere on the plat- form. Suspended from the ceiling, “Woman’s Congress, 1895, could be read in large floral letters, and the left side of the platform was entirely banked up with an immense floral tribute which an anony- mous friend had sent to the president. And Susan B. Anthony herself, the evangel of the new woman, as new as she beamed upon the welcoming faces before her as the newest woman of them all, ‘White handkerchiefs waved and hands clapped at her initial appearance, and her utterances throughout the day were em- phatically punctuated by the warmest | demonstrations. The Rev. Dr. Anna H. ‘Shaw, the first lieutenant of Miss Anthony, received her full share of the plaudits of the audience. Her uiterances were mer- rily pointed shafts at many things, none the lese telling for their humor, and served | only to strengthen the impression the peo- ple had gained of the reverend spinster | through the prints of the country. | And the women of California. They, too, did themselves and their State proud by their efforts on the rostrum. The address of Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, the president, logical ever delivered from any platform in San Francisco, barring none. It evoked the warmest applause from the visitors and fairly took the congress by storm. It | was epigrammatic and instructive, sound | and witty, ‘he extemporaneous ifiterpola- | tions being particularly fetching. | Miss Kelso ot Los Angeles took occasion | to come to gentle issues with “Miss An- thony during the afternoon on the ques- tion of “marriage bondage,” and did so in a manuer that most certainly has won her the hearts of those newly married and who expect to be newly married, at least. Miss Millecent Shinn and Miss Anna Stovall of this city also read papers which | covered them with honor. { The congress will convene again at 10 | o’clock this morning, when a business for the ensuing year. o VIEWED BY A WOMAN. Mirlam Michelson Glves Her Im- pression of the Con- gress. ‘When I stepped into a Suiter-street car Monday morning there was .4 woman seated in the corner opposite me. Her hair was a faded, grayish red, her face was lined and rather colorless, and her promi- nent pale blue eyes were tearful and mel- ancholy. But she was really more mind- less than miserable, and her sorrowful appearance, it seemed to me, was due more to weakness than to woe. More women entered the car on its way down- town, a mother with her two daughters, a gray-haired woman and others. Their faces were just the ordinary, preoccupied faces of women who haven’t much time or wish for thought or action other than the duties which are typically feminine. At Larkin street a crowd of women came in. They were on-their way to the Women’s Congress. You would have known it by the important-looking little documents they carried, by the fussand flutter of their conversation, by the de- mure, business-like style of their clothes, but most of all by an awakened sexless they stood against the walls, and, stand- leries were packed and jammed with fair | ing, filled the aisles. They were enthu- | well-dressed A man’s name is first on the programme— or rather program,” chuckled a bright- intelligence in their faces and the self-con- fidence in their brisk movements. The women already in the car looked them over from toe to bonnet; then their faces D WD il subsided into indifference and self-absorp- tion—all but the woman in the corner. She seemed fascinated by the new woman. She stared at her, she knit her light trows feebly, and positively forgot her troubles in watching this new kind of female. When the car stopped at the corner and with a bustling dignity the new woman | alighted, suddenly the old woman rose too | were handled vigorously—the latter, in |in a dazed, uncertain way and followed | the crowd. She passed into the hall and 1 lost sight of her. Women, women! All kinds and degrees They filled hall and balcony; “Ido hope they’ll begin on time. Women never do, you know,” said an excitable, young matron. “Perhaps they’re waiting for some man. | | siastic and hopeful and full of excitement. | ) RY e at Kearny street I collected my bet. But So we watched her, and when she got off ! | I got more than a nickel’s worth of satis- faction out of it.” There was triumph in every woman's eye when half-past ten arrived, and with it the president and principal members of the congress. So much for man’s accepted ideas of woman. But although thereis a tendency in some of the speakers to at- tribute all the ills that flesh and morals are heir to to the political slavery of women, I heard nothing at all of ‘“tyrant man.” On the contrary, a gentle, forbear- ing patience was manifest in most of the allusions to him. He is unhappily in the wrong, but that is his misfortune, not his fault, and with