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

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. 287 feeling remained latent, the whole of her activity being thus com- pletely absorbed by her domestic duties and religious worship. Laws, traditions, and habits worked together in restraining to an excessive degree the freedom and power of woman, even in the narrow field of her strictly private life. Her existence from begin- ning to end passed in passive submission to the authority and will of her lord and master ; and. in spite of tlie chivalrous character of the Spaniard, the companion of his life was no better than any of her oriental ancestors, an imprisoned or enslaved beauty, deprived of all the blessings and advantages of education and learning. Yet it is doubtful if there are more intelligent or better endowed women in any region of the earth. Her quick compreliension, lier bright imagination, her artistic propensities, lier truly wonderful precocity, and cvgh lisr impulsiv© and passionate character, will evi- dently mark in the coiirs© of time ths transfo±iiicitioii of this brill- iant and fascinating spoiled child into the noblest type of woman, shining' amidst the elements of national and universal progress. I am conscious of not overestimating the richness of her nature when I affirm that there is no heroic self-abnegation, no sublime ideal, no delicate refinement, no degree of moral courage to which she can not rise. The war for the emancipation of the Spanish colonies of Amer- ica was the first shock that awakened the Spanisli-Atnericaii woman from her slumbers, and opened to her astonished, eyes a new and brilliant horizon. She was everywhere an enthusiastic agent and a devoted champion of the independent party, carrying’ her action so far that on ssvsral occasions ths Spanish military executions reddened with, her blood the soil she labored to liberate. During the protracted period of internal convulsion and civil war that preceded the organization and present state of the Span- ish-American republics, the influence of woman was frequently félt in prominent events of political life. She had no right granted by law to interfere with such matters, but she deemed hei right to be sufficiently justified by her own self-sacrifice in the war . for independence. Her action was in many instances an efficient force that brought about the final solution, and gave rise to deep changes—nay, to the very existence of new governments. In later years new laws have swept away some of the most powerful obstacles opposed by ancient legislation, to the improve- ment of woman’s position in private and public life. The barrier of religious intolerance was partially demolished in several of the new republics, and the free access of foreign immigration to their