The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 30, 1901, Page 4

THE SUN Y CALL ik —d A * OMETHING is doing among women of San Francisco. Mrs. May Wright Sewall is here. She couldn’t 'be here and mnot cause something to happen—it always 1oes, wherever she goes. She iz here talk- the International Council of Women. What the upshot will be, it is too soon to say. Perhaps San Francisco women will be calling themselves part of the National, and later of the International counciis. At any rate, it is pretty certain that they will do a deal of talking, and, better yet, of thinking. Mrs. May Wright Sewall Is president of fonal Council of Women. Un- ke this has been a rather vague se in tha ears of the Westerner. Now we are learning what it all means. It is this wavy: Women everywhere are banded Into clubs, socleties, associations. They have a thousand various object: Some are edu- ational along different lines; sciences and literature and music and arc. Others are re reformative. Others everything that can uppose that all these organiza- place join together and call as a whole, a council—a local neil, they will term it. They can con- °s. meet and compare notes. rger banding together may eall State co! elves. plete. Local ist all over the cd States and yet there is nothin; 1d toget of Maine and lifornia, of sipp!. .t ali the local and the State councils we have a National council. ) s time the thing is getting pretty big. Think of all the women’s clubs of States joined under one-admin- and you have an assoctation ryn- ning up so far into the thousands that it just as well not to risk a guesz at the he women Minnesota and Mis: is But the time that our women have been organizing other women have been g the same. In thirteen des the United State: r tional councils, built up in ways similar to our way, and all clamoring for union. This iz how it came about that the big- iing of all was formed. Fourteen al cconeils are banded into an in- tional council, and they count their ers by the millions. rican woman is president of that ore than that, she is a Western wo- man as the Atlantic coast reckons it, for she iana. Eager, impetu- clear-headed as the of its women is this interna- tional prestd She is Mrs May Wright Sewall, a tvpl- American woman in force, indepen- mindedness. She is principal school in Indianapolis; and is o end of women's clubs. to have an.infinite capacity for work, for.organization, for responsi- The international council sized her 1p in this way when it elected her . v that I have come to this thing but to enjoy myself,” “but in talking to Pacific Coast plant a seed that will sprout I wish I could see you have e councils that would come . national council, “That is what is wanted—union. West and nce, broa girls active in She ses Im: by and by cal and Sta The ast do not work together now use they do not know each other. I to see them become acquainted.” She looks like the one to perform the in- troduction w She is a genlal woma here is a friendliness and an under- standing about her that make it quite neeiyable how she will say to the West: Here is your older sister, the East, want- ng to be better friends”; and to the East: West is in sympathy with Ana they must grow nearer if she intends that they shall. She was found at Mrs. Swift's home on Valencia street. Mrs. Swift is one of the international patrons of the council, and there is a royal lot for the two of them to talk over. The marked thing about Mrs. Sewall is what isn't marked. You will notice in many woman's clubs, not of the first rank, a tendency to choose for president that woman who has the most of what is called “presence.” There is a literary club in one of the large towns of this State whose president is the type that Gibson draws for the ideal mother of his ideal girl. Fine of feature, queenly of figure, you know; and when she speaks in public on the stage, you wish that she had been willing to remain a Gibson picture. It is just this that Mrs. Sewall, presi- Gent of the greatest of all woman’s clubs, is not. She is not tall and her manner and s of dress would indicate that she does not study to impress with her “presence.” It is the personality of the woman that ecounts, the woman behind the presence. There is a great motherliness about her; a warm sort of outreaching to take in every one that comes her way. Intellectu- al she must be to have accomplished what she has; forceiul, too, and finely educated; but above all stands out that warmth, that cordiality that is much deeper than manner. These people who talk a great deal nowadays about the thought of us would say that she “projécts lov Apropos of that, it looks as if her hobby were international peace. She won't own that she has a hobby. She couldn’t very well, being officially in ¢harge of so many hobbles. But she can’t help reverting to that very often in her talk of the work of her council. In appearance she is of medium height —barely that— and agreeably plump in a matronly way. Her face has individual- ity; once seen, it must be remembered. The mouth is firm, tight; the eyes -are bluish-gray, earnest for the most part, now and’ then twinkling with the good- tempered humor that some bluish eyes know. They narrow almost to disappear- ing when the smile is a particularly