time and feminine reme- dies they hope to enlighten and ultimately to convert him. I discovered, too, that al- though the new woman insists upon shar- ing man’s political and business life, she intends that he shall be compensated by increased responsibility as husband and father, “Every mother owes it to her child that he be well-born,” rend an essayist yester- day. “And so does every father,” she added in one of those significant asides, which characterize women'’s speeches. But the most striking thing about this woman’s convention is the spirit of com- raderie it fosters. At Golden Gate Hall women are actually so interested in things that they put aside forms. Introductions are unnecessary. If you can tell your neighbor that that shy, sunburned, dark- haired girl is Beatrice Harraden; that this woman with the intellectual oval face is Charlotte Perkins Stetson, that that one who wears her hair in a gray mane down her back is Laura de Force Gordon; that the bust is of Lucretia Mott; if you know which is Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Shaw; if you know who is the woman in the swell gown and the one that looks like a guy, the woman next to you will not hesitate to make use of you. I saw a young woman rise and offer her chair in a very gentlemanly manner to an older woman she did not know, saying simply, “I should have liked to give you a seat before, but the crowd is so greatI couldn’t get out.” 2 These congress women seem to have lost some feminine vices and gained some mas- culine virtues. Their self-possession isnot the assertive arrogance of small-minded, | accent of sincerity and evidence of un- usual friendship among women in the ac- counts of those old days “when our ideas were not received with applause, nor our- selves overwhelmed with flowers,” as Miss Anthony gently expresses it. The congress woman is evidently deeply religions. “Orthodox of the orthodox,” said Rev. Anna Shaw. Miss Shaw tells a story well. She is the most manly, not mannisn, woman in the congress. Her voice is deep and full. She speaks clearly and can be heard all gyer the hall. She tells with a chuckle of Miss Anthony’s wish to impress an Eastern audience with the propriety of their religious views, and of the unfortunate figure of speech she used- when she introduced Miss Shaw as her “right bower.” ¢“But,” gleefully adds the Rev. Anna Shaw, “‘every man in that orthodox community knew what a right bower is.” “The religion,” said Mrs. Cooper 1n her opening address, “which is all for the next world and none for this, is good for neither.” ‘Amen to that!” came in hysterical, quavering tones from the back part of the hall, Everybody turned around. It was the Old Woman with the faded red hair, who had sat in the corner of the car. Her pale eyes were bright with excitement, there were two red spots on her high cheek bones, and her hat was a little awry. But she was quite unconscious of people’s at- tention. The chair upon which she sat had been to her a penitent’s bench, she had suddenly come to a realization of new womanhood, and when the next speaker said in tones of conviction: “The new woman has come to stay,” another heart- felt “Amen!” from the back of the hall attested the Old Woman’s conversion. Mirran MICHELSON. e s THE MORNING SESSION. Miss Susan B. Anthony and Rev. Anna Shaw Receive Ovations. . The opening session of the congress was brought to order rather informally by the | appearance on the stage about 10:30 o’clock of the president, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, leading the way for Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Dr. Anna H. Shaw. No sooner did the vast audience catch sight of | platform an Anthony, ‘“‘of ‘introducing to this large these ladies than it broke out into the notoriety-seeking females. Their convic- | wildest kind of applause, most of the ladies | fational Church delivered a solemn prayer or the right guidance of the convention, the audience - listening reverentially and attentively till the finaanen. “His Excellency the Governor,” said Mrs. Cooper again, addressing the con- gress, ‘‘is, no doubt, attending the funeral services of our venerated first Governor, Peter H. Burnett. Hence, we shall be disappointed in not having the welcome of his Excellency. But we shall not be disappointed in having the welcome of the Hon. Mayor Sutro. I introduce to you Mayor Sutro.” There was more applause as the monarch of the cliffs rose and bowed to the storm of greeting, He said: Ladies: The pleasant duty and honor de- volve nponme to welcome you to the City of the Golden Gate—an honor in this case doubly appreciated, as I see assembled in this hall women m different parts of the United States who have spent their lives in devotion to the betterment of the human family. The aristocracy of European countries dates back to the dark ages, when Kings and Queens often made noblemen’ of free lances who had shown the greatest prowess and skill in War- fare, for the purpose of utilizing their talent to 2dd strength and support to the throne. Here in America we have sllowed to be reared an aristocracy of money—our railway magnates, men who have accumulated enor- mous fortunes by chicanery and oppression, and by evil means corrupted our Government, which is now domineered over by great cor- porations. We ought to strive and develop in this coun- Ty a different kind of aristocracy, that of the brain, of worth, of intelligence and of ad- vancement. 