o the ruff is the highest signs of her tenderness for the
children, and all weak and helpless ones.

Oh, what emotions I had in that buildin', and of what a immense size!
Some of the time I got lost and by the side of myself, a-thinkin' such
deep and high thoughts about the World's Fair, and wimmen, etc., and
they wuz so fur-reachin', too; it wuz a sight.

For I knew on that openin' day, when the hammer struck that marvellous
golden nail, and this world of treasures opened at the signal--I knew
that the echo of that blow wuzn't a-goin' to die out on Lake Michigan. I
knew that at its echo old Prejudice, and Custom, and Might wuz a-goin'
to skulk back and hide their hoary heads; and Young Progress, and
Equality, and Right wuz a-goin' to advance and take their places.

Stiflin', encumberin' veils wuz a-goin' to fall from the sad eyes of the
wimmen of the East. Chains wuz a-goin' to fall from the delicate wrists
of the wimmen of the West.

I hailed that sound as helpin' forward the era of Love, Peace, goodwill
to men and wimmen.

Yes, it wuz a happy hour for her who was once Smith, when man, in the
shape of President Cleveland, pressed the button with his thumb. And
woman, in the form of Bertha Honore Palmer, drove that nail home with a
hammer.

Josiah thought it ort to been the other way. He sez, "That men wuz so
used to hammer and nails;" and he sez, and stuck to it, that, "No woman
livin' ever druv a nail home without splittin' her own nail in the
effort, and bendin' the nail she driv sideways."

But I sot him down in my mind as representin' Old Prejudice, and I did
not dain a reply to him. Only I merely said--

"Wall, she did drive the nail in straight, and she clinched it solid
with the golden words of her address."

Yes, Mrs. Palmer has stood up on a high mount durin' the hard years past
since the Fair wuz thought on.

She has stood up so high that she could see things hid from them on the
ground.

She could see over the hull world, and could see that, like little
children of one family, the nations wuz all havin' their own separate
work to do to help their Pa's and Ma's--their Pa Progress, and Grandpa
Civilization, and their Ma and Grandma Love and Humanity.

She could see that some of the children wuz dark complexioned, and some
lighter, and some kinder yeller favored, and some wuz big, and some wuz
small.

They differed in looks and behavior, as every big family will, and she
could see that they ha