“Mmmm.” Her father thought about her words for a minute. “I think the fair was good for the unemployed people. How many people do you think have jobs working at this fair?”
Emily looked at him in surprise. “Lots. Too many to count.”
“When I see all the wonderful inventions at the fair,” her father continued, “they remind me of the incredible things human beings are capable of doing, especially when they work together. One hundred years ago we couldn’t have seen the lights that make the buildings so beautiful against the sky tonight.”
“They weren’t invented one hundred years ago.”
“That’s right. People wanted better light at night, so people worked and worked until they found a solution. The inventions at the fair give me hope that people will find an answer to our money problems, too. After all, we can see there are a lot of smart people in our world.”
Emily looked up at the fireworks bursting in pops and roars against the black sky. Her guilt eased and peace took its place.
Dear God, she prayed silently, please help the smart people in our country find a way to help Frank and Erik’s fathers and the other people who are out of work. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
When they left the fair, they walked along Lake Michigan back to the Beach Hotel. The breeze off the lake felt good. Emily liked the sound of the white-tipped waves that crashed against the boardwalk.
She glanced back over her shoulder. She could still see the lighted buildings of the White City. The City of Hope, she reminded herself.
“I wish there was something I could do so children didn’t have to be hungry or live hard lives because their parents are out of work,” she whispered to Ted.
“Me, too.” His voice sounded sad.
But what can we do? she wondered. We’re only twelve.
CHAPTER 13
The Falling Statue
Ted and the Allertons stayed away from the fair the next day. It was Sunday, so they went to church and then relaxed for the rest of the day.
There had been big arguments between the people who ran the fair and others over whether or not the fair should stay open on Sundays. The editor of the Minneapolis Tribune had even written a column about it. He believed no work should be done on Sundays unless it was necessary.
The fair planners said most people worked Mondays through Saturdays. That left only Sunday for people who lived in and near Chicago to visit the fair.
In spite of the many people against it, the fair stayed open on Sundays. Emily’s father said the fair had won the battle but lost the war because not many people visited the fair on the Lord’s Day.
The next time they visited the fair, they saw an old black man surrounded by people who were trying to speak with him and shake his hand.
“Excuse me.” Father stopped a gentleman in the crowd near the Administration Building. “Is that Mr. Frederick Douglass?”
“Yes.”
“I’d certainly like to meet him,” Father said.
“I should like to, also.” Mother’s brows puckered. “It isn’t polite to introduce yourself to someone, though.”
“You didn’t let us talk to Mr. Edison,” Emily reminded them.
“I think this is different,” Father said. “After all, Mr. Edison was in a discussion with two friends. Mr. Douglass appears to be welcoming the public.”
“Who is he?” Ted asked. “Why do you want to meet him so badly?”
“Mr. Douglass is the ambassador to Haiti,” Mother told him.
“He’s done a great deal for black people,” Father added. “He’s a brave, intelligent, compassionate man.”
“He was born a slave,” Mother explained. “He taught himself to read and write. Most slaves weren’t allowed to read and write. After the war, freed slaves needed someone who could do both well, like Mr. Douglass. Someone who could speak to the public and the lawmakers.”
Father nodded. “Since the Civil War, Mr. Douglass had been fighting for the black people. When slavery was made illegal, blacks became free, but they weren’t given all the privileges of white citizens. Mr. Douglass fought hard for the Fifteenth Amendment, which made black men citizens and gave them the right to vote.”
“Today at the fair is set aside to honor black people,” Mother reminded them. “Mr. Douglass will be speaking.”
Finally, Emily’s parents decided they would indeed join the crowd that was trying to meet Mr. Douglass. Richard and Anna were given permission to visit a nearby exhibit. Because of the troubles on Saturday, however, Ted and Emily were told to wait for their parents on the steps of a nearby building.
The cousins sat down on the broad steps, plunked their elbows on their knees, and watched the large group of people trying to reach the balding black man with the ring of bright white hair.
“This is going to take a lo–o–ong time,” Ted said.
Emily nodded and felt a little guilty. It was her fault they had to sit here. If she hadn’t knocked over the wheeled chair, they wouldn’t have met Frank. If they hadn’t met Frank, they wouldn’t have been late meeting Richard and Anna and her parents. If they hadn’t been late, they could be off seeing things, just as Richard and Anna were doing.
“Hiya!”
Emily and Ted whipped around at Frank’s friendly greeting. The boy was just sitting down on a step above and behind them.
Ted laughed. “Back in the fair again. They can’t keep you out. You’re as slippery as Houdini.”
Frank grinned. Emily thought he liked being compared to the young escape artist.
“Did the policeman catch you after you left Mr. Joplin’s?” Emily asked.
“Naw. He’s too out of shape ta keep up ta me when I’m runnin’.”
“Are you selling doughnuts again today?” Ted asked.
“Nope. Candy,” Frank answered. “Candy is easier ta hide than doughnuts. It doesn’t take up as much room. And it’s easy to sell. Say,” he looked puzzled, “why are ya sittin’ here? Your feet already tired? The day’s just startin’!”
