Fourth at the Fair, Part 11: In the Woman’s Building

[Continued from Part 10]

The main Fourth of July exercises held in the Administration Plaza involved six speakers; all were men. The only women participating were Mrs. Stafford, who silently raised the “John Paul Jones” flag, and Mrs. Wagner and Miss Mickley, who silently pressed the telegraph key to signal the ringing of the Columbian Liberty Bell. The Board of Lady Managers held separate exercises in their home at the same 11 o’clock hour. The Chicago Herald wrote that the Fourth of July ceremony held in the Woman’s Building “was appropriately patriotic, and the exercises were listened to by an assembly that filled the hall,” while the Chicago Times noted that the women celebrated “decorously, quietly, almost without enthusiasm.” There were no cannons fired or battle swords waved. The voices of women filled the hall.

“Full of inspiration”

From every arch of the women’s home floated gay bunting, and the national colors wound around the columns inside. An audience of women and men filled the Assembly Room on the north end of the second floor for the morning exercises. On a stage decorated with palms and flags, the a platform party assembled. The speakers were joined by Henry Hamilton Honoré (1824–1916), father of the Board of Lady Managers President Bertha Palmer; Lady Manager Mrs. Rollin A. Edgerton of Arkansas, Commissioner-at-Large Mrs. Mary Cecil Cantrill from Kentucky, and several others.

Preceding the exercises, Miss M. A. Henry performed several pieces on the vocalion organ, including Édouard Batiste’s “Offertory in F” and “Communion” and Charles Gounod’s “Serenade.”

Mrs. Mary Kavanaugh Eagle (1854–1903) presided. She served as one of the Lady Managers from Arkansas and recently had been First Lady of that state during her husband James P. Eagle’s two terms as governor. Mrs. Eagle opened the exercises by introducing John W. Hoyt (1831–1912), former governor of the Wyoming Territory.

Mr. Hoyt read the poem “Columbus—Or ‘It Was Morning,’” written by Lillian Rozell Messenger. The Kentucky poet had written her blank-verse tale of Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage some twenty years earlier but was making it public for the first time at this ceremony. “It was full of inspiration,” wrote the Inter Ocean, “and pictured Columbus in his sea washed native land dreaming out the problem which gave the world new lands, and his meeting with Isabella, who laid upon the altar of a man’s faith her jewels.” Mary Eagle published the full text of Messenger’s poem in The Congress of Women.

Following Mr. Hoyt’s reading, vocalist Miss M. Blanche Foulke performed “The Jewel Song” (“Ah, je ris de me voir”) aria from Charles Gounod’s 1859 opera, Faust. Her expressive singing, with piano accompaniment by Professor C. H. Brittain, provided an unbeknownst tribute to the composer who died just a few months later. Miss Foulke’s “voice rang through the great room with wondrous effect,” reported the Inter Ocean, “drawing forth an encore so hearty that she again came forward and sang ‘When Love is Kind.’”

“The Land We Love” Address by Mary L. Gaddess

Miss Mary L. Gaddess, a writer and lecturer from Baltimore, then delivered the keynote address, titled “The Land We Love.” Her lengthy paper, about Columbus’ 1492 voyage and the progress of America, was embedded with a poem entitled “America.” The Inter Ocean praised Miss Gaddess’ speech:

It was filled with historical incidents and tributes to heroes known and unknown; to the thousands whose names are deeply graven on the pages of history, and yet others whom we will never know until the great roll call on the other side of the river, who have worn no laurel wreaths and who lie in nameless graves.

Thunderous applause broke out when Miss Gaddess finished. The full text was published in The Congress of Women. On July 8, Miss Gaddess again offered lectures in the Woman’s Building on the surprisingly diverse topics of “A Visit to Mars” and “True Heroes.” After the Fair, she lectured in Baltimore on “The Great White City as It Was” with accompanying views of the Exposition, billing herself as the “World’s Fair Elocutionist and Orator.”

The women’s Fourth of July exercises concluded with Miss Foulke singing Léo Delibes’ “Les Filles de Cadix” (“Maid of Cadiz”). Audience members leaving the hall carried with them Miss Gaddess’ words about the progress of women in America and at the Exposition: “In the stride of the century she steadily advanced, till to-day, in this beautiful building dedicated to woman, the world beholds something of what America has done.”

[Continued in Part 12]

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SOURCES

“All Honor the Nation” Chicago Times Jul. 5, 1893, p. 2.

The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U. S. A., 1893, With Portraits, Biographies and Addresses. Edited by Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle. Monarch Book Company, 1894.

“The Glorious Fourth” Chicago Inter Ocean Jul. 5, 1893, p. 1.

“Proud of America” Chicago Herald Jul. 5, 1893, p. 11.