1t we take that standard we shall find gath- ered in this hall a higher aristocracy than ever assembled in any hall in the king-ridden coun- tries of Europe. The participation of women (the mothers of our coming generations ot men) in_the selec- tion of those' who are to govern the country will eleyate the Nation and give a higher standard to political affairs. Women are endowed by nature with a finer quality of brain power; they have & sort of in- tuitive knowledge of character and are gener- ally correct in their judgment. I'believe in evolution; I think it a part of evolution that women, who thus far, in_the history of the world, have been denied a share in the affairs of government, should be per- mitted to cast their ballots in favor of 8 puri- fied and improvea administration which will anusa us to rise higher and higher in civiliza- on. Nothing could well be worse than our pres- ent status; political bosses, corruptly hand- ling the money-sacks of corporations, rule and debase our great country. Let noble women stép in and restore the honesty, simplicity and patriotism of the revo- lutionary fathers and all will be well. Isee in this hall one woman (Miss Anthony% whom more than a quarter of a century ago have seen, year after vear, struggling with Senators and Representatives at E\gashlngton 1o obtain the political rights of women, and who has persistently since and continuously fought the battle of freedom, and I wish espe- cially to do her honor and welcome her and welcome you all, and hoge that you will carry to your homes kind and lasting recollections %f your assembly in this Cty by the Golden ate. = “I have the very great honor, now,” said Mrs. Caoper, stepping to the front of the grasping the hand of Miss assemblage one who I believe has done more to lift up womanhood, to lift up humanity, than any other living woman. This | I firmly believe. I have the pleasure of in- troducing Miss Susan B. Anthony, who will re;pond to the Mayor’s address of wel- come.” . Loud handclappings almost drowned the last words of the’ president, and as Miss Anthony advanced the vast audience arose as one person and wildly waved handker- chiefs in the Chautauqua salute to the white-haired grand old woman of the rights of woman. “Mrs. President, Mr. Mayor and friends,” that is flattering enough, I can assure you 1 take it for the cause for which you make the recognition. Iam no better looking; 1, personally, have no more brain, nor more power of statement than I had forty years ago—and, forty years ago, whenever my friends, Elizabeth Cadi Stanton and the venerated and sainted Lucretia Mott, whenever any of us went into a commun- ity, the whole community did not take off their hats in reverent recognition of our coming, but, on the other hand, it was with hootings and with jeers and with words that were not complimentary they met us. - 3 “It is because the world is com;n%hna: to admire the exterior of Lucretia Mott, the exterior of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, or any of the advocates of this great move- ment that this ovation comes. Itis be- cause the idea which these women pro- mulgated almost half a century ago has become acceptable to the people, and not only acceptable, but it has ome the cornerstone of the faith in our republic, of the faith in our Christianity and of the faith in our country altogether. There- fore, whatever of courtesy, whatever of congratulation you offer to my friend, Miss Shaw and myself, who have come across the mountains and the plains in order to look yvou in your faces in the great con- gregation—whatever you tender to us, seemingly personal, she and I and all of the fgriends who are not able to be here to-day-<Mrs. Stanton, the one survivor of the women who called the first conventioun that was ever held of women in 1848, she, sitting in her little room in her little home in the city of New York, will feel to-day this ovation, this congratulation, this ora- tion, quite as much as we who are here. And everywhere where woman has awak- ened to her new destiny, to her new hope, to her new realization, everywhere where woman has thus awakened all over