Emily smoothed the palms of her hands over the dark blue skirt that covered her knees. “We’re waiting for my parents. They’re hoping to meet that man.”
“Which ones are yer folks?” Frank asked.
She told him and watched him study them a minute.
“Who’s that black man?” he asked.
She told him about Mr. Douglass.
“Scott Joplin told me ‘bout him.” Frank’s face shone with interest as he studied the man in the midst of the crowd. “He’s almost a hero. He says blacks were freed from slaveholders, but they are still slaves to the white society.”
“Mr. Douglass is speaking today because it’s been set aside to honor black Americans,” Emily said.
Frank snorted. “Honor black Americans, my eye!”
“What do you mean?” Ted asked. “Isn’t this the day when there are special talks and events for black people?”
“Sure it is,” Frank agreed, “but it’s not what the black people wanted. Scott Joplin told me lots of blacks aren’t comin’ taday, ‘cause they’re mad at the fair planners.”
“Why?” Emily asked. “Why would they be mad because there’s a special day for them?”
Frank wrapped his arms around his knees and leaned forward. “They wanted their own exhibition building, see. They wanted ta show the world everythin’ black people have done since the Civil War. The fair planners wouldn’t let them do that.”
“Why?” Ted wondered.
“They told the blacks ta ask their own states ta let them exhibit in the states’ buildin’s. None of the states let them.”
“That doesn’t sound fair,” Emily said. “The fair planners let women have their own building.”
“Yep.” Frank nodded. “But that’s not all. Mr. Joplin says blacks can’t even work at good payin’ jobs at the fair. Instead of being construction workers or clerical workers, they can only have low-payin’ jobs like street sweepers.”
Sadness began
to fill Emily again. There were so many unfair, hard things in the world that she couldn’t do anything about.
“At least the blacks have this special day,” Ted said. “They can tell the world what their people have done.”
“And what they want for their future,” Emily said.
Emily’s parents had made it to the great man’s side now. She watched her father remove his hat and shake hands with Mr. Douglass, then introduce her mother to the wise old man.
“Guess I’d better be movin’ on.” Frank slipped his candy-filled bag over his arm.
Emily wondered if he knew that she and Ted were afraid of having her parents find him with them. Did Frank think they were embarrassed of him because he didn’t dress or talk as well as they did? She hoped not, but she knew her parents wouldn’t approve of their friendship, especially her mother.
Frank stood up. “I’m goin’ over ta Wooded Island for a bit. At least there’s some shade there. If ya get a chance, come on over and look me up.”
The kids watched him walk jauntily down the steps and cross the wide bridge to the island. “I wonder if we’ll ever see him again,” Ted said.
After lunch, Father and the boys wanted to go to the Horticulture Building. Mother gently argued to visit the Woman’s Building instead. Finally, it was agreed the men would go to the Horticulture Building and the women to the Woman’s Building.
“I want to see the Woman’s Building,” Emily told her mother as they climbed the steps, “but I’d like to see the Horticulture Building, too.”
“So would I,” Mother admitted. “However, there isn’t time to see everything before we leave. If the men aren’t smart enough to want to visit the Woman’s Building, we’ll have to visit it ourselves.”
They enjoyed the model kitchen, but Emily thought the model hospital was more interesting. “I’ve never even been in a real hospital,” she told Anna.
The young woman guide in the model hospital told them of the history of women nurses and doctors. “There are almost 250 women doctors in Chicago now,” she said proudly.
Anna gasped. “That many? There are women doctors in Minneapolis, too, but I didn’t know so many women had become doctors.”
The guide smiled. “Isn’t it wonderful? Women have entered every area of work that men enter. There are women artists and writers, lawyers and merchants, journalists and editors, cotton planters and teachers, real estate agents and architects, and anything else of which you can think. All the art in this building is by women. A woman even designed this building. This is a marvelous time to be a woman!”
“Yes,” Mother agreed, “and it will be a better time to be a woman once all women in the country have the right to vote.” Emily looked at her mother in surprise.
“Why, Mother, I didn’t know you believed in suffrage for women,” Anna said in a voice that sounded as surprised as Emily felt.
Mother looked at them serenely. “Of course I believe women should have the right to vote. We have the benefits of living in America. It is only right that we should have more of the responsibilities.”
Anna stared at her. “But you’ve never gone to any women’s suffrage meetings or marched in any of their parades or … or anything.”
“I shouldn’t think a woman needed to carry a poster down the street and holler unseemly things at men to prove to the world she has the intelligence to vote for the people she wants in the government.”
Emily and Anna exchanged amused glances as they followed their mother down the hall to the next exhibit area. Emily had never heard her quiet, ladylike mother speak in such a manner. What else does she think about a woman’s place that she hasn’t told us? she wondered.
Emily stood in the middle of the building’s Great Hall. She craned her neck to see everything beneath the two-story ceiling.
She stopped beside a small sculpture of a mother sitting beside a cradle with a tiny baby inside. She touched the mother’s arm and smiled. I wish I could make something as beautiful as this, she thought.
“This is the best part of the whole building!” Emily told Anna as they stared at the seventy-foot murals on the walls.
