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

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. 275 tion; and the same obstacle to general education attends the establishment of three private schools in Athens, which, together with four or five others in the entire kingdom and the “Arsarkion,” are the only means afforded to young women of receiving any- thing more than a primary education. Under such conditions it is easy to understand that art among women is but little developed in. Greece, being apparent only in weaving and embroidery. From earliest times the Greek women have spun wool, flax, and silk—as in the Homeric portraiture of Penelope—yet this industry remained comparatively uncultivated until the “ Society for the Advancement of Women,” under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Olga, with Madame Skouses as president, established an. industrial school for poor women. This school, where 450 women and girls are employed, has become a source of supply, providing not only the most beautiful models and patterns of weaving and embroidery executed in the .style native to the country, but the most exquisite needlework in European fashion. Moreover, the institution is a philanthropic one, furnishing work for 450 needy women, giving them elementary instruction and providing dinners at a cost of from two to four cents. All labor is piece-work, at prices determined by the superintendent of the society, and all the articles sent to the Exposition are the produc'. of the above institution in Athens. In the Hellenic provinces women execute similar work. At Trip- oli and Leonidi, in the Peloponnesus, and at Arachona and Atlanta, in Locris, carpets are woven; at Kalamata, in Messenia, and at Aghia and Ambelakia, in Thessaly, silk-stuffs are made; at Tripoli, Argos, Missolonghi, and Levadia cotton goods are manufactured; and at Tyrnavo, in Thessaly, printed cottons are prepared. Besides these manufactures, like fabrics are made in almost every home, and in a large proportion of houses we find a loom. It is in the execution of these textile articles that the taste of the Greek women is displayed. Their work possesses, moreover, a quality of original design and of simplicity, without sacrifice of delicate detail, which augurs favorably for the future development of women’s industries in Greece. Madame Ouellenec.