the face of this globe, will go the Associated Press dispatches of this tender of recogni- tion and respect and reverence for the women who_first promolgated this grand idea of perfect equality of rights, civil, religious, social, literary, educational, for the women of the world.” Loud hand-clappings interrupted flow of eloquence from the lips of Anthony, and the waving handkerchiefs in the crowded seats, the packed aisles and the jammed galleries, looked like myriad mammoth flakes of purest snow falling from the canopy above. ¥ “Iam glad to be here,” resumed Miss Anthony, smiling at _the smiling audience | before ber. *‘You will remember, some of you who are old enough to remember, that this is not my first visit to your coast. It will be twenty-four years ago, when the 11th day of June shall have come, since Mrs. Stanton and myself first arrived in your City. 2y “We are not without recognition then; we were not without a most cordial recep- tion then, but it was not by the multitude as it is now. It wasthe few. I remember that when Mrs. Stanton appeared before the vast audience, Mr. Stanford, the then Governor of the State, made the formal ad- dress of welcome and presided at the meet- ing, and Mis. Stanford and himself ten- dered every possible compliment to us as their guests at the Grand Hotel, which was then new and magnificent. “We have had grand California repre- sentatives in the East from the beginning. | AsI bedgan wending my way back by the | | the Miss railroad on that trip, having just finished speaking at Virginia City and gone down to Reno to take the train, I found there was not a single berth to be had. All were taken. Your men had then elected as | Senator of the United States, the Hon. A. | A. Sargent. He and his family were then | on board that train, and, very kindly, the 0000 oo o /, r(é kS \ ‘b SUsAN B F 2, ANTHONY .» REV ADAC ‘) Nt BowLES = “Now, I will say again that I am glad to be here, and I expect to get a %oo deal more good out of this council of the women of the Pacific Slope than it js possible for you to get from my being bere with you. Again the hall rang with applause and the flower-scented air was agitated by the waving of spotless handkerchiefs as the honored pioneer who bhad blazed the path for the new woman, bowing to the right and left, took her seat. L “There has been a call from the audi- ence,’’ said Mrs. Cooper, advancing as the applause subsided, “for one who captured both Oakland and San Francisco yester- day. I have the honor of introducing the Rev. Anna Shaw.” “I wani to say to Mrs. Cooper and to this audience,” "exclaimed Miss Anthony, rising before Miss Shaw had time to step forward, ‘‘that Miss Anna Shaw is my first lieutenant, and she is not only my first lieutenant, but is the first lieutenant of the great National Woman’s-Council of the United States. She is vice-president- at large. Bhe comes to you representing that body, which is composed of twenty of the different National organizations of women of this country, representing twenty different purposes of the women who have been organized, and I hope be- fore this Pacific Council shall adjourn you will vote yourselves members of that great National organization of the women of the United States.” More applause, and Mrs. Cooper again intmduce(}].\fiss Shaw, who came forward smiling at the white greeting of waving handkerchiefs. “My friends,” she began, “ycu make me feel bashful, because I come with Susan to hold her bonnet, and it is honor enough for any young woman to hold the bonne of Susan B. Anthony. But as you have called me here, I am almost tempted to tel] a joke on her. Some time since, they toll the women in this movement that the were out of their sphere. Finding that this did not scare us, they said we were strong-minded. Well, I would rather be strong-minded than have no mind at all. Then, when none of these things seemed to have any effect on us, me{ called us a lot of infidels, and that nearly scared us to death. Here’s where the joke comes in. “One night in introducing me toa con- gregation in a large church Miss An- thony wanted to impress wupon her hearers that I at least was not an infidel, ‘This is the Rev. Anna Shaw,’ she sai n orthodox minister. She is orthodox of the orthodox, and she is my right bower.’ “Now just think of the impression on that congregation,” resumed Miss Shaw, when the laughter at her joke had ceased echoing. *“And the inieresting thing about it was that every orthodox person in the congregation knew what a right bower was. “Gentlemen and ladies, I certainly thank you on bebalf of the Women’s Council which I am representing here; and I tha you on behalf of Miss Anthony, my and the other ladies who have gathered from various_parts of the country to be resent at this congress. I thankyou or gehalf of womanhood, because I think this congress means better conditions for the home and, if for the home, then for the whole world. President Eliot of Harvard says the home is the sap-root of the state, and if that be so, whatever tends to uplift the state uplifts the home. There can be no perfect state without a perfect home; and there can be no perfect state, if the home is the sap-root of the state, without direct connection between the sap-root and the state. “If you sever from the life of the state one-half of the tap-root you sever one-half of the power and vital energies of the state. That for which Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton stand is the direct connec- tion between the tap-root and the state, and we have come to see this great prin- ciple accepted all over our country by the wisest and best people. We thank you for your welcome to our ideas and to our E‘rinciples and, in the name of the Vomen’s Council, which I hope to speak of hereafter, I thank you for this kindly welcome.” “Inow take pleasure,” said the presi- dent, “in introducing to you Mrs. Caroline M. Severance of Los Angeles, one of the earliest of those women who stood for sui- frage, and, not only that, but the first Ercsident of the New England Wom Jlub; and if I were to tell all that Severance has done for the Pacific Coast 1 should rob her of a good portion of her time. It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce to you, therefore, Mrs, Caro- line M. Severance of Los Angeles.” There was more waving of handkerchiefs as Mrs. Severance took her stand to the left of the gx'esident, at the rear of the magnificent floral arch. Her voice trem- bled with emotion as she responded to the reception and she was visibly affected. She said she had neither strength nor voice enough to tell how grateful she was. Her heart and her effort had always been with the work at present in hand and her in- terest had never flagged since 1848. ‘‘Susan can tell,” she concluded. “We have been co-workers in a way.” ‘“Yes,” said Miss Anthony, once more rising, “let me tell you about Mrs. Sever- ance. Just forty-iwo years ago, in the beautiful month” of October, tfie third, or fourth, or fifth meeting of the woman’s rights convention—we talked about the woman’s right to earn an honest living and to get an education—just forty-two years ago next October such a convention was held in the city of Cleveland. I wasa guest of this dear woman at that time. Lucy Stone, Antolnette Brown, dear Lucretia Mott and Fannie Gage, as we called her, Ernestine Rose of New York, a Polish woman who said such beantiful things in broken English. I think we were nearly all the guests of Mrs. Sever- ance. I remember that beautiful home of hers out on Euclid avenue—a palace where we used to love to assemble. ‘‘Ah, how different it was then, Mrs, Severance,” said Miss Anthony, turning to her old friend. ‘“How different it was. Instead of having a preacherto come and ray for us, we actually had one take Mr. arrison by the nose. Yes, Mrs. Sever- ance has been with us from the begin- ning, The Rev. Ada C. Bowles of Pomona added her tribute to the work and avorth of Mrs. Severance, and called upon the audience to give her the Chautauqua salute, which was done with a will. '?he president then introduced to the andience the following ladies, who made short ad- dresses apgro})rinte to_the occasion: Mrs, John F. Swift, president of the Century Club of San Francisco; Mrs. I. Lowenberg, president of the Laurel Hall and Philo~ math clubs; Miss Mary C. Smith of the Ladies’ Literary Society of Santa Maria; Mrs. Nellie filessing Eyster of the Women’s Press Association of the Pacific Coast; Mrs. Eliza Orr, corresponding sec- retary of the Women’s Council of Califor- ‘nju'i‘unUd Mrs. H. E. Brown of the State W, Mrs. Ada Van Pelt then took the chair and introduced to the audience the presi- dent, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, who was greeted with much applause and the sight THE INAUGURATION OF THE WOMAN’S CONGRESS AT GOLDEN GATE HALL YESTERDAY MOR/NT;(L faced woman with short dark hair streaked with gray. " The other smiled appreciatively, then she said, “Well, you know, punctuality isn’t one of woman’s virtues.” “I don’t know about that,” said the other stoutly. “I'm always on time and 80 are you,” “Yes, but we both were business women. Besides, you know, men make such fun of us about that.” The short-haired woman sniffed rather scornfully, “This morning,” she said, “coming over on the boat there was just the homeliest woman I ever saw. A regular fright. John [Sketched by a ¢ Call” artist.] tion is tempered with dignity and charity. They are not shrewish, and they deliver their message in a frank, good-natured way. They have learned how to disagree without quarreling, and they