Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. 223 whose treaty on the “ New Philosophy of Man and Nature ’ was- printed in 1587; Sor. Maria de Agreda, author of the celebrated book “La Mistica Ciudad de Dios,” and who carried on correspond- ence with Philip IV., King of Spain, leaving letters that are a treasure of wisdom in political and state matters. Many names, have had to be omitted which in justice should have been gh en with the others—if space had allowed—such as the names of the poetess Ines de la Cruz, born in Mexico during the Spanish wie, and one of the most classic writers in the Spanish language; Mana Zayas y Sotomayor, a novelist of the sixteenth century; the Mar- chioness of Huesca, who was elected member of the Royal Acad- emy; Maria Elguero, Maria Rosa Galvez, Feliciana Perez de Guz- man, and many others whose names can be seen in the 283 volumes of books written by women, collected by the commission pieside over by Her Majesty the Queen Regent, and now to be seen in the library of the Woman’s Building. __ It has been thought just to give in the medallions of the Spanish Pavilion a place to some of the prominent women that have died re- cently, and it is for that reason that the great Cuban poetess, Gemez de Avellaneda; the novelist, Fernan Caballero, and Concepcion Are- nal have been given place among their sisters of past centuries. The life of Concepcion Arenal is an illustration of what the modern Spanish woman can do. She has written books on political, sociological, and philosophical subjects that have had a great m li- enee, and have been translated into several languages, and very fully into English. . The State recognized her talents and achievements by appoint- ing her inspector-general of prisons and sending her as its official representative to the Penitentiary Congress at Stockholm; besides that, she has occupied a place among the most prominent men o. Spain in the official commission appointed to prepare the laws o± social reform, and to adjust the relations between capital and labor, and to regulate the work of women and children. But if Spain can present in ancient and modern times as many women celebrated in all branches of human knowledge as any other nation, the true and real character of the Spanish woman is to be a home-maker, a housewife, and a motliei. She contn utes greatly to the prosperity and wealth of the country by her habits of order and economy and by the education she gives her cn dren, increasing by her savings the capital of the family, making true Christians by her piety, and maintaining the national sen 1- ment and character by the poetry and delicacy of her natuie.