genial one, The fluffy, bluish-white hair is the great- est beauty. your vie * the < Twentieth Century Club Tomen She was dressed in a dainty Persian fig- ured foulard siilk. Daintiness is the key- note of her personal appearance. She’is entirely feminine in all except that splen- did executive brain, and she will not like it that I have not called that feminine, 100, “I shall be delighted to tell you about the work of the International in Paris last year,” she sald in her clean-cut, business- RS HAY WRIGRT SEWALZ FRESIDENT OF r#E INTERNATIONA : COUNCHL. OF WONEN _ ™" like way. She has talked much for publi- cation and she drives directly to the point, making every minute count. “We held an executive session there in the first place, and after that, on Tues- days, we fleld conferences. Men and wom- en of all nations attended and we had ad- dresses by the most able people who were in Paris. The embassies were interested in us and gave us their support in secur- ing the best. “Always during those ten weeks our watchword was internationalism. That is what we are striving for—to bring to- gether the women of the world, through them to ‘bring together the men, and in time to bring all nations into that perfect understanding which shall mean peace.” ‘What she has to say on this point is Dbest summed up in the letter which she S S ST, SRS R wrote to'the Czar of Russia In 1599. was then retiring president of the N tional Couneil. “The members of the National Couneil of Women'“of the United States,” she wrote, ‘‘beg his Majesty to acgept their grateful acknowledgment of the service which he has been moved to render hu- The members of the Nati Council are organized for the promotic manity. < of religion, education, philanthropy, m- [ dustrial progress, civil, social and moral | reforms. -They realize that all these no- ble objects must, to a greater or less de- gree, languish in time of war, and that they are retarded by all of the Influence conditions and circumstances accompany- ing war and resulting from it. “The women of the council belleve in the solldarity of humanity; they believe that whatever is most promotive of the t, in the best interests of one nation mu end, secure the highest interests of all. They see in the.maintenance and enlarge- ment of the present standing armies of the world a menace to the highest ecf tion, to the finest culture, and to the realization of Christian ideals. therefore unite in the desire that his' Ma- Jesty’s motives in convening a conference to consider disarmament may receive from all peoples the most generous ir pretation. They unite in the hope that his Majesty, in the execution of his be- nevolent designs, may enjoy the co-opera- tion of the governments of all civilized countries throughout the world.” And yet there are so many other objccts in view of the organization that she can give only a small part of her time to the work of peace. The National Council de- fines its objects thus: To make better known to the general public the mzgni- tudp and variety of women's work. To avoid the muitipilcation of organizaticns each with some Special object, and thus to secure resujts at less extravagant ex- penditure of time, money and force. To bring together women In all lines of work, to the end that they may be more intelli- gent respecting all others and consequent- ly more sympathetic with all others. To glive the united influence of these women to all lines of work that all can heartily agree upon. And the lines of general work of the National Council are these: Peace and arbitration; to work to secure the adop- tlon of the international peace flag by all organizations of women and to assist by all means in its power the causes of social peace and international arbitration. Education and citizenship; to introduce into the schools of the land, public and private, sound and honest instruction f general as well as in United States T tory; in civil government and cally in civic duty. Domestic sclence; to study the soclological questions affecting do- mestic life and to diffuse the results of such studles. Dress: To promote stu for the hyglenic and esthetic imp ment of women’s dress and to arouse pub- lic sentiment in favor of greater attention to health, ease and beauty therein. The admissioh of women to equality with mea in the work of the church of whatever denomination. Other lines are: Equal pay for equal work, dlvorce reform, so- cial purity. You see, this just covers the objects of the varlous organizations that make up the council. When the council meets rep- resentatives from its different organiza- tions present their own work befare the general body. When the international meets the same comparing of notes: takes place, but between nations instead of states. There are now fourteen nations repre- gented in the great council, and that means a total membership of 7,000.000. The figures tell thelr own stor Seven more countries are on the verge of joining, and it is probable that at t! next quinquenntal, which will be held Berlin in 1904, there will be twenty-one na- tions represented. Those at present belonging come from the uttermost parts of the earth. Not only do the greater nations, such as England the United States, Germany and France, belong, but such as New