A Centennial Exhibition Proposed: Women's and Centennial Commission

A Woman's Executive Committee was formed, composed of Philadelphians. They proposed to erect a building for the exhibition of the highest types of women's work, in sculpture, painting, literature, engraving, telegraphy, lithography, needlework, education of all kinds, etc., at a cost of $30,000. It was done, and much more. An appeal was made to the women of the United States, and in the space of a hundred days, they had contributed a sum sufficient for the building and for interior decorations. A sub-committee of the Women's Executive Committee gathered a vast amount of information concerning women's work in religious, philanthropic and patriotic efforts, which include their labors in homes, asylums, missionary fields at home and abroad, sisterhoods, industrial schools, and in the cause of temperance and moral reform. The women of our land also contributed to the general fund of the Centennial Commission more than $100,000. The building which they erected was an elegant structure, covering thirty thousand square feet, and was called the "Women's Pavilion." In it was displayed in profusion the products of women's fingers. Among them were elegant needlework from a royal institution in London, and etchings by the hand of Victoria, queen of England.

The time for the opening and closing the Centennial Exhibition was changed to the 10th of May and the 10th of November. With good judgment, perseverance and untiring industry, the managers pushed forward the preparations for opening at the appointed time. Ten million dollars were required for the purpose. That was a large sum to be raised by voluntary subscription at any time. Since the beginning of the preparations, the country had suffered from an unusually protracted depression in all industrial pursuits; yet the people of the country responded nobly to the drafts on their patriotism and their purses. But at the opening of the Centennial year there were yet lacking for the completion of the preparations $1,500,000. Congress was appealed to for the amount. More than thirty nations had accepted the invitation of our Government to participate in the Exhibition, and were preparing to come with their industrial treasures; and every patriotic American felt that nothing should be wanting to make the Exhibition what it had promised to be. And yet there was seen in Congress the mortifying spectacle of a powerful minority, who opposed a bill for the appropriation of that amount, and voted against it. The act was passed, however; but the appropriation was made still less gracious and more conspicuously unpatriotic by a feature which required the Centennial Commission to refund the amount to the Government in the event of any surplus remaining after the expenses were paid. This was actually done, to the full amount.

The great Centennial Exhibition was opened on the 10th of May, 1876. The morning dawned with a lowering sky, as preceding mornings had done, and there were the usual threatenings of a rainy day. But the weather-prophet at the Signal Office in Washington had predicted, at midnight, "clearing weather," and so truthful are his utterances generally, that the people believed them then, and prepared for the enjoyment of a fine day. Nor were they disappointed.

On that May morning, the city of Philadelphia was brilliantly clothed in Stars and Stripes. Our national banner floated over every pinnacle, and waved from almost every window and balcony when the hour of sunrise came and the clouds that overspread the heavens began to break. At about nine o'clock a vast flood of strangers and citizens began to flow toward the Centennial grounds. It increased every moment, and soon filled the broad street in front of the main entrance. Only privileged ones were permitted to enter first--the Women's Committee, and representatives in Congress and of foreign governments. A large number of the Women's Work Committee, each decorated with a brilliant silver star, led the van. These, with our own and foreign representatives, took seats upon a large platform which had been erected in front of Memorial Hall, under the flag of their respective nations. Before ten o'clock, Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil (the only foreign potentate present), with his empress leaning upon his arm, arrived, and took his seat under the Brazilian flag, greeted by the cheers of the immense multitude that thronged the grounds in that vicinity. More than one hundred thousand had passed through the gates, and stood in a surging mass, while the orchestra of Theodore Thomas, placed near the front of the platform, played airs that were familiar to the ears of representatives of the nations present, closing with our own "Hail Columbia!" These sweet sounds repressed, in a great degree, the rising passions of the much-jostled multitude. The sun had burst forth in splendor, and the promises at his rising were fulfilled.

At length the President of the United States appeared upon the platform, accompanied by his wife, when the orchestra performed the "Grand Centennial March," prepared for the occasion by the eminent German composer, Richard Wagner. Then Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, uttered fervent thanksgivings to the Almighty, in the name of our people, for his great goodness in the past, and implored His blessings in the future. He specially asked the bestowal of great mercies upon the women of our land who, then, for the first time in the history of our race, had taken so conspicuous a part in a national celebration. "May the light of their intelligence, purity and enterprise," he said, "shed its beams afar, until, in distant lands, their sisters may realize the beauty and glory of Christian freedom and elevation."