and the important gravity of the theme. She rolled out the verses with
the intensity of a seer, and she looked a beautiful seer as well.
Liberal applause greeted her as she sat down, though the clapping woman
is apt to be a feeble instrument at best. Selma knew that she had
produced an impression and she was moved by her own effectiveness. She
was compelled to swallow once or twice to conceal the tears in her voice
while listening to the congratulations of Mrs. Earle. The words which
she had just recited were ringing through her brain and seemed to her to
express the pitch at which her life was keyed.

Selma was chosen a member of the Institute at the next meeting, and
forthwith she became intimate with the president. Mrs. Margaret Rodney
Earle was, as she herself phrased it, a live woman. She supported
herself by writing for the newspapers articles of a morally utilitarian
character--for instance a winter's series, published every Saturday,
"Hints on Health and Culture," or again, "Receipts for the Parlor and
the Kitchen." She also contributed poetry of a pensive cast, and chatty
special correspondence flavored with personal allusion. She was one of
the pioneers in modern society journalism, which at this time, however,
was comparatively veiled and delicate in its methods. Besides, she was a
woman of tireless energy, with theories on many subjects and an ardor
for organization. She advocated prohibition, the free suffrage of woman,
the renunciation of corsets, and was interested in reforms relating to
labor, the pauper classes and the public schools. In behalf of any of
these causes she was ready from time to time to dash off an article at
short notice or address an audience. But her dearest concern was the
promotion of woman's culture and the enlargement of woman's sphere of
usefulness through the club. The idea of the woman's club, which was
taking root over the country, had put in the shade for the time being
all her other plans, including the scheme of a society for making the