One of the murals was called “Modern Woman.” In it, women were dressed in up-to-date clothing chasing fame and working together picking the fruits of knowledge and science.
Emily leaned her head from one side to the other, studying the mural. “Isn’t it beautiful, Anna? I wonder how the painter made it so bright.”
“It’s painted in the modern impressionist style,” Anna told her. “Mary Cassatt is the artist.”
Emily backed up, trying to get a better view of the huge picture. Thud!
She came to a sudden halt when she backed into something solid.
“Emily!”
At the sound of Anna’s strained voice, Emily whirled around. She’d backed into the base that held the sculpture of the mother and child. The base teetered. Emily and Anna grabbed for it at the same time. The beautiful sculpture slipped from its perch.
CHAPTER 14
One Accident Too Many
Emily’s eyes slammed shut. The heavy wooden base thudded against the floor. She held her breath, waiting for the crash of the beautiful sculpture and her mother’s “Emily Marie Allerton, how could you!” Neither came.
Instead, she heard Anna’s voice saying, “Thank you.”
Emily opened her eyes. A tall young woman in a navy blue suit was on her knees, the sculpture in her arms. Her face beneath dark hair was almost as white as the marble sculpture.
“You caught it!” Emily clasped her hands together. “I am so glad. I thought there was no chance it could be saved, and it is so beautiful!”
The young woman smiled, still hugging the piece to her chest. “It is lovely, isn’t it?”
Mother, who had been viewing a piece at the other end of the hall, hurried up. Her gloved hands lifted her skirt a couple inches above her ankles so she could walk faster. Her pretty face was filled with concern.
Emily bit back a groan and stood up. “I know, Mother, it’s my fault. I should have been watching where I was going, but I was looking at the mural.”
Her mother’s worried glance found the sculpture in the young woman’s arms. “It wasn’t broken?”
The woman set the piece on the floor beside her and stood up. “No, ma’am.”
Mother put a gloved hand over her heart, closed her eyes, and gave a sigh of relief. “Emily Marie, you shall be the death of me yet.”
Emily’s cheeks burned. It was embarrassing to have her mother speak to her that way in front of the smart-looking young woman who had saved the sculpture.
The woman smiled at her and gave her a quick wink. “The accident could have happened to anyone. Nothing was broken. No harm was done.”
A little of Emily’s guilt and most of her embarrassment were washed away by the woman’s kind words.
“I am Miss Enid Yandell,” the rescuer said.
Emily’s mother introduced the three of them. Then together they righted the base. Miss Yandell set the sculpture carefully on top of it. “There! Everything is as good as new.”
Emily frowned slightly. “Miss Enid Yandell. We were told that a Miss Yandell made some of the sculptures in the roof garden, but that can’t be you. You’re too young.”
Miss Yandell laughed. “I’m twenty-two, and I did indeed make the garden sculptures. Have you seen them?”
When she found they hadn’t been to the cafe in the garden on the building’s roof, she invited them to join her there for coffee. Emily was thrilled when her mother agreed.
It was sunny and breezy on the roof. The garden was lovely. Mother and Anna walked about enjoying the plants and flowers. But Emily thought Miss Yandell’s sculptures were lovelier than the flowers and told her so.
Miss Yandell pointed to some huge sculptures. “See the angels on the edge of the roof? They were sculpted by a girl of nineteen.”
“Nineteen!” Emily looked at the huge winged sculptures in
wonder. “How did you and this girl get to be so good so young?”
Miss Yandell smiled. “Remember the fair’s motto?”
“Yes. It’s ‘I will.’”
“That’s right. If you are willing to work hard for the things you want, you will be surprised at the doors that open for you.”
Emily was glad for the oriental awnings that covered the cafe and shaded them from the bright sun when they sat down for coffee and desserts.
A group of well-dressed women stopped at their table to say hello to Miss Yandell. When the sculptress introduced the women to her, Emily was glad she’d worn one of Anna’s hats today. Every one of the women was famous: Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, and Anna Julia Cooper.
Jane Addams was known for her concern for the working people. “She’s speaking at the World Labor Congress about the poor working conditions of women and children,” Miss Yandell told them.
Frances Willard was known all over the country for her work with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which tried to make the sale of liquor illegal.
Anna Julia Cooper was a black woman. She had an important position with the Colored Women’s League. She spoke often to important groups, telling them that no one should be given or denied special favors because of their gender or race.
Susan B. Anthony impressed Emily the most. She was one of the main leaders of the women’s suffrage movement. People either thought she was wonderful or awful.
Mother nodded politely to each woman as she and the girls were introduced to them. She spoke a sentence or two to each, thanking them for the work they were doing.
Emily turned to Mother. “Why are you only a mother and housewife when women can do so many things today?”
She was immediately sorry. She hadn’t meant to embarrass her mother. She was relieved when her mother smiled. “Trying to keep you out of trouble keeps me far too busy to work outside the home, Emily.”
The adults and Anna laughed. Emily managed a small smile.
A few minutes later, the women left Miss Yandell and the Allertons. Watching them depart, Mother said, “I’m a little surprised to see Anna Cooper here. I heard many blacks were angry because they don’t have their own exhibit.”
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