Mrs. Bowes writes as follows:
AMALGAMATION OF GROUPS 53 AND 61.
Chairman, Daniel C. Nugent, St. Louis; honorary vice-president,
Jean Mouilbeau, Paris, France; first vice-president, John
Sheville Capper, Chicago; second vice-president, J.E. Wilson,
Elmwood, Ill.; secretaries, Charles W. Farmer, New York City,
and Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago (elected by the jury to fill the
place of Secretary Charles Farmer, owing to his being called to
New York City). Group 53: Chairman, J.E. Wilson, Elmwood, Ill.;
vice-chairman, Charles E. Moore, Brockton, Mass.; secretary,
Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.; Mary G. Harrow, Ottumwa,
Iowa; Mathilda Ripberger, Dresden, Germany. Group 61: Chairman,
John Sheville Capper, Chicago, Ill.; secretary, M. Blum, Paris,
France; M. Mouilbeau, Paris, France; Eugene Leonard, Paris,
France; Fred L. Rossback, Chicago, Ill.; W.E. McClelland, New
York City; M. Magai, Japan; Nellie Saxton, Brazil; Celia Nelson,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.
Group 53.—Group 53 was composed of two men and two women jurors, viz, the chairman and vice-chairman, men; the secretary, the writer, an American, and a German woman.
Group 53 was composed of equipments, processes, etc. Class 326, common implements used in needlework. Class 327, machines for cutting clothes, skirts, and leathers. Class 328, machines for sewing, stitching, hemming, embroidering. Class 329, machines for making buttonholes; for sewing gloves, leather, boots and shoes, etc.; plaiting straw for hats. Class 330, tailors' geese and flatirons. Class 331, busts and figures for trying on garments. Class 332, machines for preparing separate parts of boots and shoes (stamping, molding, etc). Class 333, machines for lasting, pegging, screwing, nailing. Class 334, machines for making hats of straw, felt, etc.
In this group of nine classes there was no distinctive exhibits by women, but the outcome of their skillful labor on the wonderful machines was purely their own and well displayed.
The most practical exhibit of woman's work was the finished
product of sewing machines in the United States and Great
Britain sections.
The Singer sewing machine exhibit furnished the best display in
the group. The work was very fine in detail, done by skilled
artisans.
Among the work in the homely arts were shoes, corsets,
underwear, and skillful darning. The manufacture of these useful
articles proved interesting.
In the beauty arts was displayed embroideries and fancy monograms, a skilled workman demonstrating a machine that would produce twelve monograms at one time in elaborate embroidery; in fact, the machines seemed as human as the workers themselves; although they were not talkers, they were "Singers."