Fairport was conservative, as always, but she had no mind to be left
behind in the march of feminine fashion. She did not rush to extremes,
but she had women's clubs in 1881. The chief of these were the Ladies'
Literary Club and the Spinsters' Alliance. Both clubs tackled the same
great themes of ethics and art, and allotted a winter to the literature
of a nation, except in the case of Greek and Roman literatures, which
were not considered able to occupy a whole winter apiece, so they were
studied in company. The club possessed a proper complement of officers,
and their meetings went from house to house. They were conducted with
artless simplicity, in a pleasant, conversational manner, but with due
regard to polite forms; and only at a moment of excitement was the chair
addressed by her Christian name.
Naturally, the women's clubs were deeply stirred by the first great
World's Fair in America. But the whole West was moved. It turned to art
with a joyous ardor, the excited happiness of a child that finds a new
beauty in the world.
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