are willing to admit that there are two sides to a ques- tion and an infinite number of points of view. I don’t know that this makes them more admirable to men, but it makes them more women’s women. The audi- ence yesterday certainly showed great en- thusiasm; they indulged in that feminine kind of applause known as the Chautauqua salute, and the speakers were quite old- womanly in their allusions to ‘“Dear Aunt Susan,”” “Saint Susan B. Anthony,” “That said, ‘I bet she's going to the Woman’s Congress.” ‘I bet a nickel she isn’t,’ I said. martyr, Lucretia Mott,”’ and “Our dear Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” But there isan rising to their feet and waving their hand- kerchiefs in salute. The pioneer in the movement for female suffrage, spectacled and white-haired as she was, was bright- eyed ana active, and as she took the deco- tated seat set apart for her she beamed on the hnpgy faces before her. . Mrs. Cooper wasted no time in the pre- liminaries, and as the afficers of the con- gress took their seats on the platform she rapged for order. *Kriends and co-workers,” she said, “I see before me a great many faces that greeted us a year ago, and we welcome you, thrice welcome you, this morning. ‘The blessing of God maketh rich, and it hath no sorrow.” And we are to have the invocation for his presenceand his blessing by the Rev. Dr. Brown.” The eloquent pastor of the First Congre- said Miss Anthony, as soon as the wave of enthusiasm had passed, “‘it is but a few minutes over twenty-four hours since my friend, Miss Shaw, and myself stepped foot on California_soil, and “this is the third vast congregation of your California peo- ple which we have met—the third vast audience—and the welcome which your Mayor has extended, the welcome which these vast assemblages of the menand women of your City and your Brooklyn across the water—for while I am here I can only think of New York and Brooklyn to be compared with San Francisco and Oakland—do not fail of appreciation from me. Certainly any heart that could fail to ny]?recmte such an ovation—such a recog- nition—would be wanting in the common- est elements of human nature. “Iam grateful for this welcome, not from any personal consideration. While two daughters of Senator Sargent shar their ‘stateroom with me, and I foundeg Testin, ‘fln_ce and became thoroughly ac- quainted with your Senator and . Sar- gent, and from that day to this 1 have had 3 home in his house, whether in ‘Washing- ‘°.“1‘3§ in S?n Fsrancisco. “-hen, after Senator Sargent, you sent Senator Miller, who was o“% ndéozam and friend; and then you sent Leland Stan- ford, who Was, equally with his wife as well as the wife of Senator Sargent, of our best friends over on the other side of the mountains. 8o, while we have not lived in California, we, who live in New York and Pennsylvania and Washin, n, We are Do strangers to the representatives of Cali-| fornia, and I am glad to stand here and say that so far as my knowledge of them is concerned they han CoRionie: 'Y have been worthy of your of many fluttering handkerchiefs, She de- livered the following address: Representative Women of the Nation and o Pac%cmz.-uosoun FRIENDS: 1 thunkly?v: for your cordial greeting. As president of the Woman’s Congress Association of the Pacific Coast it is my great privilege and Ppleasure to hid you welcome, thrice welcome o the feast in reserve for you, during the days of the coming week—a feast which has been largely prepared by yourselves, and which you have 8o graciously brought along with you from the Fastand the North and the South, rich gifts to this festal board. Again, dear iriends, we bid ou welcome to the congress, to the Vity and to the State. You have come, inspired by & great purpose. May you find the iruition ~of your highest = hopes, and to you who have madc the long jo across the continent bringing to us the gar- nered wisdom of your nobfl lives and rich ex- periences we extend a special greeting, brimful of reverent, loving and loyal regard.. You are the prophets of an_advancing age. You have come, uunefln‘g‘ blessings all the way, like flowers and radiating light and intelligence, as gife sun gends its beams to illumine and to bless. A little more than one year ago the first oman’s Congress of the Pacific Coast, auxili- ary to the California Midwinter International Exposition, was held in thi§ hall, t was a g‘e:z“:%o“q:e‘u:" T’?x:ekle‘ynote of(thnt congress £ eynote congress is the “home. . 'C °f the Ppresent It has been said that from homes, churches and systems of locomotion we may judge of the clvilization of any people. It seeins to me we might safely leave out the last two and say that homes measure and mark the civilization of any people. Churches and modes of loco- motion are but the external expression of the