South New Zealand and Tasman ments are printed in E German; addresses are de! Janguages. “The whole troubls between the West er- Wales, All docu- French and vered in the end East is that they have never been brought together,” Mrs. Sewall says. “They are friendly as far as the wish goe That {s the thing that must be over- come 1t the national workels to be com- plete. Buffalo will this summer see an executive‘session of the National Council; that may draw Western women, she hopes. Its triennfal, to meet in Washing- ton next Februar: California boasts some national patrons. They are Mrs. Phebe Hearst, Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard, Mrs. Julla Sanborn and Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, who is also an in- ternational patron. These are the people who will nourish the seed that Mrs. Sewall has planted in California. What it means to be an international patron is touched upon In a letter which Mrs. Sewall wrote Mrs. Switt. know you will be interested in what work you have been aiding, wrote, “and T confess with gratitude that the work which was done at Paris could | not have been undertaken at ail but for our patrons. I think much good was ac- complished by this work. You have the satistaction of feeling that you were a di- | (U . rect and important contributor. \ “ 4 should draw more. “My own view of the patrons Is that | ¥ occupy the position of a board of ad- Some of the Riggest HE biggest diamond in the world is Tthe great Gobind gem, which weighs nearly 450 karats, is big as an average inkstand, and worth about $450,000. Three murders and countless in- trigues and robberies have had it for their object. It now belongs to the Rajah of Futtehpore. The smallest diamond on earth can just be seen with the naked eye. A microscope shows it to be of per- fect water and brilllancy, and its actual market value Is about a cent as a din- mond. ‘As a curfosity, however, it is worth $75. The biggest man in the world is Brenni, the Swiss giant. There are several Swiss glants, but Brenni overtops them all with his height of nine feet seven inches, and he is a big man in proportion. His clothes cost him $75 per suit, and he cannot get into an ordinary raflway carriage. Ils opposite—the smallest man alive—is Me- truski, the little Hungarian, who is j under three feet high. He can get into the clothes of an ordinary large doll, anl feel small in them. He makes more monsy than his big rival, making $10,000 a ar as a “freak,” while the glant Brenni only gets $6000. He is accomplished, is much stronger in proportion than the giant, and will probably last longer. The hugest steamship afloat just now is the Celtic. Her coal bunkers alone would hold a regiment, and she makes the A:- lantic passage no more than a ferry rlde. The tiniest steamship on earth which will Things in the carry a human being is the Thresher. She is cight feet long, decked in, and just carries one man, provided he sits sti Her engines are smaller than the works of a grandfather’s clock, and any part of them can be reached with the hands while sitting at the wheel. Her coal bunicers are about the size of a valise. Among living things the most vast is a whale called the rorqual, which reaches the length of 100 feet when it is grown up, and has teeth longer than a man'’s leg. It measures forty feet around the place. where its walstcoat would be, if it had one, and it can move through the water at the rate of forty miles an hour. It gets through about a ton of fish and other food per day when in robust health, to Wworld. say nothing of a seal or two. The littlest thing man has discovered in the world, so far, is a microbe called the thexus, of | which 100,000 can find standing room on the head of a needle without crowding each other, and as for what the creature eats it is'too small for the human brain to grasp. There i3 a book called the Bible,”” which is the biggest thing of the book kind in one volume ever yet pro- It is ten feet square and two foet thick, and contains 30,000 pages. may put alongside this monster the tinfest piece of literature ever published—an edi- tion of *“Hamlet”—which 1s a quarter of | gress that the women of the world shall an inch square, contains eighty pages, all printed with perfect clearness, and needs an expensive magnifying glass to read it. | the —Louisville Courier Journal. duced. A ite a sort of privy 1, to any one of whom the president apply for advice or help. I.am ry day as I go feebly forward may helped ev in my efforts by the reflection that you as a patron are at my back; that you as | patron are at the back of the council; that {1t ana I have the support of your alli- ance.” And this woman, this enterprising American woman, elected to preside over 7,000,000 other women, closes with: “Any international mévement is mot a question of days—is hardly a question of years; rather a question of decades. .1 find that what the international work is schooling me to more than anything elge is patience. I belleve, however, that pa- tience pays. By this I mean only that it is essential to the world's peaceful pro- “Worthy One come into such international relatfons thagintimate reiations among the men of orld shall be made possible.” SARAH COMSTOCK. MamRoE JALKY N LNEOR N CRANT FARRLewi