with readings by Professor S. H. Clark, Mr.
Will M. Carleton, and Miss Ida Benfey.

In the year 1895 another movement was begun at Chautauqua, which like
the W. C. T. U. has swept over the entire continent and wrought mightily
for the public welfare. At a Kindergarten Mothers' Meeting during the
session, Mrs. Theodore W. Birney of Georgia, gave an address urging a
National Congress of Mothers, and her appeal awakened a prompt
response. Many of those who had listened to her carried her message to
their own home-towns; Mrs. Birney at women's clubs and gatherings gave
her plea over and over; and when the General Federation of Women's clubs
held its convention in her native State of Georgia she presented the
proposition to the members. From that convention in 1896, a call was
issued for a National Congress of Mothers, to be held in the National
Capital. Mrs. Birney gave a year of tireless and wise preparation for
the meeting, which began on February 17, 1897. She was called to be
President of the National Congress, with Miss Mary Louisa Butler as
Organizing Secretary. The work was aided by the wide-reaching influence
and liberal gifts of Mrs. Phebe A. Hearst, who has been rightly called
the Lady Bountiful of the movement. Out of this National Congress grew
the holding of State-congresses in every part of the country and the
organization of local branches in almost every city. The Congress of
Mothers now has its central office in Washington, D. C. It is divided
into twenty-five departments of work--such as Americanization, Child
Hygiene, Child Labor, Education, Mothers' Circles, Thrift, and many
others, each having its chairman and plan of effective work. Out of a
meeting at Chautauqua, in 1895, has grown a nation-wide movement in aid
of mothers and teachers.

[Illustration: Arts and Crafts Building]

[Illustration: Miller Bell Tower]

In 1896 the schools were again reorganized under Dr. Harper's
supervision. The School of Fine Arts and the New York Summer Institute
for Teachers were new departments, the latter under the direction of the
Regents of the New York State University. The School of Sacred
Literature was increased in its faculty, having among them President
Harper, Professor Shailer Mathews, and Professor D. A. McClenahan of the
United Presbyterian Theological School. Prominent among the lecturers
this year were Dr. George Adam Smith of Scotland, Dr. Gunsaulus, Rev. S.
Parkes Cadman, Dr. Booker T. Washington,